Session 5 of YSI's Early Career Researchers Series
Speaker: Surbhi Kesar, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, SOAS University of London
Surbhi Kesar is a development and political economist, who currently works as a Senior Lecturer in Department of Economics at SOAS University of London. Her recent and ongoing work focusses on labour and informal economy and the reproduction of the structure of economic dualism in India with high economic growth, thereby critiquing the imaginary of development-as-capitalist-transition; relation between identities and social exclusion; political economy of crises; a critical engagement with the social reproduction theory; and approaches towards decolonising the field of economics. Her research is embedded in Marxian Political Economy and South-centric critical frameworks of economics.
Abstract
Despite a high economic growth experienced by the India, a vast majority of its workforce derives livelihoods from the informal economy. In this talk, we reflect on how different strands of literature – both mainstream and critical – have explained the persistence of the informal economy and what role it plays in the process of economic development. Using data from individual and firm level surveys, over the period of high growth, we assess various dynamics of India’s informal economy . We reflect on why India’s experience does not square with the dominant theories and posit an alternative framework, following the works of Kalyan Sanyal, that can help us make sense of the current reality. Building on it, we derive the research agenda on informal economy and post-colonial capitalist development and posit the questions that need answering.