Economics for IAS/IES/UGC-Net

Here, I am putting the topic wise list of recordings which we have made in the course. Almost the entire syllabus is recorded. We are starting with the new cycle of recordings for the coming sessions and there will be regular updates, with new recordings added and some old ones, modified. With every cycle of the paper,the course gets more and more modified and becomes more and more useful to students.

General Economics Paper I

1. Theory of Consumer’s Demand

Cardinal utility Analysis; Marginal utility and demand, Consumer’s surplus, Indifference curve Analysis and utility function, Price income and substitution effects, Slutsky theorem and derivation of demand curve, Revealed preference theory. Duality and indirect utility function and expenditure function, Choice under risk and uncertainty.Simple games of complete information, Concept of Nash equilibrium.

1. Cardinal Utility Theory
2. Budget Constraint
3. Consumer Preferences
4. Utility
5. Choice
6. Demand
7. Duality and Indirect Utility function and Expenditure function
8. Revealed Preference
9. Slutsky equation
10. Buying and Selling
11. Intertemporal Choice
12. Consumer Surplus
13. Uncertainty Part 1
14. Uncertainty Part 2

Game Theory 

Simple games of complete information, Concept of Nash equilibrium.

1.  Introduction to Game Theory and Prisoner’s Dilemma (No Demo)
2. Strictly and Weakly Dominated Strategies (No Demo)
3.  Battle of Sexes and Stag Hunt (No Demo)
4.  Mixed Strategy Nash Equilibrium 2 X 2 form and 3 X 3 form (No Demo)
5. Extensive Form Game and Battle of Sexes Example (No Demo)
6. Backward Induction and its Examples (No Demo)

2. Theory of Production

Factors of production and production function. Forms of Production Functions: Cobb-Douglas, CES and Fixed coefficient type, Translog production function. Laws of return, Returns to scale and Return to factors of production. Duality and cost function, Measures of productive efficiency of firms, technical and allocative efficiency. Partial Equilibrium versus General Equilibrium approach. Equilibrium of the firm and industry.

1. Producer Theory
2. Elasticity of Substitution
3. Cobb Douglas Production Function
4. CES Production Function
5. Translog Production Function
6. Returns to Factor and Returns to Scale
7. Cost Theory Part 1
8. Cost Theory Part 2
9. Duality and Cost functions
10. Existence of General Equilibrium Prices Part 1
11. Existence of General Equilibrium Prices Part 2
12. Edgeworth Box, Pareto Efficiency and Competitive Equilibrium (Cobb Douglas)
13. Edgeworth Box, Pareto Efficiency and Competitive Equilibrium (Perfect Substitutes and Perfect Complements)

3. Theory of Value

Pricing under different market structures, public sector pricing, marginal cost pricing, peak load pricing, cross-subsidy free pricing and average cost pricing. Marshallian and Walrasian stability analysis. Pricing with incomplete information and moral hazard problems.

1. Perfect Competition Part 1
2. Perfect Competition Part 2 (LR Supply Function- Constant Cost Industry)
3. Perfect Competition Part 3 (LR Supply Function – Increasing and Decreasing Cost Industry)
4. Profit Maximization Part 1 (No Demo)
5. Profit Maximization Part 2 (No Demo)
6. Monopoly Part 1
7. Monopoly Part 2
8. Imperfect Competition Part 1 (Bertrand Model)
9. Imperfect Competition Part 2 (Cournot Model)
10. Imperfect Competition Part 3 (n firm Cournot)
11. Imperfect Competition Part 4 (Product Differentiation in Cournot and Bertrand)
12. Imperfect Competition Part 5 (Tacit Collusion)
13. Imperfect Competition Part 6 (Entry Deterrence)
14. Imperfect Competition Part 7 (Stackelberg Model)
15. Public Sector Pricing (Covered under Public Economics) 
16. Marshallian and Walrasian Stability Analysis -Part 1
17. Marshallian and Walrasian Stability Analysis -Part 2
18. Marshallian and Walrasian Stability Analysis -Part 3
19. Pricing with Incomplete Information (Asymmetric Information) – Part 1
20. Pricing with Incomplete Information (Asymmetric Information) – Part 2
21. Moral Hazard – Part 1
22. Moral Hazard – Part 2

