India’s deplorable state of economics education

On August 23, 2011, in Economics, India, by Sanjeev Sabhlok

This (below) is the latest Shanghai rankings of universities in relation to economics.

I'm glad to note that my alma mater (USC) is at least in the top 40, although an obscure Candian university has done better. However, it was disappointing to note that although Hong Kong and China (and Israel, if you consider it to be Asian) have managed to find a place in this top 100 list, India does not figure. (Even Australia, I notice, is very poorly placed in its economics education.)

For a country the size of India to have such DEPLORABLE economics education is a shame of unbelievable magnitude. No society can run its policy well if it doesn't pay importance to economics education.

Is this lack of good economics education the reason why most Indians find it so hard to understand the basic economics I've introduced in chapter 4 of BFN which explains why the laws of India MANDATE that only the corrupt should enter politics?

It often seems to me to be next to impossible to explain to Indians that ECONOMICS RULES THE WORLD. And that they MUST understand the world's best economists like Adam Smith and F.A. Hayek if they want a genuinely prosperous nation. (At the least understand me! – make sure you read and fully understand BFN.).

If Indians won't try to understand economics and economic incentives, then PLEASE forget about good policy, and definitely forget about the elimination of corruption. This drama of "fighting" corruption that is going on in India is such a big joke.

(Btw, here's a list of good Indian economists – noting that most of them teach non-Indians, just like I provide economic policy advice to non-Indians for a living, since India won't listen to me)

