Programme

PGP

Term

VI

Academic Year

2021-22

Course title

Economic Ideas from Ancient India

Area

Economics

Credits

0.50

Instructor(s)

Prof. Satish Deodhar

Course Description & Objectives

Introduction: The course will cover literature from ancient India which can be divided into Pre-Kautilyan period, Kautilyan period, and post-Kautilyan period. Proto-economic ideas expressed in Vedas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Upanishads, Kautilya’s Arthashastra, Shukranitisara, Buddhist thought, and from medieval period will be covered for the course. Objectives: Science without history is like a man without memory. The objective is to understand proto-economic ideas originating from the ancient Indian treatises. One can relate some of the innate thoughts and practices from ancient times to economic concepts such as moral hazard, interest rates and risk premium, law of diminishing marginal product, comparative advantage, division of labour, market failure, public goods, government deficits, Grasham’s law to name a few. Quite a few thoughts and practices have relevance to modern times.

Pedagogy

Lectures, discussions, and presentations