Introductory Microeconomics An introduction to the analysis of such microeconomic problems as price formation (the forces behind demand and supply), market structures from competitive to oligopolistic, distribution of income, and public policy options bearing on these problems.

Political Economy of Contemporary India Seventy-five years since independence from the British, and three decades since the launch of the most ambitious set of economic reforms, India has changed dramatically over the years; but what does all this change really mean for the lives of ordinary citizens?   This course will explore the political economy context of India’s development, and in particular, the changing texture of democracy, economic transition from the state to the market, gender relations, environmental challenges, India's economic globalization, and a changing world view from the time of India's independence to the present.  The course will also capture the tensions inherent in such a multifaceted process of change. We will make use of historical texts and visual sources to map out how local and national economic, socio-political and cultural factors interweave with the global movement of people and ideas in the continued evolution of contemporary India.

International Trade Since March 2020 when the world economies went into cascading lockdowns, global trade has been severely impacted.  As the global economy slowly opens up, we will answer some age old and some new questions - First, what factors determine flow of international goods and services? Second, how are the gains and losses from international trade distributed amongst nations? Do all benefit, or are some countries made better off at the expense of others?  Third, how does trade affect the internal allocation of resources and distribution of income within a country?  Fourth, why do national governments try and influence or control international trade flows?  Finally, how does international trade affect the low- and middle-income countries in today's global economy especially in the post Covid world?

Economic Development: Development /as/ Freedom Much of the world still faces the daily pain of poverty and inequality. Developing countries have to accelerate their growth rates, eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities, create productive employment, and address pressing environmental concerns. We will examine the major analytic and policy issues raised by these challenges and study the need for a productive balance between market forces and positive state action. We will pursue this against the backdrop of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen’s path breaking work, “Development as Freedom” and bring in case studies from Asia, Latin America and Africa.  We will focus on different development strategies adopted, choice of policy instruments, methods of implementation, all the while asking if development is indeed an integrated process of expansion of substantive human freedoms that connect with one another for a higher purpose.

Great Ideas in Economics The current 4th industrial revolution is changing lives in mundane and profound ways. The set of cooperative and competing interactions among humans, machines, and nature will shape lives in ways that we have just begun to comprehend. There has been “production, buying, selling, and trading” of goods and services since time immemorial –- why then does the formal study of “economics” as a discipline start only from around the 17th century with the onset of the 1st Industrial Revolution?  This course introduces students to our most influential economists, their ideas, and their impact upon economics, policy, and intellectual history. We will engage in serious thinking, writing, and discussion about the great economics questions of our age.

Sunder Ramaswamy

Great course. Professor Ramaswamy is a very experienced scholar in the field. He knows a lot and will teach you a lot. Overall the workload is manageable. There are writing assignments every two weeks and a final project. 

Overall, with the readings given it is easy to understand the material. Unfortunately throughout tests, you have to understand the material to a certain depth that you might not know you have to if you want to score very high.

This class has a great approach to microeconomics, and the Professor is extremely knowledgable and passionate about the material. Exams are usually long and require good time management, but they are very similar to the material in the problem sets. I would definitely recommend this course, it is very engaging and it feels like a good starting point going into intermediate Econ courses. 