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Department of Economics

The Department of Economics at Ashoka University has 34 permanent faculty members, with research and teaching interests that span a broad range of fields which include economic theory, game theory, behavioral economics, experimental economics, theoretical and empirical macroeconomics, monetary economics, economic growth, development economics, time-series econometrics and different areas of applied microeconomics and financial economics.

The department offers a major in Economics and interdisciplinary majors in Economics & Finance, Economics & History, and in Politics, Philosophy & Economics (PPE). At the graduate level, the department offers MA in Economics and Ph.D. in Economics. This website provides more information about those programs, the faculty, and the department’s research activities.

Programmes

Faculty at Economics

Discussion Paper Series

Ashoka’s department of Economics is filled with learned faculty members whose insights in applied, theoretical & modern Economics have far-reaching implications. Click on the tab below to read different discussion papers from recent years.

Centre for Economic Data and Analysis

The Economics Department of Ashoka University has set up the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) with the primary aim of facilitating informed debate about economic and social developments in India. To this end, CEDA has developed a public data repository along with a visualization toolkit that is accessible, searchable, interactive, and will be of use to researchers, journalists, policymakers, students, and others.

Isaac Centre for Public Policy

Isaac Centre for Public Policy (ICPP) at Ashoka University aims to contribute towards accelerated, inclusive and sustainable growth that enables India to become a developed country. To achieve this goal, ICPP works through three strands — academic programs and executive education, policymakers-led research including policy case studies and briefs, and public policy events.

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Dear All,

The Department of Economics invites you to their weekly seminar on Wednesday, April 16th, 2025.

Time: 1:40 PM to 2:50 PM

 Venue: AC 04 301

 SpeakerProf. Tom Raster

 Title: Breaking the ice: The persistent effects of pioneers on trade relationships

Abstract :

This paper provides the first causal evidence of the effect of individual pioneers — first movers on trade links — on aggregate trade. I collect detailed data on all 1.4 million voyages between Baltic Sea ports and the rest of the world from 1500 until the 1850s, including 47,000 pioneering voyages that first connected two towns. I study the effect of pioneering on subsequent trade in a gravity model of yearly port-pair trade and instrument pioneering at the granular voyage level with (i) quasi-random en-route encounters with captains from new ports, and (ii) rerouting due to the unpredictable obstruction of previous destinations by sea ice. I find that 10% of total trade value is due to recent pioneering. A single pioneering voyage increases town exports by 25–33% for the 12% links that persist. Survival is higher for pioneered ports that are more distant from the origin port or existing trade partners in terms of kilometers, product mix, religion, or language. However, pioneers tend to select less distant ports. Therefore, returns are greatest when sea ice removes this selection and forces pioneers to experiment with exogenously determined ports. Pioneering spills over onto other traders, reducing the private returns of pioneers. This raises concerns about insufficient ex-ante pioneering and underlines the importance of policies that foster pioneering, particularly with distant destinations.

 

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Dear All,

The Department of Economics invites you to their weekly seminar on Wednesday, April 16th, 2025.

Time: 1:40 PM to 2:50 PM

 Venue: AC 04 301

 SpeakerProf. Tom Raster

 Title: Breaking the ice: The persistent effects of pioneers on trade relationships

Abstract :

This paper provides the first causal evidence of the effect of individual pioneers — first movers on trade links — on aggregate trade. I collect detailed data on all 1.4 million voyages between Baltic Sea ports and the rest of the world from 1500 until the 1850s, including 47,000 pioneering voyages that first connected two towns. I study the effect of pioneering on subsequent trade in a gravity model of yearly port-pair trade and instrument pioneering at the granular voyage level with (i) quasi-random en-route encounters with captains from new ports, and (ii) rerouting due to the unpredictable obstruction of previous destinations by sea ice. I find that 10% of total trade value is due to recent pioneering. A single pioneering voyage increases town exports by 25–33% for the 12% links that persist. Survival is higher for pioneered ports that are more distant from the origin port or existing trade partners in terms of kilometers, product mix, religion, or language. However, pioneers tend to select less distant ports. Therefore, returns are greatest when sea ice removes this selection and forces pioneers to experiment with exogenously determined ports. Pioneering spills over onto other traders, reducing the private returns of pioneers. This raises concerns about insufficient ex-ante pioneering and underlines the importance of policies that foster pioneering, particularly with distant destinations.

 

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Events

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Contact Us

For any queries regarding Economics department, please contact:-

Sapna Sharma

Department Manager

sapna.sharma@ashoka.edu.in

If you have queries specific to the Economics, or the Economics and Finance programme, please reach out to:-

Economics Student Representatives

econreps@ashoka.edu.in

If you have queries specific to the PPE major, please reach out to:-

PPE Student Representatives

ppe.rep@ashoka.edu.in

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