Academic Ranking of World Universities in Economics / Business – 2011

World Rank	Institution	Total Score
1	Harvard University	100.0		53.3	100.0	100.0	85.9
2	University of Chicago	91.2		100.0	73.5	70.0	99.9
3	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	83.8		59.3	66.7	69.3	88.4
4	University of California, Berkeley	77.7		65.2	64.2	75.9	82.4
5	Columbia University	77.0
6	Stanford University	76.2		32.9	85.4	79.4	88.2
7	Princeton University	73.5		63.1	57.7	49.5	89.7
8	University of Pennsylvania	71.7		28.5	75.6	80.6	83.3
9	Yale University	65.2
10	New York University	64.4		31.8	53.5	76.7	81.2
11	Northwestern University	62.5		18.4	53.5	71.2	88.0
12	London School of Economics and Political Science	60.3		26.0	30.9	72.0	74.1
13	Carnegie Mellon University	59.6		36.3	30.9	45.9	78.1
14	University of Minnesota, Twin Cities	58.9
15	University of California, Los Angeles	58.4		0.0	35.6	60.8	89.3
16	University of Michigan – Ann Arbor	58.2		0.0	43.6	77.1	87.4
17	University of Maryland, College Park	54.3		31.8	17.8	64.2	93.3
18	University of Oxford	53.9		20.1	25.2	74.7	64.5
19	University of Cambridge	53.4
20	University of California, San Diego	52.9		31.8	41.8	43.8	84.8
21	Arizona State University – Tempe	52.3
22	Duke University	52.0		0.0	39.8	61.7	84.7
23	The University of Texas at Austin	51.6		0.0	39.8	58.2	86.6
24	Cornell University	50.1		0.0	17.8	68.9	76.1
25	Indiana University Bloomington	49.9		22.5	30.9	58.3	76.0
26	The Ohio State University – Columbus	48.6		0.0	30.9	60.1	82.9
27	University of British Columbia	48.3		0.0	30.9	55.6	86.4
28	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	47.7		0.0	30.9	53.0	86.9
29	University of Washington	47.4		0.0	35.6	46.4	87.6
30	Dartmouth College	46.0		0.0	25.2	39.4	100.0
31	Pennsylvania State University – University Park	45.9		0.0	25.2	57.2	81.8
32	Michigan State University	45.8		0.0	25.2	62.5	76.3
33	Washington University in St. Louis	45.7		28.5	17.8	48.7	79.8
34	University of Wisconsin – Madison	45.5		0.0	35.6	54.4	72.8
35	University of Southern California	45.3		0.0	25.2	57.5	79.3
36	University of Rochester	44.6
36	University of Warwick	44.6		0.0	41.8	60.3	57.5
38	INSEAD	44.3		0.0	47.1	40.4	70.9
39	Texas A&M University – College Station	44.2		0.0	17.8	57.0	83.4
40	Boston University	43.5		0.0	37.8	44.9	73.0
40	University of South Carolina – Columbia	43.5		0.0	17.8	44.4	93.4
40	Vanderbilt University	43.5		0.0	30.9	43.9	80.9
43	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	43.4		0.0	17.8	60.0	77.4
44	The University of Texas at Dallas	43.3		0.0	25.2	47.8	82.1
45	Erasmus University	42.4		14.2	0.0	78.0	65.3
45	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	42.4		0.0	17.8	47.4	86.3
47	George Mason University	41.9		47.2	17.8	46.7	57.2
47	University of Toronto	41.9		0.0	0.0	66.2	83.6
49	The Johns Hopkins University	41.8		0.0	17.8	34.0	81.4
50	Brown University	41.5		0.0	30.9	31.2	86.6
51-75	Brigham Young University			0.0	17.8	31.6	83.3
51-75	California Institute of Technology			0.0	25.2	32.3	72.9
51-75	Emory University		0.0	0.0	17.8	43.3	84.5
51-75	Georgetown University		0.0	0.0	17.8	43.0	80.5
51-75	London Business School		0.0	0.0	0.0	51.7	89.3
51-75	McGill University		0.0	0.0	25.2	39.5	80.6
51-75	McMaster University
51-75	Purdue University – West Lafayette		0.0	0.0	17.8	50.7	68.5
51-75	Rice University		0.0	0.0	17.8	41.7	88.3
51-75	Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey – New Brunswick		0.0	0.0	25.2	43.8	75.0
51-75	Simon Fraser University		0.0	0.0	17.8	48.9	67.5
51-75	The Hebrew University of Jerusalem		0.0	31.8	0.0	44.8	70.8
51-75	University College London		0.0	0.0	17.8	49.5	71.3
51-75	University of Alberta		0.0	0.0	17.8	50.7	68.7
51-75	University of Amsterdam		0.0	0.0	17.8	64.5	57.2
51-75	University of California, Irvine		0.0	0.0	0.0	44.3	87.0
51-75	University of Colorado at Boulder		0.0	0.0	17.8	39.9	76.4
51-75	University of Florida		0.0	0.0	17.8	48.3	71.5
51-75	University of Houston		0.0	0.0	0.0	46.5	83.5
51-75	University of Miami		0.0	0.0	17.8	38.8	88.0
51-75	University of Montreal		0.0	0.0	17.8	57.4	60.1
51-75	University of Pittsburgh		0.0	0.0	17.8	38.9	84.7
51-75	University of Tilburg		0.0	0.0	0.0	69.6	71.1
51-75	University of Utah		0.0	0.0	17.8	34.5	88.0
51-75	University of Virginia		0.0	0.0	0.0	53.1	77.7
76-100	Boston College		0.0	0.0	0.0	47.1	81.6
76-100	City University of New York – Baruch College		0.0	20.1	0.0	35.6	74.9
76-100	Clemson University		0.0	0.0	17.8	32.8	75.8
76-100	Ecole des hautes Etudes commerciales – Paris(HEC)		0.0	0.0	0.0	34.7	86.8
76-100	Florida State University		0.0	0.0	0.0	49.1	73.5
76-100	Georgia Institute of Technology		0.0	0.0	0.0	44.8	79.9
76-100	Georgia State University		0.0	0.0	0.0	54.0	73.7
76-100	Iowa State University		0.0	0.0	17.8	42.4	63.6
76-100	Peking University		0.0	0.0	0.0	46.4	76.4
76-100	Stockholm School of Economics		0.0	20.1	0.0	41.7	66.4
76-100	Tel Aviv University		0.0	0.0	17.8	42.4	60.8
76-100	The University of Connecticut – Storrs		0.0	0.0	0.0	42.6	78.1
76-100	The University of Georgia		0.0	0.0	0.0	50.2	73.2
76-100	The University of Western Ontario		0.0	0.0	12.6	42.2	69.6
76-100	University of Arizona		0.0	0.0	0.0	46.5	74.9
76-100	University of Arkansas at Fayetteville		0.0	0.0	17.8	34.3	68.9
76-100	University of California, Santa Barbara		0.0	22.5	17.8	33.3	62.5
76-100	University of Frankfurt			0.0	0.0	43.4	60.4
76-100	University of Groningen		0.0	0.0	0.0	57.1	64.3
76-100	University of Iowa		0.0	0.0	0.0	41.9	81.2
76-100	University of Melbourne		0.0	0.0	0.0	70.2	51.1
76-100	University of Nottingham		0.0	0.0	0.0	68.8	54.1
76-100	University of Oklahoma – Norman		0.0	0.0	17.8	38.4	67.7
76-100	University of Zurich		0.0	0.0	17.8	48.7	53.7
76-100	York University		0.0	0.0	0.0	53.3	68.2
* Institutions within the same rank range are listed alphabetically.

