Amit Basole
Areas of Interest & Expertise
- Labour
- Employment Structural Change
- Artisanal Economies
Biography
Amit Basole heads the Centre for Sustainable Employment and works on “jobless growth” in India. He is also the Associate Professor of Economics, School of Arts and Sciences, at the University.
Amit has taught at Bucknell University and the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He has a PhD in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst as well as a PhD in Neuroscience from Duke University. Prior to that he attended the University of Mumbai for a Bachelors in Microbiology and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai for a Masters in Molecular Biology.
His earlier research projects include causes of declining calorie consumption in India, impacts of subcontracting on informal firms, knowledge sharing in informal industrial clusters, conditions of work for home-based women workers, the economics of Geographical Indications, and skill acquisition in the informal economy.
He has a particular interest in people’s’ knowledge traditions and their significance in creating alternatives to the paradigm of “Development.”
Amit has worked at the University since 2017.
Courses
Political Economy of International Development
This course introduces students to various ways in which power has shaped global flows of labour, capital and goods through history
Political Economy: Theories of Power
This course introduces students to foundational, theoretical and conceptual tools of Political Economy
Indian and Chinese Economic Development in Comparative Perspective
Structural Change, Growth and Economic Development
Why is India’s economy still predominantly agricultural?
Microeconomics: Theory and Applications I
A microeconomic model of a developing economy to understand land, credit, and labour.
Macroeconomics: Theory and Applications I
The principal problems of developing economies with a focus on policy.
Reports
State of Working India 2023: Social Identities and Labour Market Outcomes
Amit Basole, Rosa Abraham, Angarika Rakshit, Vijayamba R, Anand Shrivastava, Tamoghna Halder (2023)The impact of COVID-19 on Bengaluru’s Urban Poor
Amit Basole, Gaurav Gupta (2023)State of Working India 2018
Amit Basole, Arjun Jayadev, Rosa Abraham (2018)Microenterprises in India: A Multidimensional Analysis
Amit Basole (2019)State of Working India 2019
Amit Basole (2019)
Working Paper Series
Estimating the productivity gap between organised and unorganised small-scale units in India’s manufacturing sector
Amit Basole, Dimple Chopde, Paaritosh Nath (2023)Labour incomes in India: A comparison of PLFS and CMIE-CPHS data
Amit Basole (2022)
Articles
Publications
Book
- Anjum, A. & Basole, A. (2021). Thinking with Ghalib: Poetry for a New Generation. Folio Books (Pakistan) and Roli Books (India).
Edited Books
- Basole, A. & Kapoor, R. (Eds.). (2019). Towards a Just, Dignified Future of Work: Lessons from India. Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), Ahmedabad.
- Basole, A. (Ed.). (2015). Lokavidya Perspectives: A Philosophy of Political Imagination for the Knowledge Age. Aakar Books, New Delhi.
Chapters in Edited Books
- Basole, A., & Jayadev, A. (2018). Employment Guarantee in the Age of Precarity: The Case of India’s NREGA. In J.A. Ocampo & J.E. Stiglitz (Eds.), The Welfare State Revisited. Columbia University Press. https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-welfare-state-revisited/9780231185448
- Basole, A. & Ramnarain, S. (2016). Qualitative and Ethnographic Methods in Economics. In F.S. Lee & B. Cronin (Eds.), Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Heterodox Economics (pp.135 — 164). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781782548461
- Basole, A. (2016). The Agrarian Question in India. In R. Kumar (Ed.), Contemporary Readings in Marxism: A Critical Introduction (pp. 277 — 311). Aakar Books. https://www.aakarbooks.com/details.php?bid=920
- Basole, A. (2016). Spare Change for Spare Time? Homeworking Women in Banaras. In S. Raju & S. Jatrana (Eds.), Women Workers in Urban India (pp.167 — 194). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316459621
- Basole, A. (2013). Gandhian Economics in a Knowledge Society. In T. Sethia & A. Narayan (Eds.), The Living Gandhi: Lessons for Our Times (pp. 211 — 227). Penguin India. https://penguin.co.in/book/the-living-gandhi/
- Basole, A. & Bhattacharya, R. (2009). The Phantom of Liberty: Mo(der)nism and Postcolonial Imaginations in India. In R. Kanth (Ed.), The Challenge of Eurocentrism: Global Perspectives, Policy, and Prospects (pp. 97 — 119). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230620896_7
- Basole, A. (2009). Eurocentrism, the University and Multiplicity of Knowledge Production Sites. In Edu-Factory Collective (Ed.), Toward a Global Autonomous University: Cognitive Labor, The Production of Knowledge and Exodus from the Education Factory (pp.32 — 38). Autonomedia. https://transversal.at/media/edufactory-book-en.pdf
Journal Articles
- Abraham, R., Basole, A. & Kesar, S. (2021). Down and out? The gendered impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on India’s labour market. Economia Politica. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40888 – 021 – 00234‑8
- Basole, A. (2021). Reviving employment and livelihoods in India: COVID-19 and after. Economy Matter, 29(6).
