The Economics group at Azim Premji University organises several workshops every year. These workshops engage with different audiences, ranging from academics to activists to development practitioners.

International Conference on the History of Economic Thought 2023

We are delighted to host what is perhaps the first conference in India solely dedicated to the History of Economic Thought. The conference comprised of close to 50 paper presentations over two days, covering a wide range of themes and thinkers: African to Indian economic thought, Ambedkar to Sraffa, Keynesian to Feminist economics, Kautilya to Ibn Khaldun. The presenters also span various stages of career, with a large number of presentations by undergraduate and graduate students, who are able to receive feedback from senior and distinguished scholars in the field. The conference was preceded by a one-day workshop oriented at teachers of History of Economic Thought.

The aim of the conference is to encourage and cultivate scholars of HET who can learn the tools and style of conducting HET research in the future.

Find the outline of the conference here.

The two keynote lectures are by leading HET scholars Maria Bach and Francois Allison, both affiliated with the Centre Walras Pareto, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. The lecture by Bach is available on the university YouTube channel.

Demystifying Economics — 2023

Demystifying Economics is an annual workshop co-organised by Azim Premji University, Bahujan Economists, and School for Democracy. 

The idea of this workshop is not to lecture participants on Economics, but to the extent possible, democratise the language and the discipline of Economics itself. This is because the participants of this workshop, who are members of various civil society organisations across India, are already best positioned to understand the complex nature of the social, political and economic reality on the ground, but owing to a variety of factors, most notably being bereft of technical vocabulary, they get relegated to being spectators in the larger gambit. Keeping this in mind, we have designed multiple sessions in this workshop, shedding light on the concepts of Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Political Economy and Statistics as relevant to the contexts of our participants.

Find the schedule of the workshop here

Find the booklet of the workshop here (Hindi, English).

Advanced Graduate Workshop

In 2006, Professors Joseph Stiglitz and Akbar Noman started a small interdisciplinary workshop titled ​‘Advanced Graduate Workshop (AGW) on Poverty, Development and Globalization’. Ever since, the workshop has mentored and hosted scholars from all across the world. For past 10 years, AGW is being organised by Azim Premji University in collaboration with the Institute for New Economic Thinking. The Economics group at Azim Premji University remain closely associated with this workshop in various scopes and roles.

The goal of the workshop is to bring together graduate students studying economic development at a sufficiently advanced stage of their dissertation to be able to discuss and receive feedback on their research. There are two distinct parts. First, a series of lectures given by leading scholars and practitioners that deal with a range of economic, political and social issues pertaining to development and poverty. Second, students refine their research and presentation skills within assigned small groups under the guidance of faculty leaders in preparation for a culminating workshop-wide presentation of their research. The success of AGW lies in creating a supportive and friendly environment which makes students comfortable to discuss and provide feedback on each other’s work.

Find the outline of the 2023 edition of the workshop, and details of participants and group leaders here.

Earlier edition of AGW can be found here.

Data Health and Democracy

The workshop, titled ​“Data, Health and Democracy: From the People’s Perspective” (conducted in Tamil) was planned principally as enrichment and capacity building for volunteers of the Tamil Nadu Science Forum. The objectives of the workshop were to deepen the participants’ understanding of the role official data plays in the political economy, empower them with access to information (using RTI), help them to construct surveys that elicit information and narratives in a participatory manner, and to help them familiarise with the use of technological tools for accessing data, recording and updating data.

The initiative is in sync with the data citizenship initiative taken up by Tamil Nadu Science Forum (TNSF), a volunteer platform for a statewide people’s science movement. TNSF has been active in people-led initiatives to improve health services since the 1990s in multiple districts in the state of Tamil Nadu. TNSF volunteers have acted as mediators between the community and state-run health services in the area of reproductive health and infant care, providing support to women and children.

The schedule and concept-note for this workshop can be found here.

Workshop on Advanced Macroeconomics

Faculty members in Economics group have organised two workshops in Macroeconomics in 2018 and 2019. Through a mix of senior and junior academics, policy makers and economics students, these workshops strived to communicate the importance of critical macroeconomic thinking to a wide audience.

The schedule for the first edition (2018) can be found here.

The schedule for the second edition (2019) can be found here.

CORE Econ Workshop

CORE (Curriculum Open-access Resources for Economics) Project and its free online introduction to economics is taught at top universities across the world, as the standard course. The CORE Econ workshop, organised by members of the Economic faculty at Azim Premji University brought students, teachers and researchers in Economics to think about the challenges in teaching Economics at an Undergraduate level. The workshop involved brainstorming sessions around alternative pedagogies, bringing South Asian perspectives into the classroom etc… 

The schedule of the workshop can be found here.

Rethinking Undergraduate Economics

The Economics group at Azim Premji University organised a forum for ​“Rethinking Undergraduate Economics Education” by bringing together college and university teachers from public and private universities, schoolteachers, and undergraduate students. 

The schedule of the workshop can be found here. Article documenting the key issues discussed during the forum can be accessed here.