Critique of the New Consensus Macroeconomics and Implications for India

The thought-provoking book presents alternative viewpoints to mainstream macroeconomic theory, questions conventional policy wisdom and suggests a systematic re-orientation of current macroeconomic and financial regulatory policies in India.

The New Consensus Macroeconomics (NCM), which established itself in the 1980s as mainstream macroeconomics, essentially represents an 'uneasy truce' between two dominant schools of economic thought viz. New Classical and Neo-Keynesian economics. The NCM sets the tone for much of the macroeconomic (especially monetary) policy followed by the advanced economies in the period of the Great Moderation (1990-2005). The recent global crisis has posed a major challenge to the NCM as empirical models based on the NCM failed to anticipate the occurrence of the crisis and later its extent and severity.

The above considerations constitute the underpinnings of this book, which addresses the theoretical controversies within a general context and their policy implications for India. The authors' analysis leads to a somewhat critical assessment of the financial sector policies followed in India since the initiation of reforms in 1991. This makes the book a valuable resource not only for researchers working in this area, but also for policy makers. 

Dilip Nachane is currently Chancellor, University of Manipur, Imphal, India; Professor Emeritus, IGIDR (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research), Mumbai, India; National Fellow, Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR); Honorary Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore; and Honorary Fellow, Indian School of Political Economy, Pune, India. He has earlier served as Director, Department of Economics, University of Mumbai (1993-99); Vice Chancellor, IGIDR (2007-10); Visiting Professor, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada (1988-89); Visiting Professor, University of Ulster, U.K. (1991-92); Hallsworth Fellow, University of Manchester, U.K. (1987-88); and Fulbright Fellow, University of Texas at Austin, USA (1982-83). He has served on several official committees such as Technical Advisory Committee on Monetary Policy, Reserve Bank of India (2005-11), and Member, Vijay Kelkar Committee on Regional Imbalances in Maharashtra (Govt. of Maharashtra, 2011 onwards). He was elected President of the Indian Econometric Society (TIES) 2002-03. He has been continuously listed in Marquis' International Who's Who for the last 15 years. For his outstanding contributions to research and teaching of Economics in India, he received the UGC Pranavananda Saraswati Award for Best Teacher in Economics, 2004. He has published the following book with the Oxford University Press, 'India Econometrics: Theoretical Foundations' and 'Empirical Perspectives'. He has also edited/co-edited 7 volumes including the 'India Development Report 2011'. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Quantitative Economics (Springer), and a Co-editor of Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies (Taylor and Francis).