4. Theory of Distribution

Neo classical distribution theories; Marginal productivity theory of determination of factor prices, Factor shares and adding up problems. Euler’s theorem, Pricing of factors under imperfect competition, monopoly and bilateral monopoly. Macro- distribution theories of Ricardo, Marx, Kaldor, Kalecki.

5. Marginal Productivity Theory of Distribution under Perfect Competition 
6. Factor Shares and Adding up Problems and Euler’s Theorem Part 1 (No Demo)
7. Factor Shares and Adding up Problems and Euler’s Theorem Part 2 (No Demo)
8. Two Welfare Theorems and their Implications
9. Marginal Productivity Theory of Distribution under Perfect Competition
10. Wage Determination under Monopsony Part 1
11. Wage Determination under Monopsony Part 2
12. Bilateral Monopoly
13.  Kaldor’s Theory of Distribution
14.  Kalecki’s Theory of Distribution 
15. Ricardo’s Theory of Distribution
16. Marx Theory of Distribution
17. Pricing under Imperfect Competition -Part 1
18. Pricing under Imperfect Competition -Part 2
19. Pricing under Imperfect Competition -Part 3

20. Welfare Economics

Inter-personal comparison and aggregation problem, Public goods and externality, Divergence between social and private welfare, compensation principle. Pareto optimality. Social choice and other recent schools, including Coase and Sen and Game theory

1. Arrow-Impossibility Theorem Part 1
2. Arrow-Impossibility Theorem Part 2
3. Interpersonal Comparison and Aggregation Problem
4. Divergence between Social and Private Welfare
5. Pareto Optimality
6. Social Choice – Sen
7. Social Choice – Coase

Part B 

1. Mathematical Methods in Economics:

Differentiation and Integration and their application in economics. Optimisation techniques, Sets, Matrices and their application in economics. Linear algebra and Linear programming in economics and Input-output model of Leontief.

1.  Functions Part 1 (Definition and Types of functions)
2.  Functions Part 2 (Monotonicity and Convex Concave functions)
3.  Differentials and Implicit function theorem
4. Simple Economic Applications of Derivatives and Integrals Part 1
5.  Simple Economic Applications of Derivatives and Integrals Part 2
6. Exponential Function and its Applications
7. Logarithmic Functions and its Applications
8. Cramer’s Rule and its Applications
9. First and Second Order conditions for Optimization
10. Multivariable functions
11.  Multivariable functions Economic Applications
12. Constrained Optimization and Lagrangean Method
13. Lagrangean Method Mathematical Derivation
14. Lagrangean Method Applications
15. Linear Algebra – Part 1
16. Linear Algebra – Part 2
17. Input – Output Model – Part 1
18. Input – Output Model – Part 1

2. Statistical and Econometric Methods:

Measures of central tendency and dispersions, Correlation and Regression. Time series. Index numbers. Sampling of curves based on various linear and non-linear function. Least square methods and other multivariate analysis (only concepts and interpretation of results). Analysis of Variance, Factor analysis, Principle component analysis, Discriminant analysis. Income distribution: Pareto law of Distribution, long normal distribution, measurement of income inequality. Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient. Univariate and multivariate regression analysis. Problems and remedies of Hetroscedasticity, Autocorrelation and Multicollnearity.

