Jayati Ghosh’s Blog

In February, 12-year-old Jamlo Makdam left her home in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh to work as a farm labourer in the chilli fields of Telangana, earning 200 rupees (about £2) a day. But on the morning of 23 March, she – along with hundreds of million others across the country – suddenly discovered that they were not allowed to work. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, had announced India’s draconian lockdown the previous evening, stopping all economic activity, even all movement, with just four hours’ notice. No public transport, no people allowed on roads, no shops or workplaces open; and…

The most destructive effects of Covid-19 in India have not been the result of the disease, but the nature of the government response. The most stringent lockdown in the world destroyed the economy and forced millions into poverty and hunger, but did not control virus transmission. The resurgence of disease as restrictions were lifted and the continued economic distress point to ten major features of state response that ensured these unfortunate outcomes. For full article Click here (This article was originally published in the Journal of Industrial and Business Economics which was published on line on 11 July 2020)

There has been much discussion about how external debt concerns are likely to weigh heavily on developing countries in their attempts at economic recovery in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of this discussion has centred on emerging markets in Latin America and developing countries in Africa, some of which are already experiencing severe problems of debt servicing. Argentina and Ecuador are both currently trying to restructure some of their external debt; other countries (particularly in Africa) are also seeking debt relief and some have benefited from moratoria on interest payments. There appears to be less concern about external…

It is generally recognised that the Indian economy was already in a steep slowdown well before the Covid-19 pandemic and badly planned lockdown further destroyed economic activity. But what is possibly not so well understood that that a major reason for the recent slowdown was not just government inaction (or acts of omission) but specific policy actions (or acts of commission) that actually worsened the problem. Essentially, the Indian government contributed to the economic slowdown by significantly reducing its public expenditure at a time when spending by other segments of the economy (households and enterprises) was already slowing or declining.…

One of the most vocal critics of neoliberalism in general and the socioeconomic policies of India’s BJP-led Central government in particular, eminent economist Jayati Ghosh is known for her sharp and lucid views on social issues. In a conversation with Number13, Prof. Ghosh talks about India’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its myriad impacts on society. Edited excerpts: N13: How will Covid-19 impact the global economy? JG: First of all, we don’t even know what post-Covid is, because at the moment, it’s all very unclear as to how long and how widespread this pandemic will be. What is very…

While everyone was busy looking at the Covid-19 numbers across the world, other “stuff was happening” in international trade: the US-China trade war, which started as far back July 2018, just got significantly worse. This on-again-off-again war has been a feature of the Trump Presidency, with the man who became president of the US in January 2017 vowing to prevent the US from being “exploited” by other countries, notably China, that had benefited from the US market by running bilateral trade surpluses. Trump focussed on the US aggregate surplus as well as certain bilateral surpluses, missing the basic point that…

 Developing countries, many of which appear not to have felt the health effects of COVID to the same extent as Europe and the US, are nonetheless facing severe economic effects as the pandemic pushes the global economy into a recession. Countries like India, which have rigorously enforced shelter-in-place orders without adequate protection of those losing livelihood, have seen massive disruptions in informal activities and attempts by millions of migrant workers to return to their homes. Many other governments, already burdened with significant debt and facing foreign exchange constraints, are not in the position to carry out the fiscal and…

The class war waged by employers in India has never been so blatant, nor has the openly partisan behaviour of the executive and judiciary. What began ostensibly as a public health exercise to prevent the spread of a virus infection has turned into an all-out war against India’s working people. The abruptly announced and poorly-planned decision for national lockdown has created an economy on the verge of complete collapse and even greater public health risks. Now we have an economy in shambles and a virus still on the rampage, and belatedly realise that we have no option but to learn…

The demands for a "Global Green New Deal" were never about some Utopian vision or naïve perception of global togetherness: combined and co-ordinated global efforts are necessary to ensure the survival of the planet and of human life on it. But the Covid-19 pandemic is driving home the urgency of internationalism — and not just through the sheer rapidity and force of the global spread of the disease. The unfolding of the pandemic, the national policy responses and the economic impacts, all demonstrate how such processes can dramatically increase inequalities between and within countries, and also that solutions simply cannot…