- Kesar,S., Abraham, R., Nath, P., Lahoti, R., & Basole, A. (2021). Pandemic, informality, and vulnerability: Impact of COVID-19 on livelihoods in India. Canadian Journal of Development Economics/Revue canadienne d’études du développement, 42(1 — 2), 145 – 164. https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2021.1890003
- Nath, P., & Basole, A.(2021). Did employment increase or decrease in India between 2011 and 2017? Economic and Political Weekly, 56(34), 44 — 52. https://www.epw.in/journal/2021/34/special-articles/did-employment-rise-or-fall-india-between-2011-and.html
- Gupta, G., & Basole, A. (2020). India’s information technology industry: Prospects for growth and role in structural transformation. Decision, 47, 341 — 361. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40622 – 020 – 00269‑z
- Basole, A. & Narayan, A. (2020). Long-run performance of the organised manufacturing sector in India: An analysis of sub-periods and industry-level trends. Economic and Political Weekly, 55(10), 35 — 44. https://www.epw.in/journal/2020/10/special-articles/long-run-performance-organised-manufacturing.html?0=ip_login_no_cache%3D0f724da411b50f81854f929e72284795
- Basole, A. (2018). Understanding India’s jobs crisis, in education, employment and employability landscape of India. NHRD Network Journal, 10(5), 20 — 24. https://cse.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/nhrdn_journal_jan18.pdf
- Basole, A. (2017). What does the rural economy need: Analysis of the promises for rural India. Economic and Political Weekly (Union Budget Special Issue), 52(9), 40 — 43. https://www.epw.in/journal/2017/9/commentary/what-does-rural-economy-need.html
- Basole, A. (2016). Informality and flexible specialization: Apprenticeships and knowledge spillovers in an Indian Silk Weaving Cluster. Development and Change, 47(1), 157 — 187. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12216
- Basole, A., & Basu, D. (2015). Non-food expenditures and consumption inequality in India. Economic and Political Weekly, 50(36), 43 — 53. https://www.epw.in/journal/2015/36/special-articles/non-food-expenditures-and-consumption-inequality-india.html
- Basole, A.(2015). Authenticity, innovation and the geographical indication in an artisanal industry: The case of the Banarasi sari. Journal of World Intellectual Property, 18:3/4, pp. 127 – 149. https://doi.org/10.1111/jwip.12035
- Basole, A., Basu, D., & Bhattacharya, R. (2015). Determinants and impacts of subcontracting: Evidence from India’s unorganized manufacturing sector. International Review of Applied Economics, 29(3), 374 — 402. https://doi.org/10.1080/02692171.2014.1001324
- Basole, A., & Basu, D.(2015). Fuelling calorie intake decline: Household level evidence from rural India. World Development, 68, 82 — 95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.11.020
- Basole, A. (2014). Dynamics of income inequality in India: Insights from World Top Incomes database. Economic and Political Weekly, 49(40), 14 — 17. https://www.epw.in/journal/2014/40/commentary/dynamics-income-inequality-india.html
- Basole, A. (2014). Whose knowledge counts? Reinterpreting Gandhi for the Information Age. International Journal of Hindu Studies, 18(3), 1 — 44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11407-014‑9163‑9
- Basole, A. (2013). Class-biased technical change and socialism. Rethinking Marxism: A Journal of Economics, Culture, and Society, 25(4), 592 — 601. https://doi.org/10.1080/08935696.2013.842701
- Basole, A., & Deepankar, B. (2011). Relations of production and modes of surplus extraction in India: Part II – ‘Informal’ industry. Economic and Political Weekly, 46(15), 63 — 79. https://www.epw.in/journal/2011/15/special-articles/relations-production-and-modes-surplus-extraction-india-part-ii
- Basole, A., & Deepankar, B. (2011). Relations of production and modes of surplus extraction in India: Part I- Agriculture. Economic and Political Weekly, 46(14), 41 — 58. https://www.epw.in/journal/2011/14/special-articles/relations-production-and-modes-surplus-extraction-india-part‑i
- Basole, A., Kreft-Kerekes, V., White, L.E., & Fitzpatrick, D. (2006) Cortical cartography revisited: A frequency perspective on the functional architecture of visual cortex. Progress in Brain Research, 154, 121 – 134. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0079-6123(06)54006 – 3
- Sanyal, S., Consoulos, C., Kuromi, H., Basole, A., Mukai, L., Kidokoro, Y., Krishnan, K.S., & Ramaswami, M. (2005) Analysis of conditional paralytic mutants in Drosophila SERCA reveals novel mechanisms for regulating membrane excitability. Genetics, 169(2), 737 — 750. https://dx.doi.org/10.1534%2Fgenetics.104.031930
- Basole, A., White, L.E., & Fitzpatrick, D.(2003). Mapping multiple features in the population response of visual cortex. Nature, 423, 986 — 990. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01721
- Sanyal,S., Basole, A., & Krishnan, K.S.(1999) Phenotypic interaction between temperature sensitive paralytic mutants comatose and paralytic suggests a role for N- ethylmaleimide sensitive fusion factor in synaptic vesicle cycling in Drosophila. Journal of Neuroscience,19 (24), RC47. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.19 – 24-j0005.1999
- Sanyal, S., & Basole, A. (1999). Neural complexity underlying simple behavior. Journal of Bioscience, 24(3), 255 — 257. https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/jbsc/024/03/0255 – 0257
Reports
- Creating Udyog Sahayak Enterprises Network (USENET) for Employment Generation and Scale-up in the MSME Sector. (2021). Azim Premji University, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Tata Institute Social Sciences. https://cse.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/USENET_Report_Final_for_Release.pdf
- Reviving Employment and Livelihoods in India: COVID-19 and After. (2021). Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Azim Premji University. https://apfstatic.s3.ap-south‑1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/CII%20Report%20-%20Employment%20%20Livelihoods.pdf?r1GfFlMkZjKBO053gPsuc2sendZxqfHd
- Microenterprises in India: A Multidimensional Analysis. (2019). Azim Premji University and Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship, Bangalore. https://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/publications/2019/report/microenterprises-in-india-a-multidimensional-analysis
Magazine Articles
- Basole, A.(2021). Rural employment and the pandemic challenge. Seminar, 748. https://www.india-seminar.com/2021/748/748-AMIT%20BASOLE.htm
- Basole, A. (2018, January) The Skilled and the schooled: India’s struggles over what counts as knowledge. The Caravan. https://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-essays/india-struggle-knowledge