Econometrics (Only for IES Exam)

1. Derivation of Normal Equations under Simple Regression Model
2.  Statistical Properties of OLS estimators
3. Computation of R2
4. Introduction to Hypothesis Testing
5. One Tailed and Two Tailed Test Example (No Demo)
6. Test of Goodness of fit in a Simple Linear Regression Model (No Demo)
7. Derivation of Normal Equations under Multiple Regression Model
8. Multiple Regression with two explanatory variables (No Demo)
9. Properties and Precision of Multiple Regression Coefficients (No Demo)
10. Introduction to Joint Hypothesis Testing
11. Joint Hypothesis Testing Example
12.  Omission of an Important Variable
13.  F Test (No Demo) 
14. Introduction to Multicollinearity
15.  Exact Multicollinearity and Consequences of ignoring Multicollinearity
16.  Multicollinearity and measures of alleviating it (No Demo)
17. Functional Forms and their Estimation
18. Heteroscedasticity, Assumptions, Tests and Consequences of ignoring it
19.  More on Heteroscedasticity (No Demo)
20. Serial Correlation, Assumptions, Tests and Consequences of ignoring it
21.  More on Autocorrelation (No Demo)
22. Dummy Variable, Estimation and Problems, Dummy Variable Trap
23. More on Dummy Variables (No Demo)
24. Chow Test (No Demo)

General Economics Paper II

1. Economic Thought:

Mercantilism Physiocrats, Classical, Marxist, Neo-classical, Keynesian and Monetarist schools of thought.

1. History of Economic Thought : Part 1
2. History of Economic Thought : Part 2
3. History of Economic Thought : Part 3

2. Concept of National Income and Social Accounting

Measurement of National Income, Inter relationship between three measures of national income in the presence of the Government sector and International transactions. Environmental considerations, Green national income

1. National Income Accounting Part 1
2. National Income Accounting Part 2
3. National Income Accounting Part 3
4.  National Income Accounting Part 4
5. Green National Income

3. Theory of employment, Output, Inflation, Money and Finance

The Classical theory of Employment and Output and Neo classical approaches. Equilibrium, analysis under classical and neo classical analysis. Keynesian theory of Employment and output. Post Keynesian developments. The inflationary gap; Demand pull versus cost push inflation, the Philip’s curve and its policy implication. Classical theory on Money, Quantity theory of Money. Friedman’s restatement of the quantity theory, the neutrality of money. The supply and demand for loanable funds and equilibrium in financial markets, Keynes’ theory on demand for money

1. Money and Inflation Part 1
2. Money and Inflation Part 2
3.  Money and Inflation Part 3
4.  Classical Theory of Output and Employment Part 1
5.  Classical Theory of Output and Employment Part 2
6. Classical Theory of Interest Rate Part 1
7.  The Closed Economy in the Short Run Part 1
8.  The Closed Economy in the Short Run Part 2
9. The Closed Economy in the Short Run Part 3
10. Monetary and Fiscal Policy Part 1
11. Monetary and Fiscal Policy Part 2
12. Monetary and Fiscal Policy Part 3
13. Monetary and Fiscal Policy Part 4
14. Nominal and Real Interest Rates Part 1
15. Nominal and Real Interest Rates Part 2
16. The Labour Market Part 1
17. The Labour Market Part 2
18. AD- AS Model Part 1
19. AD- AS Model Part 2
20. Theory of Adaptive Expectations
21. Theory of Rational Expectations Part 1
22. Theory of Rational Expectations Part 2

4. Financial and Capital Market

Finance and economic development, financial markets, stock market, gift market, banking and insurance. Equity markets, Role of Primary and Secondary markets and efficiency, Derivatives markets; Futures and options

All of these will be re-recorded again. Recordings will be available soon

5. Economic Growth and Development

Concepts of Economic Growth and Development and their measurement: characteristics of less developed countries and obstacles to their development – growth, poverty and income distribution. Theories of growth: Classical Approach: Adam Smith, Marx and Schumpeter – Neo classical approach; Robinson, Solow, Kaldor and harrod Domar. Theories of Economic Development, rostow, Rosenstein-Roden, Nurske, Hirschman, Leibenstien and Arthur Lewis, Amin and Frank (Dependency school) respective role of the state and the market. Utilitarian and Welfariest approach to social development and A K Sen’s critique. Sen’s capability approach to economic development. The Human Development Index. Physical quality of Life Index and Human Povery Index.

