[DM] Developmental Macroeconomics: Perspectives from the Global South
Coordinators: Raghavendran Srinivasan
Azim Premji University, Bangalore, India
Raghav.Srinivasan@apu.edu.inJosé Luis da Costa Oreiro
Universidade de Brasília, Brasilia
joreirocosta@yahoo.com.br
Recent economic development discourses have been more focussed on microeconomic aspects both in theory and policy. This is in direct contrast to the long tradition of macroeconomic approaches to economic development, be it Structuralist, Evolutionary and Post Keynesian traditions in theory and in the realm of international developmental policy. The shift to microeconomic approach is a consequence of the shift to the “micro-foundations” approach in Macroeconomics practiced by the New Consensus School and reflected in the dominant macro policy paradigm employed via the DSGE models in the past decade. As a result, development discourse has got locked into the microeconomic approaches enabled through the experimental methods of policy prescription and implementation.
The problem with the micro-focussed approach is the absence of socio-institutional-political context in such a a-historical analysis of development. In the current context where ecological limits are beginning to have tangible impacts on lives of people across the world, it is imperative that the development discourse needs to be resurrected and rehumanized by bringing the focus of the analysis back to the socio-historical-political context of economies at various stages and their interrelation in the globalised world economy.
The proposed research area under the aegis of EAEPE aims to bring to focus of the development experiences of the global south by creating a platform for collaboration of various traditions such as the Latin-American Structuralism, New Developmentalism, Post Keynesian and wider Heterodox schools that view the problem of development through the intersections of socio-historical-political spheres. For instance, the developmental experiences of some developing and emerging countries (Brazil, India, and China among other) over the past decades of Liberalization and Globalisation, would provide insights to some of the core issues such premature deindustrialisation and features of structural transformation in these economies. For instance, the developmental trajectory has been different in China vis-à-vis India, with former going through the taper phase of industrialisation and latter experiencing premature deindustrialisation or at best industrial stagnation and stalling of structural transformation.
In more tangible terms, the proposed research area would create a platform of exchange of ideas on the developmental experiences of the Global South countries, and potentially create research resources for further education and policy purposes. Drawing from the Developmental Macroeconomics Framework, such comparisons could yield insights into the dynamics of the formal and informal spheres of production from the perspective of centre-periphery models of the older structuralist tradition.
The research area in EAEPE would immensely benefit scholarly exchanges between India and Brazil, in the first instance, and a wider interaction between Asian, Latin American, and European transition countries in the spirit of learning from the diverse developmental experiences with the view to enhance our understanding of the process of development under globalisation.