Topics
National Income and Related Aggregates
- Macroeconomics Vs Microeconomics
- Representative Goods and Sectors
- Macroeconomic Agents and Government Role
- Emergence of Macroeconomics
- Context of the Present Book of Macroeconomics
- Meaning of Economic Wealth and Final Goods
- Stocks, Flows, and Depreciation
- Capital Formation, Trade-off & Circular Flow of Income
- Circular Flow of Income and Methods of Calculating National Income
- Output Method/Product Method
- Expenditure Method
- Income Method
- Factor Cost, Basic Prices and Market Prices
- Some Macroeconomic Identities
- National Disposable Income
- Private Income
- National Income Aggregates
- Real GDP and Nominal GDP
- GDP and Welfare
Introductory Macroeconomics
Introduction
- A Simple Economy
- Central Problems of an Economy
- Concepts of Production Possibility Frontier
- Organisation of Economic Activities
- Positive and Normative Economics
- Macroeconomics Vs Microeconomics
Development Experience (1947-90) and Economic Reforms since 1991
- India's Economy Before Independence
- Low Level of Economic Development Under the Colonial Rule
- Agricultural Sector in India
- Industrial Sector
- Foreign Trade of India
- Demographic Condition
- Occupational Structure
- Infrastructure
- Post-Independence Economic Systems and Planning
- Five Year Plans (FYP)
- Agriculture
- Industry and Trade
- Trade Policy: Import Substitution
- The 1991 Economic Crisis and Reforms
- Background of the New Economic Policy
- Liberalisation
- Privatisation
- Globalisation
- World Trade Organisation (WTO)
- Impact of the Economic Reforms
Theory of Consumer Behaviour
- Consumer Behaviour: The Problem of Choice
- Basic Concepts of Microeconomics > Utility
- Cardinal Approach (Utility Analysis)
- Derivation of Demand Curve in the Case of a Single Commodity
- Ordinal Utility Analysis/Indifference Curve Analysis
Indian Economic Development
Current Challenges Facing Indian Economy
- Concept of Human Capital
- Sources of Human Capital
- Human Capital and Economic Growth
- Human Capital and Human Development
- State of Human Capital Formation in India
- Growth of Education Sector in India
- Challenges and Future Prospects in Education
- Rural Development in India
- Credit and Marketing in Rural Areas
- Agricultural Market System
- Diversification into Productive Activities
- Sustainable Development and Organic Farming
- The Nature and Importance of Work in Society
- Workers and Employment
- Participation of People in Employment
- Self-employed and Hired Workers
- Employment in Firms, Factories and Offices
- Growth and Changing Structure of Employment
- Informalisation of Indian Workforce
- Concept of Unemployment
- Government and Employment Generation
- Environment and Sustainable Development in India
- State of India’s Environment
- Concept of Sustainable Development
- Strategies for Sustainable Development
Money and Banking
- Concept of Money
- Functions of Money
- Demand for Money and Supply of Money
- Money Creation by Banking System
- Limits to Credit Creation and Money Multiplier
- Policy Tools To Control Money Supply
- Demand and Supply for Money : A Detailed Discussion
- The Transaction Motive
- The Speculative Motive
- Various Measures of Supply of Money
- Narrow and Broad Money
- Demonetisation
Development Experience of India – a Comparison with Neighbours
Introductory Microeconomics
Production and Costs
- Production Function
- Basics of Production Theory
- Variation of Output in the Short-Run Returns to a Factor
- Relation Between Total, Average and Marginal Product
- Law of Variable Proportions
- Average and Marginal Physical Products
- Changes in Production
- Cost - Fixed Cost
- Cost -variable Cost
- Behaviour of Cost in the Short - Run
- Relationship Between Average Variable Cost and Average Total Cost and Marginal Cost
- Concept of Opportunity Cost
- Marginal Revenue
- Producer's Equilibrium
- Law of Supply
- Market Supply Schedule
- Distinguish between Stock and Supply
- Determinants of Supply
- Movements Along and Shifts in Supply Curve
- Measurement of Elasticity of Supply
- Methods of Measurement of National Income
- Cost Concepts > Marginal Cost
- The Law of Diminishing Marginal Product
- Shapes of Product Curves
- Costs in Long Run Period
- Returns to Scale
Determination of Income and Employment
- Aggregate Demand and Its Components
- Consumption
- Investment
- Determination of Income in Two-sector Model
- Determination of Equilibrium Income in the Short Run
- Macroeconomic Equilibrium with Price Level Fixed
- Effect of an Autonomous Change in Aggregate Demand on Income and Output
- The Multiplier Mechanism
- Paradox of Thrift
- Equilibrium Output and Employment
The Theory of the Firm Under Perfect Competition
- Concept of Market
- Market Equilibrium
- Determination of Market Equilibrium
- Effect of Simultaneous change in Demand and Supply on Equilibrium Price
- Perfect Competition
- Imperfect Competition
- Classification of Market Structure
- Oligopoly
- Market Forms - Perfect Oligopoly
- Market Forms - Imperfect Oligopoly
- Equilibrium Price
- Applications of Tools of Demand and Supply Price Control
- Price Ceiling
- Price Floor
- Revenue Concepts
- Profit Maximisation Objective
- Determinants of a Firm’s Supply Curve
- Market Supply Schedule
- Price Elasticity of Supply
Government Budget and the Economy
Market Equilibrium
- Simple Monopoly in the Commodity Market
- Other Non - Perfectly Competitive Markets
Balance of Payments
- Open Economy and Its Linkages
- Concept of Balance of Payments
- Current Account
- Capital Account
- Balance of Payments Surplus and Deficit
- Foreign Exchange Market
- Foreign Exchange Rate
- Determination of the Exchange Rate
- Merits and Demerits of Flexible and Fixed Exchange Rate Systems
- Managed Floating Exchange Rate System
Introduction
- India, Pakistan and China began their developmental path around the same time.