1. Adam Smith Theory of Growth
2. Ricardo’s Theory of Growth
3. Malthusian Theory of Growth
4. Classical Theory of Growth
5. Marxian Theory of Growth Part 1
6. Marxian Theory of Growth Part 2
7. Marxian Theory of Growth Part 3
8. Schumpeterian Theory of Growth
9. Marx’s Stages of Growth
10. Rostow’s Stages of Growth Part 1
11. Rostow’s Stages of Growth Part 2
12. Gerschenkron’s Great Spurt Theory
13. Nurkse’s and Lewis’s views on Economic Development
14. Nurkse’s Theory of Balanced Growth
15. Hirschman Theory of Unbalanced Growth
16. Lewis Theory of Unlimited Supply of Labour
17. Fei Ranis Theory of Economic Development Part 1 (No Demo)
18. Fei Ranis Theory of Economic Development Part 2 (No Demo)
19. Leibenstein’s Critical Minimum Effort Thesis (No Demo)
20. Rosenstein Rodan Big Push Theory (No Demo)
21. Nelson’s Low Level of Equilibrium Trap (No Demo)
22. Kaldor Mirrlees Model of Economic Growth (No Demo)
23. International Structuralist Models (No Demo)
24. Dualism Introduction (No Demo)
25. Social, Technological and Financial Dualism (No Demo)
26. Economic Development and Economic Growth (No Demo)
27. Good Governance and Humane Governance Index (No Demo)
28. Growth of GNP Approach vs Basic Needs Approach (No Demo)
29. Human Development Index (No Demo)
30. Solow Growth Model Part 1 (No Demo)
31. Solow Growth Model Part 2 (No Demo)
32. Solow Growth Model Part 3  (No Demo)
33. Harrod Domar Model
34. Sen’s Capability Approach to Development
35. Human Development Index
36. Physical Quality of Life Index
37. Human Poverty Index

6. International Economics

Gains from International Trade, Terms of Trade, policy, international trade and economic development – Theories of International Trade; Ricardo, Haberler, Heckscher-Ohlin and Stopler-Samuelson – Theory of Tariffs – Regional Trade Arrangements.

7. Balance of Payments

Disequilibrium in Balance of Payments, Mechanism of Adjustments, Foreign Trade Multiplier, Exchange Rates, Import and Exchange Controls and Multiple Exchange Rates.

1. Introduction : NER, RER, Nominal and Real Appreciation and Depreciation
2. Introduction : BOP Account and UIP condition
3. Dd for Domestic Goods and Domestic Dd for Goods
4. Marshall Lerner Conditions and Effects of Depreciation
5. J Curve
6. Equilibrium in Open Economy Money Market
7. Fiscal and Monetary Policy in Open Eco and Flexible ER’s
8. Fixed ER and Fiscal and Monetary Policy
9. Flexible and Fixed ER’s
10. Consequences of Overvaluation and Undervaluation
11. BOP and External Accounts Must Balance (No Demo)
12. Accommodating Transactions (No Demo)
13. Mundell Flemming Model Part 1 (Horizontal BP curve) (No Demo)
14. Mundell Flemming Model Part 2 (Horizontal BP curve) (No Demo)
15. Mundell Flemming Model Part 3 (Different Slopes of BP curve) (No Demo)

8. Global Institutions

UN agencies dealing with economic aspects, World Bank, IMF and WTO, Multinational Corporation

All of these will be re-recorded again. Recordings will be available soon

General Economics Paper III

1. Public Finance

Theories of taxation: Optimal taxes and tax reforms, incidence of taxation; Theories of public expenditure: objectives and effects of public expenditure, public expenditure policy and social cost benefit analysis, criteria of public investment decisions social rate of discount, shadow prices of investment, unskilled labour and foreign exchange. Budgetary deficits. Theory of public debt management.

