Business News
Nobel prize winning demonetisation supporter lambasts one particular step of Narendra Modi
A year on and the debate on whether Demonetisation was worth the pain is still going on, this time Nobel laureate Richard H Thaler calling the rollout deeply flawed and criticising the introduction of the Rs 2000 note despite being a demonetisation supporter.
A year on and the debate on whether Demonetisation was worth the pain is still going on, this time Nobel laureate Richard H Thaler calling the rollout deeply flawed and criticising the introduction of the Rs 2000 note despite being a demonetisation supporter. “The concept was good as a move to a cashless society to impede corruption but the rollout was deeply flawed and the introduction of the Rs 2000 note makes the motivation for the entire exercise puzzling,” he told a student on email.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation, Richard Thaler lauded the policy as the first step towards cashless society and reduction of corruption, also remarked “damn” after learning that the government was introducing Rs 2,000 currency notes.
Richard Thaler is a Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science at the University of Chicago. He won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences last month. Richard Thaler is the Charles R Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Behavioral Science and Director of the Center for Decision Research, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences last month said Thaler has incorporated psychologically realistic assumptions into analyses of economic decision-making. “By exploring the consequences of limited rationality, social preferences, and lack of self-control, he has shown how these human traits systematically affect individual decisions as well as market outcomes,” it said in a release while announcing him as the winner of the Nobel prize.
Narendra Modi’s vision to roll out demonetisation in a surprise television national-wide address got overwhelming support from the citizens of the country, but got divided opinions from economists. There was nearly 100 deaths cause, directly and indirectly, due to demonetisation and about 1.5 million jobs were lost, many economists slammed the move.
Former World Bank Chief Economist Kaushik Basu has said that Modi government’s decision to demonetise high denomination currency notes is not ‘good economics’ and the collateral damage of demonetisation is likely to far outstrip the benefits.
