NMIMS Hosts Book Talk with Dr. Sudipta Sarangi About The Economics of Small Things

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The talk was followed by an interactive Q&A session

Mumbai, 26th February 2021: SVKM’s NMIMS Deemed to be University, an educational institute with 40 years of legacy, recently hosted Book Talk, an online discussion with Dr.  Sudipta Sarangi, Professor and Department Head, Department of Economics, Virginia Tech, about his book The Economics of Small Things , at the Sarla Anil Modi School of Economics (SAMSOE), Mumbai. The event marks the first of a series of webinars being organized by the University, to accord students the opportunity to interact and learn from thought leaders and academicians from around the world.

During the 1-hour long talk, Dr. Sarangi spoke extensively about his book, which explains economic principles, from the Cobra Effect to incentivisation, using examples from popular culture or common experiences, such as recent events and social or cultural phenomena like Netflix’s origins, hospitality practices, farmer’s protests in India and even the game of chicken.

Thanking SVKM’s NMIMS, Dr. Sarangi said, “I have always wanted to visit NMIMS. While the pandemic has made travel near-impossible, this book talk has provided me with the perfect opportunity to reach out to its student community. My intention with this book is to provide students with an interesting perspective on how economic principles apply in real life. When we look around us, there are a lot of things happening behind the scenes that are obscured by layers. My idea with this book was to delve into those layers and demonstrate to others how economic principles underlie our everyday decisions.”

Commenting on the book talk, Prof. Anu Abraham, Assistant Professor, SAMSOE, said, “Hosting Dr. Sarangi for our first edition of Book Talk is a very proud moment for us, and has given us fresh impetus to continue this initiative on a monthly basis. His novel approach to explaining economics through common cultural experiences and headline events is both refreshing and engaging. As one of the most eminent economists in the world, his insight is invaluable and Book Talk provided a golden opportunity to our students to learn from one of the best academicians in the field.”

Prof. Sneha Thayyil, Assistant Professor, SAMSOE, further added, The Economics of Small Things uses a range of everyday objects, occurrences and social experiences to offer crisp, easy-to-comprehend lessons in economics. It uses familiar cultural practices from India, and around the world, to introduce and explain classic concepts such as price mechanisms, as well as events such as the discrimination underlying the George Floyd protests of 2020. This interaction was a great note to kick off our Book Talk series at the University, and we look forward to many more such engaging conversations with other eminent thinkers.”

Dr. Sarangi started by talking about his book, explaining some of the chapters and concepts within. This was followed by a lively question-and-answer session, where he answered queries posed by NMIMS students about varied subjects including game theory, price discrimination, and job prospects in the US.

The virtual talk was attended by Dr. Ramesh Bhat, Vice Chancellor; Dr. Sharad Mhaiskar, Pro-Vice Chancellor, faculty members, students and other invitees.

About Author: 

Dr. Sudipta Sarangi is a Co-Editor – Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Associate Editor – Journal of Public Economic Theory, Associate Editor – Economic Modelling, Associate Editor – Studies in Microeconomics and the Department Head and Professor of Economics at Virginia Tech. (Virginia Polytechnic and State University). His research interests range from network theory to experimental and behavioral economics. He is research associate of DIW Berlin, GATE, University of Lyon-St. Etienne, and the Lima School of Economics. He has been a consultant to organizations like the World Bank and FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). He currently serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Public Economic Theory and Studies in Microeconomics.

About SVKM’s NMIMS:

Established in 1981, NMIMS is today recognized as a globally reputed university with strong industry linkages. It offers multiple disciplines across 8 campuses that consist of 17 specialized schools, more than 17000 students, and about 750 full-time faculty members, 10 faculty members with Fulbright Scholarship and Humboldt International Scholarship for post-doctoral researchers. It is known for its consistent academic quality and research-focused approach towards holistic education. SVKM’s NMIMS has been granted Category-I Deemed University status by Graded Autonomy Regulation 2018 by MHRD/UGC and NMIMS Mumbai Campus is NAAC accredited with a CGPA of 3.59.)

Website: https://www.nmims.edu/

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