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Ranganath R says:

August 24, 2011 at 3:40 pm

Sanjiv,
I could not resist responding to this one, as the irony cannot be anymore stark than what is signified by the current state of that nation which hogs a lion's share of 'glory' in rankings for quality of economics education.
How much ever the dodos of Harvard and Stanford will bury their heads in the sand with their denials and their continued evangelism of supply-side voodoo economics and Keynesian mish-mash, the economic ground reality is of US slowly but surely heading towards Great Depression 2.0, already having suffered the ignominy of its sovereign rating being downgraded
Of what avail are these rankings of economic institutes, when only a handful of economists of the US and the western world have really understood the true import of the economic avalanche that is heading their way.
India for all its pathetic rankings in economics education did produce a successful and level-headed central banker in Dr. YV Reddy at a time when the likes of Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke are fast heading for enduring infamy and disgrace in the Mecca of economics and finance. I dont need spend my time pillorying these two hand-maidens of the wall street syndicate since that job is done with far greater finesse by finance blogosphere of the US
The great many souls of Havard, Stanford or Yale were firm in their belief and conviction that US was on the path of a 'Goldilocks economy' even as late as 2007, when the stresses in the economy were obvious to even less celebrated analysts and journalists.
While I don't claim to have anything other than interest in macro-economics, I consider my understanding of the economic situation of the developed world to be much better than these decorated students and faculty of these institutes.
The following links contain my thoughts on the economic malaise of the US and the west, written long before the current resumption of the downtrend which is pulling Europe along with the US
http://variedessays.blogspot.com/2010/07/moralistic-interpretation-of-us.html
http://globalinvestinghorizons.blogspot.com/2010/03/recession-is-it-really-in-mind-and-what.html
Despite my being just a student of macroeconomics and pursuing this as a hobby along with sociology, I feel I am not very much off the mark on my assessment of economic ground reality as these articles by the few truly knowledgeable economists like Nouriel Roubini, Simon Johnson, Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman (though not so much as the other three) below will bear out
http://www.economywatch.com/economy-business-and-finance-news/marx-was-right-capitalism-is-on-a-self-destructive-path-nouriel-roubini/23-08.html
http://www.economywatch.com/economy-business-and-finance-news/dangerous-and-diseased-the-us-and-europes-grand-debacle/16-08.html
http://www.economywatch.com/economy-business-and-finance-news/elitist-nonsense-shattered-by-paul-krugman.29-07.html

http://www.economywatch.com/economy-business-and-finance-news/anarchy-in-the-uk-the-socio-economic-factors-behind-the-london-riots.19-08.html

How much ever the neo-liberals will swear by Hayek and Adam Smith, the fate of current state capitalism seems quite gloomy and looks like Karl Marx is going to have the laughs for the next few years

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Sanjeev Sabhlok says:

August 24, 2011 at 8:52 pm

Ranganath, I'm unable to place your economic preferences in the right slot and don't have (regrettably) time to read your references.

I AGREE with you that the Keynesians have brought USA to its knees.

I DISAGREE that capitalism in dead in USA. You forget the resurgence of freedom that is coming in from the grassroots. Also known as the Tea Party.

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