RONO HILLS, 8 Sep: The Centre for Development Studies of Rajiv Gandhi University’s (RGU) economics department organised two special lectures on ‘Political economy of regional development’ and ‘Reflections on field research’ on 6 September.
Both the lectures were delivered by Prof Deepak Kumar Mishra from New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Centre for the Study of Regional Development.
Prof Mishra emphasised the need to comprehensively understand the process of regional economic development. He explained the varied approaches to political economy and encouraged students to explore new methodologies in their research.
He further highlighted the changing concept of political economy and its relevance in contemporary situation. He argued that “economic and political factors are co-constituting and in contemporary times politics and economics are inseparable.”
“There is a need to understand the social and political relations, which are important factors that influence the choice of economic agents,” he said.
He opined that the structural and institutional constraints play a crucial role in the decision-making process of people.
Prof Mishra stated that “the social structure and historical factors also set the boundary for an individual while making his choice, and so political economy attaches more importance to these factors in any study.”
He also highlighted the importance of property rights for proper functioning of market, capitalism and different types of power relations in the economy.
