Department Of Economics

The Association of the Department of Economics has been proactive in its efforts to engage students actively in plethora of activities to encourage analytical thinking and developing pragmatic approach to development issues.  Activities ranging from organising guest lectures, research workshops and publishing department newsletters to name a few were conducted to motivate students to participate, explore and learn about contemporary topics by active engagement and interaction with experts in concerned areas providing creative environment to enhance their knowledge. With this brief, it gives us immense pleasure to report varied activities conducted by the Economics Association from 1^st April 2020 to 31^st March 2021 in following sections:

I. GUEST SPEAKERS INVITED TO LADY SHRI RAM COLLEGE FOR WOMEN
BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS FROM 1^ST APRIL2020-31^ST MARCH 2021

II. ANNUAL JOURNAL- ECOLLOQUIAL

The Annual Research Journal of the Department of Economics – Ecolloquial, was released on the
10th of June, 2020. The editorial team of journal was guided by Ms. Neha Grover and Ms. Vaishali Verma.
Under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Premansh Sahni, the team received 35 entries from colleges across India (St. Xavier’s College Kolkata, St. Xavier’s College Mumbai, Gargi College, St. Stephens College to name a few) comprising research papers, articles and book reviews. A monthly article writing competition ‘Schools of thought’ was also initiated.

The topics included slowdown in the economy, trade-off between efficiency and equity in theoretical economics, employment crisis and aspirations for a $5 trillion economy. 6 research papers, 3 book reviews and 12 articles were published in this year’s edition in totality. In addition to this, interviews of Ms. Jayashree Sahoo (Teacher-in-charge, Department of Economics, 2019-20) and Dr. Jayan Jose Thomas (Professor, IIT Delhi) were also published. With a readership of over 350, this year’s journal has carved a niche for itself and has set a new bar.

III. DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER- ECOLLECTUAL

Activities Undertaken

The first issue of Ecollectual titled ‘Understanding our behavior: Are all our decisions rational?’ was released in March 2021. The newsletter talked about numerous issues where economics and psychology cross paths, and influence various decisions pertinent to rational consumer behavior. From talking about how the financial world uses confidence to create illusions in the market, to exploring how pop culture influences consumer choice, this issue was a great read for everyone and received a wide readership.

Along with this, the Ecollectual team also focused on its Instagram page where we started 3 new series: –

1. Decoding the Economist: Talked about the lives and contributions of various renowned economists from around the world.
2. ECOSCOOPS: The Current Affairs Series- This was based on major recent developments in economics, finance and related fields.
3. ECOBYTES: The Economic School of Thought Series- This covered the thought schools of various economists and religions and tried to link them to applications in daily-life.

In the month of April, the Ecollectual team was involved in covering the different events of the Annual departmental fest “Econvista 2021”, which was successfully conducted on 16th and 17th April 2021. Owing to the second wave of COVID that issue could not be realised. However, the works on the Econvista issue and another issue/session(s) is underway. We look forward to the continuous growth of Ecollectual in the batches to come.

IV.  MENTORED RESEARCH FORUM

The Mentored Research Forum aims to inculcate and nourish a passion for research among students of the Economics Department, LSR. It focuses on assisting its members throughout their academic writing journey by providing them with resources and guidance to get started as well as a supportive platform to get feedback on their work. It aims to provide a space for the members to hold discussions and eventually collaborate to work on research ideas that can add value to their learning. The club organised a number of events in the academic year 2020-21 and witnessed zealous participation from the members in all its activities and workshops.

Introductory Research Paper Writing Workshop (12-03-2021)
This workshop was conducted by Ananya Kalra, one of the club heads herself. It primarily involved acquainting members with the research process. Crucial aspects of an academic research paper were introduced in the session, including types of paper, selecting a topic and finding reliable resources of information.
The cataclysmic change to the forum came when it flagged off its blog page on Medium under the name, ‘Renting Rationality.’ There were a substantial number of blogs posted on ‘Renting Rationality’ like Decoding Identity Economics, Understanding Blue Economy, Role of Corporates in Rural Women Employment, Green Nudges and Environmental Policy Making, Sneak- Peek into the mind of an Economics Student on the first day of college and many more. The blog has published over 12 posts since its inception, successfully showcasing the works of the core team.
MRF saw a significant increase in sign-ups for research paper writing this year and around 30 submissions of abstracts from topics ranging from ‘The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on Indian Stock Market’ to ‘Menstrual health does not require wealth: Analyzing the Economic Viability of Sustainable Menstrual Products in the Long Run’. Around fifteen teams finished their papers under the club and were provided with extensive feedback on their work as well as advice on getting it published.

V. BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

Beyond the Classroom is a platform that aims to provide rich experience to students to augment their skills by giving exposure to combine classroom study with outside learning gained through these visits. Club conducted various events in the academic year 2020-21 and witnessed quite a good number of participants from the department of economics.

Session on Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management with Ms. Falshai Poonia (08-03-2021)

The session was exclusively open for core team members of the club. It dealt with the basics of stock markets and technical jargons related to financial, money, and commodity markets. Career avenues related to finance along with way to get into various top – notch finance companies were covered. Economics Department Union and coordinators had a fruitful dialogue with the officials of Reserve Bank of India and look forward to holding enlightened sessions with them in the future.

New Initiatives:

The club actively worked to establish a strong social media presence. The account reach increased drastically. A pattern was followed and informative posts and video content were posted on a regular basis.

Volunteers were asked to make Instagram reels following the then recent reels trend with an economic aspect attached to them so as to make the page more engaging.  Since the essence of BTC lies with the institutions, a thread was formed wherein we posted information about various institutions like SEBI, Institute of Economic Growth, NITI AAYOG, National Stock Exchange and FICCI. Information was posted regarding their functioning, members, internship opportunities with them etc.

The club divided core-team members into three sub-teams in order to achieve smooth functioning. Initially, the club was responsible for conducting tours to various organizations, considering the scenario, BTC redefined its responsibilities and focused largely towards spreading knowledge on unconventional topics related to economics and finance.

VI. BOOKS AND DOCUMENTARIES REVIEW CLUB

Art vs. Artist Event (11-03-2021)
Based on the discussions during the orientation session, the team members formulated an informative brochure/presentation for the attendees related to the discussion on the Role of Artists in our society today taking up examples of writers, artists, singer and song-writers, etc. At our end, the students ensured that an active discussion continued amongst the team members, forwarding the brochure onto the main group and encouraging an open conversation, garnering views about the same.

Book and Economist of the Month posts

The BDR tradition of analyzing pieces of literature and published books was continued. Members of the club engaged in co-writing and co-designing social media posts around Economist of the Month and Book of the Month for February and March.

Collaboration with REACH LSR

The students curated 4 write-up posts on member-chosen topics related to disability and experience of people with disabilities in India and around the world, including the efforts of designers and writers together. Topics ranged from the Accessible India Movement to economic security for people with disabilities.

VII. THE ECONWHIZ CLUB

The club is responsible for researching and finding out about various national and international economics fests and disseminating information for the same to the entire department. The club not only forms contingents for these fests, but also prepares and trains them for the competitions. Another function of the club is to conduct in-house events every month in the form of case study competitions, mock stocks, trading events, CV building workshops and foreign universities’ admissions guidance. Along with hosting events like simulations, guest lectures, quizzes and debates the club also maintains a blog and an informative social media page.

TEC Blog

A blog was launched to publish articles on various topics in Economics. The blog saw submissions from the core team members like “Climate Change Through the Lens of Game Theory”, “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” and “Auction Theory”.

Brown Bag Session on ‘Silver Economy’ (09-03-2021)

The session was conducted on 9th March 2021 by Khushi Jain of first year and witnessed a turnout of 24 attendees. It centred around on how the system of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services aimed at using the purchasing potential of an older and ageing population. A discussion on the schemes: National Old Age Pension Scheme took place and proposed “The Continuing Education and Adult Education” scheme and “The National Policy for Senior Citizens.”

Participation

The online academic year saw participation by members of the department in various competitions conducted around the country. Contingents were sent for Arthashastra, conducted by NMIMS, Episteme conducted by F&IC SRCC, and Shri Ram Economic Summit conducted by SRCC. In addition, themed posts were curated by the core team members for the Instagram handle of the club each week.