- India and Pakistan became independent in 1947; People’s Republic of China was established in 1949.
- All three countries adopted planning through Five Year Plans.
Common Planning Approach
- India: First Five Year Plan, 1951–56; followed Five Year Plans till March 2017.
- Pakistan: First Five Year Plan (Medium Term Development Plan) started in 1956; currently 12th Plan (2018–23).
- China: First Five Year Plan started in 1953; currently 14th Plan (2021–25).
- India and Pakistan adopted similar strategies of large public sector and higher social sector expenditure.
- Till the 1980s, all three had similar growth rates and per capita incomes.
China’s Developmental Path
- One-party rule brought critical sectors, enterprises and individual lands under government control.
- Great Leap Forward (GLF) campaign, 1958, aimed at massive industrialisation with backyard industries.
- Rural communes were created for collective cultivation; about 26,000 communes existed in 1958.
- GLF faced problems: severe drought killing about 30 million people and withdrawal of Russian professionals.
- Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966–76) sent students and professionals to the countryside.
China’s Economic Reforms (since 1978)
- Reforms introduced in phases, starting with agriculture, foreign trade and investment.
- Commune lands were divided into small plots for household use, not ownership.
- Households kept all income after paying stipulated taxes.
- Later, private sector firms and township/village enterprises were allowed to produce goods.
- State Owned Enterprises faced competition.
- Dual pricing introduced: part of output at government-fixed prices, remaining at market prices.
- As production rose, the share of market transactions increased.
- Special economic zones were set up to attract foreign investors.
Pakistan’s Developmental Path
- Pakistan follows a mixed economy with public and private sectors.
- Late 1950s–1960s: regulated import substitution-based industrialisation with tariff protection and import controls.
- Green Revolution led to mechanisation, higher public infrastructure investment and increased foodgrain output.
- Agrarian structure changed significantly.
- 1970s: capital goods industries were nationalised.
- Late 1970s–1980s: policy shifted towards denationalisation and encouragement of private sector.
- Pakistan received financial support from western nations and remittances from emigrants to the Middle-east.
- These factors stimulated economic growth and created a climate for new investments.
- Reforms were initiated in 1988.
Key Points: Developmental Path – A Snapshot View
- All three countries started development around the same time under planned economic strategies.
- India and Pakistan had similar public-sector-led, social-expenditure-focused approaches and similar growth till the 1980s.
- China’s early development involved GLF, communes, drought and the Cultural Revolution.
- Post-1978, China adopted phased reforms, dual pricing and special economic zones.
- Pakistan moved from regulated import substitution and nationalisation to denationalisation, private sector promotion and reforms supported by external finance and remittances.
Related QuestionsVIEW ALL [32]
From the set of the events given in column I and corresponding facts given in Column II, choose the correct pair of statements:
| COLUMN I | COLUMN II | ||
| i | Dual Pricing | A | Economic Reforms of 1991 |
| ii | Setting up of Special Economic Zones in China | B | To attract foreign Direct Investment |
| iii | Commune System | C | Backyard based Industrial production units |
| iv | Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution | D | Collective Farming |
Read the following text carefully and answer the following question:
| SINO-PAK FRIENDSHIP CORRIDOR |
|
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has deepened the decades-long strategic relationship between the two nations. But it has also sparked criticism for burdening Pakistan with mountains of debt and allowing China to use its debt-trap diplomacy to gain access to strategic assets of Pakistan. The foundations of CPEC, part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, were laid in May 2013. At the time, Pakistan was reeling under weak economic growth. China committed to play an integral role in supporting Pakistan’s economy. Pakistan and China have a strategic relationship that goes back decades. Pakistan turned to China at a time when it needed a rapid increase in external financing to meet critical investments in hard infrastructure, particularly power plants and highways. CPEC’s early harvest projects met this need, leading to a dramatic increase in Pakistan’s power generation capacity, bringing an end to supply-side constraints that had made rolling blackouts a regular occurrence across the country. Pakistan leaned into CPEC, leveraging Chinese financing and technical assistance in an attempt to end power shortages that had paralyzed its country’s economy. Years later, China’s influence in Pakistan has increased at an unimaginable pace. China As Pakistan’s Largest Bilateral Creditor: China’s ability to exert influence on Pakistan’s economy has grown substantially in recent years, mainly due to the fact that Beijing is now Islamabad’s largest creditor. According to documents released by Pakistan’s finance ministry, Pakistan’s total public and publicly guaranteed external debt stood at $44.35 billion in June 2013, just 9.3 percent of which was owed to China. By April 2021, this external debt had ballooned to $90.12 billion, with Pakistan owing 27.4 percent –$24.7 billion – of its total external debt to China, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Additionally, China provided financial and technical expertise to help Pakistan build its road infrastructure, expanding north-south connectivity to improve the efficiency of moving goods from Karachi all the way to Gilgit-Baltistan (POK). These investments were critical in better integrating the country’s ports, especially Karachi, with urban centers in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Despite power asymmetries between China and Pakistan, the latter still has tremendous agency in determining its own policies, even if such policies come at the expense of the long-term socioeconomic welfare of Pakistani citizens. |
Analyse the implication of bilateral ‘debt-trap’ situation of Pakistan vis-a-vis the Chinese Economy.
