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Search every verified Deepak Nayar interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Deepak Nayyar, Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South at the Kluge Center and emeritus professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, participated in a conversation at the Kluge Center on September 17, 2023, titled "A Life in Two Worlds." During the event, Nayyar discussed his role in India's 1991 economic reforms, describing the macroeconomic crisis that preceded them. He stated that the government and country had "lived beyond its means" for a decade and that a crisis was inevitable. Nayyar recounted that the reforms, including a 45% devaluation of the rupee and a budget, were implemented within 30 days, and noted that he wrote a note for the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs because the prime minister and finance minister did not have the authority to approve the devaluation alone. He said his motivation was to avoid a default that would lead to hardships for the poor. Nayyar also criticized the current state of economics, saying its concerns have become "much narrower" due to "analytical abstraction and a technique fetishism." He called for rethinking the orthodox worldview and noted that heterodox economists are being dismissed by the orthodoxy. He identified inequality, climate change, and the state of the world economic and political order as key challenges for the 21st century, observing that economies are in difficult times, politics are polarized, and geopolitical divides are sharper than in decades. He compared the current global situation to the 1920s and 1930s and said that addressing it requires "enlightened political leadership" and international cooperation, which he described as "distant dreams."
“The economy was a mess. Simply put. The government had lived beyond its means, year after year, for a decade. The country had lived beyond its means, year after year for a decade. A macroeconomic crisis was not a matter of if, but when.”
“I was known as a critic of the IMF to all of them. One of them even said to me, Why do you propose this? I said, Well, I have been a critic, but we are in very difficult times. We need the IMF not as a lender of last resort, because the money it will give us is modest. We need the IMF for its imprimatur to restore conf...”
“We had a short term debt that had built up to 5 billion. We were borrowing $2 billion overnight, every night in international capital markets, borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. So it was essentially for a time about crisis management, which looked very close for about a year and a half to a default on international deb...”
“We did many, many things that included shipping gold, this time not of the smugglers, but Reserve Bank of India's reserve assets. We were allowed under the Act to keep 15% outside. My colleagues went to the Bank of Japan and I went to London to talk to the governor of the Bank of England. Both were very polite, but the...”
“We did a devaluation of the rupee that was as much as 45%. I wrote a note for the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs because the Prime Minister and the finance minister did not have a right to do it. It was the cabinet committee that approved. It was done. We did the budget. We did all the economic reforms that peo...”
“My driving force in an endeavour to ensure that India did not default on its international debt obligations was a concern that if we did, the Paris Club, the donors would impose hardships for which our poor will pay. And not the elite. Justice had elsewhere. In Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.”
“The essential problem with economics is that its concerns have become much narrower with the passage of time as analytical abstraction and a technique fetishism has captured the imagination of those in the profession. Where, not surprisingly, reward systems shape belief systems.”
“I believe it is time to rethink the orthodox worldview of economics. We think of other social sciences as soft disciplines. Indeed, even heterodox or unorthodox economists like myself or even Joseph Stiglitz are now being dismissed as non economists by the orthodoxy in the profession.”
“The obvious challenge for the 21st century, not just for economists but for humankind, is climate change. But everybody knows everything about that. There are three challenges that I wish to place before you in closing for you to think about. First. Inequality. Economic inequality is a huge economic, social and politic...”
“I think we need to worry about our world economic and political order. In many ways, to me, just think of the world around us. It's in a state of flux. Economies are going through difficult times, if not crisis. Politics within countries is contentious, if not polarized. The geopolitical divides are visible and sharper...”
The Kluge Center host the event with Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South, Deepak Nayyar. Nayyar is a leading ...
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