1. Canons of Taxation
2. Theories of Taxation Part 1
3. Theories of Taxation Part 2
4. Public Goods and their Optimal Provision
5. Free Rider Problem and Lindahl’s Pricing
6. Lindahl’s Pricing and Majority Voting
7. Arrow Impossibility Theorem and Median Voter Theory
8. Direct and Indirect Taxes
9. Incidence of taxes
10. Optimal Taxation Part 1
11. Optimal Taxation Part 2
12. Theories of Public Expenditure
13. Effects of Public Expenditure
14. Public Debt Part 1
15. Public Debt Part 2
16. Cost Benefit Analysis

2. Environmental Economics

Environmentally sustainable development, Green GDP, UN Methodology of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting. Environmental Values: Users and non-users values; option value. Valuation Methods: Stated and revealed preference methods. Design of Environmental Policy Instruments: Pollution taxes and pollution permits, collective action and informal regulation by local communities. Theories of exhaustible and renewable resources. International environmental agreements. Climatic change problems. Kyoto protocol, tradable permits and carbon taxes

1. Revealed Preference Method
2. Stated Preference Method
3. Shadow Pricing
4. Air Pollution
5. Property Rights and Externalities Part 1
6. Property Rights and Externalities Part 2
7. Investment Decision Criteron for Public Sector Projects And Efficient Allocation of Pollutants
8. Cost Effective Policies for Fund Pollutants
9. Static and Dynamic Efficient Allocation of Depletable Resources
10. Water Pollution
11. Timber Harvesting
12. Economics of Fisheries
13. Economics of Oil and Natural Gas
14. Toxic Substances and Pollution

3. Industrial Economics

Market structure, conduct and performance of firms, product differentiation and market concentration, monopolistic price theory and oligopolistic interdependence and pricing, entry preventing pricing, micro level investment decisions and the behavior of firms, research and development and innovation, market structure and profitability, public policy and development of firms.

1. Perfect Competition
2. Monopoly
3. Market Structure and Market Power
4. Technology and Cost functions
5. Monopoly and Third Degree Price Discrimination
6. Second Degree and First Degree Price Discrimination
7. Commodity Bundling Strategy
8. Strategic Interaction and Cournot Model
9. Bertrand Model and Stackelberg Model
10. Entry Deterrence
11. Market Structure and Size
12. Research and Development

4. State, Market and Planning

Planning in a developing economy. Planning regulation and market. Indicative Planning. Decentralised Planning.

1. Planning and Development : Part 1
2. Planning and Development : Part 2
3. Planning and Development : Part 3

General Economics Paper IV

Indian Economics 

Here I have recorded primarily the entire Uma Kapila’s big version. I would urge all students to buy the book. This is one of the most revered book in Indian Economics. We will be adding more readings from EPW and other sources. One other good book is, “Oxford Companion to Indian Economics” edited by Kaushik Basu. Also, note that following recordings are in no way a substitute of the book, you have to read the book, chapter by chapter and also listen to the recordings, to get the greater understanding of the reading.

