Raghuram Rajan by Derek Chai https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate Great Economist Debate Part II en-us 2017-05-10 00:32:46 UTC 2024-10-15 00:59:03 UTC hello@padlet.com Me – Raghuram Rajan – in 2004 (41 years old) derecha2000 https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175116321 2017-06-04 15:48:18 UTC https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175116321 Life and Influences derecha2000 https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175116580 Hi, I am an Indian economist and the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. I was also known as the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India between September 2013 and 2016, and back in 2003 and 2006 I was the Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund. Lastly, in 2015 during my tenure at the Indian Reserve Bank I became Vice-Chairman of the Bank for International Settlements. 
 
During my time as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, I successfully stabilized our economy from its financial instability and reduced inflation considerably. Additionally, I have predicted many crises before they occurred. In 2005, at the Federal Reserve annual Jackson Hole conference, I warned everyone about the growing risks in the financial systems and proposed policies that would reduce these risks. Despite negative feedback, I held strong to my beliefs, and following the 2008 economic crisis, people began paying heed to my word, including granting me extensive interviews for the Oscar-winning documentary, Inside Job (2010). I advocate strongly to giving financial marketers in the economy. Moreover, I believe that Capitalism is essential because the free market system is by far the most effective way to organize production and distribution.
 
My most famous accomplishments also include the inaugural Fischer Black Prize, given by the American Finance Association to the financial economist younger than 40 who has made the most significant contribution to the theory and practice of finance. Additionally, my book Fault Lines has won the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs business book of the year award in 2010, and in 2016, I was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
]]> 2017-06-04 15:52:58 UTC https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175116580 Influence on Economics derecha2000 https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175119197 My methodologies consisted of: the labour theory of value, the materialist theory of history and the political theory of the class struggle, which are all very useful tools of analysis in economics that have been further developed and modified by socialists, to explain how the working class are exploited under capitalism and how world socialism will be the emancipation of our class. I valued only two important factors to determine how society functions. One being that the means of production, and two the relations of production. The means of production can be described as all those things that are necessary to produce goods such as labour, materials, and technology. The relations of production refer to the way humans interact with these means of production; for example master and slave. Therefore, when combined together the relations of production and means of production are referred to as the mode of production. Furthermore, I saw capitalism as the current mode of production but like other modes of production that had been put into play previously, did not last. This was because it had an inherent flaw, due to the fact that it required one group of people to exploit another group; the owners of industry to exploit the workers. Those in power would be able to keep the lower classes in a state of false consciousness for a while, but eventually they would realize that they were being exploited and they would rise up and seize control over the means of production. After this everyone would have equal access to the means of production and thus there will be no need for further conflict. Finally, I believed that out of all the modes of production that had gone previously it was Capitalism that was the most exploitative. This is because Capitalism treats humans like just another part of the production process, and I was very convinced that as the industry grew it would lead to the workers feeling more and more alienated. 

Being the Chief Economic Adviser of India on the 10th of august 2012 I prepared the economic survey for India during years 2012-13. On August 6th 2013 I took over the Reserve Bank of India for 3 years. Doing so, I also became the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. I promised in my first speech the reforming of banks and the easing of curbs on foreign banking. Which led to the 
increase of BSE SENSEX by 1.83%. In fact, after my first day in office I rose the value of rupees by 2.1% against the US dollar, making the curbing inflation come down 6.1% in September 2013 to a historic low of -4.05% in July 2015. I also adopted the CPI index as the key indicator of inflation, growing foreign exchange reserves of India by 30% ($380 billion in 2 years). Under my position the RBI licensed two universal banks and approved eleven payments banks to extend banking services to nearly two thirds of the population who are deprived of banking facilities. 




]]> 2017-06-04 16:45:00 UTC https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175119197 Major Publications and Ideas derecha2000 https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175119218 Some notable ideas I developed over my time as an economist and theorist include surplus value, contributions to the labour theory of value, class struggle, alienation and exploitation of the worker, and the materialist conception of history. I saw that modern free-market economies, when left to their own devices, produce gross inequalities, and also laid out a clear idea of what a true communist society would not have. I saw that a class system, private property, individual rights, and the state would all lead to ruin, and decided that they would be out of place in a perfect society. After all, it is clear that all historical change was caused by a series of class struggles between the bourgeoisie 'haves' and the proletariat 'have nots'. Instead, the means of production would ultimately be held not by private industry but by the people or the government. Power to the people!