1. Indian Economy at Independence – Introduction : Uma Kapila
2. Economic Legacies of Colonial Rule in India (Part 1) : Tirthankar Roy
3. Economic Legacies of Colonial Rule in India (Part 2) : Tirthankar Roy
4. Planning, Market and the State : Uma Kapila
5. Mahalanobis Model Part 1
6. Mahalanobis Model Part 2
7. Vakil Brahmanand Wage goods Model
8. XII Five Year Plan-Some issues : Manmohan Singh
9. Growth and Structural Change since 1950 (Part 1) : Uma Kapila
10. Growth and Structural Change since 1950 (Part 2) : Uma Kapila
11. Growth and Structural Change since 1950 (Part 3) : Uma Kapila
12. Recovery of Indian Economy during Nehru Era Part 1  : P Balakrishnan
13. Recovery of Indian Economy during Nehru Era Part 2  : P Balakrishnan
14. Macroeconomic Overview : The Growth Story (Part 1) : Manoj Panda
15. Macroeconomic Overview : The Growth Story (Part 2) : Manoj Panda
16. Growth experience of Indian economy : Arvind Subramanian
17. Story of sustained increase in savings and investment during 1950-2008  : Rakesh Mohan (Part 1)
18. Story of sustained increase in savings and investment during 1950-2008  : Rakesh Mohan (Part 2)
19. Growth and Investment – The Interlinks : C.Rangarajan
20. Myths about Indian Reforms : Bhagwati and Panagariya
21. Demographic Constraint : Uma Kapila (Part 1)
22. Demographic Constraint : Uma Kapila (Part 2)
23. India’s Demographic Transition and its consequences for Development : Tim Dyson
24. Debate on Demographic dividend in India : KS James
25. Integrating Growth and Development Part 1 
26. Integrating Growth and Development Part 2
27. India in Comparative Perspective (Part 1)
28. India in Comparative Perspective (Part 2)
29. Poverty, Inequality and Unemployment (Part 1) : Uma Kapila
30. Poverty, Inequality and Unemployment (Part 2) : Uma Kapila
31. Poverty, Inequality and Unemployment (Part 3) : Uma Kapila
32. Poverty, Inequality and Unemployment (Part 4) : Uma Kapila
33. Poverty, Inequality and Unemployment (Part 5) : Uma Kapila
34. Counting the Poor : Measurement and Other Issues (Part 1) : Rangarajan and Mahendra Dev
35. Counting the Poor : Measurement and Other Issues (Part 2) : Rangarajan and Mahendra Dev
36. Labour and Employment in Fast Growing India (Part 1) : Papola and Sharma
37. Labour and Employment in Fast Growing India (Part 2) : Papola and Sharma
38. Labour and Employment in Fast Growing India (Part 3) : Papola and Sharma
39. Inequities in Access to Health Services in India Part 1
40. Inequities in Access to Health Services in India Part 2
41. Inequities in Access to Health Services in India Part 3
42. Inequities in Access to Health Services in India Part 4
43. India’s Education Policy (Part 1)
44. India’s Education Policy (Part 2)
45. India’s Education Policy (Part 3)
46. Indian Agriculture Issues, Policies and Reforms (Part 1) : Uma Kapila
47. Indian Agriculture Issues, Policies and Reforms (Part 2) : Uma Kapila
48. Indian Agriculture Issues, Policies and Reforms (Part 3) : Uma Kapila
49. Agricultural Development in India (Part 1) : S Mahendra Dev
50. Agricultural Development in India (Part 2) : S Mahendra Dev
51. The Context and Conundrums of Contemporary Agriculture
52. Agricultural Price Policy, Farm Profitability and Food Security : Dev and Rao
53. National Food Security Act : Ashok Gulati and Shweta Saini
54. Industrial Development and Policies since Independence (Part1) : Uma Kapila
55. Industrial Development and Policies since Independence (Part2) : Uma Kapila
56. Industrial Performance 1991 – 2008 : R Nagraj
57. Industrial Development and Policies in India since Independence : KL Krishna
58. Public Sector Performance Since 1950 : A Fresh Look : R Nagraj
59. On Strategies of Disinvestment and Privatization : Vijay Kelkar
60. Of Omissions and Commissions : India’s Competition Laws : Aditya Bhattacharjea
61. Small Scale Industrialization under Globalization : M.H. Balasubramanya
62. The Employment Problem in India and the problem of Missing Middle : Mazumdar and Sarkar
63. Services in India’s Growth Process : Uma Kapila
64. Infrastructure and Economic Development : Uma Kapila
65. India’s External Sector : Uma Kapila