My first contribution to economic studies appeared in my Zur Kritik der politischen Oekonomie (1859),” first published in English. Within this fairly early work I proposed “a radical critique of the emerging discipline of economic theory” (Prychitko). “It was the first part of a much larger work planned to cover the whole ground of political economy”. My Critique ultimately laid the the foundation for a “system that embraced all the social sciences… There is consistency in all aspects of Marxism that goes far beyond Adam Smith’s efforts at comprehensive political economy”. Additionally, my contributions in the social philosophy and economics are significant in explaining the historical developments that govern up to this time. I also made a lot of other important contributions to sociology, among them: the division of labor, class antagonism, alienated labor, surplus-value and capitalist accumulation, etc. I introduced the difference between use-value (how much something is worth in terms of being useful or necessary) and exchange value (how much something is worth on the market). For example, diamonds have a very low use-value and a very high exchange-value, while rice (a staple to most of the world's population) has a very high use-value, but low exchange value. I explained the production of capital: describing the most basic circulation of commodities like this: C--M--C (that is, a commodity is converted into money [by selling it] and then that money is converted to another commodity [by buying something]). In capitalism, however, the production of capital is the opposite: M--C--M (that is, money is converted into a commodity which is then converted back into [more] money). I argued that this means: "Use-values must therefore never be looked upon as the real aim of the capitalist; neither must the profit on any single transaction. The restless never-ending process of profit-making alone is what he aims at." Finally, I mentioned that labor power is a commodity that is sold on within the market and used to produce surplus values for the capitalist.

In may 2012 I proposed that the causes of the ongoing economic crisis in the US and Europe in the 2008–2012 period were substantially due to workforce competitiveness issues in the globalization era that was ignored. Therefore, I proposed supply-side solutions of a long-term structural or national competitiveness nature: "The industrial countries should treat the crisis as a wake-up call and move to fix all that has been papered over in the last few decades... Rather than attempting to return to their artificially inflated GDP numbers from before the crisis, governments need to address the underlying flaws in their economies. In the United States, that means educating or retraining the workers who are falling behind, encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, and harnessing the power of the financial sector to do good while preventing it from going off track. In southern Europe, by contrast, it means removing the regulations that protect firms and workers from competition and shrinking the government's presence in a number of areas, in the process eliminating unnecessary, unproductive jobs."

Ultimately I became a strong advocate for structural or supply-side reforms to improve competitiveness of the workforce in order to better adapt to globalization, while also supporting fiscal austerity measures (E.g., raising taxes and cutting spending).

My targets as a governor of the Reserve Bank of India were to lower inflation, increase savings and deepen financial markets, because I believed that reducing inflation was the most important. A panel I created aimed to propose an inflation target for India of 6% for January 2016 and 4% (+-2%) thereafter. 
]]> 2017-06-04 16:45:34 UTC https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175119218 My Books: Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy derecha2000 https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175119247 This was a book I wrote in 2010 on the causes behind the 2008 financial crisis. Besides explaining reasons ranging from the use of credit derivatives to lack of leadership, I also explored the underlying weaknesses in the economic structure which led to this crisis, and of course the ones that still remain. Later that year, my book ended up winning the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year award.]]> 2017-06-04 16:46:23 UTC https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175119247 My Books: Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists derecha2000 https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175119453 This was a book I wrote in 2003 in collaboration with Luigi Zingales, in which I argued that society must act to "save capitalism from the capitalists." In other words, the free market is the most beneficial form of economic organization, but will only thrive in the long run when the government supports the market with proper infrastructure as opposed to continuously subsidizing industries falling behind or reducing their competitors. Therefore, appropriate steps must be taken to ensure that the market remains free from those who wish to suppress markets in order to increase the prosperity of a nation.]]> 2017-06-04 16:49:50 UTC https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175119453 Greg Mankiw Comment ian_walker https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175404248
I respect your ideas and especially your view point that when a capital market is left to its own devices, its hard to see anything about demand securities.



]]> 2017-06-06 14:50:26 UTC https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175404248 Janet Yellen Comment pam_pam https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175979111
 I admire how you value two factors to determine how society functions. 
it is interesting that you feel workers feel more alienated as an industry grows.   ]]> 2017-06-11 06:16:08 UTC https://padlet.com/derecha2000/dcrajandebate/wish/175979111