Bikash Choudhury
Raghuram Rajan is the only global economist who could teach the complex formulations of Macro-Economic policy to a crowd; and, you will see people nodding their heads in confirmation in grasping the issues under deliberations. If you were at the venue of Harekrushna Mahatab Memorial Lecture at Bhubaneswar last month then you could have witnessed the phenomena; you would also have noticed how the auditorium was choke a block full, people standing craning their neck and people spilling over to the lobby with a desire to listen whatever they can from Dr. Rajan. You would have been surprised or becoming simply jealous to see the tall-dark and handsome guy getting all the ladies attention at the event; he was no less than a ‘Bollywood Diva’ or a “Rock Star’ of western make. However, it was not his good looks that was being feted that evening; rather, his razor sharp mind, intimate understanding about the macro economy & monetary policy, his intellectual honesty and of course ample amount of guts to say things in public that most central bankers avoid touching. The summary of his memorial lecture was centered on the wisdom of pursuing good macro economic policy that would be sustainable in long run against the perils of following an aggressive monetary policy that could bring the entire financial system to grief if the gamble did not pay off as most often that it does. He said “Helicopter Money” may not bring consumption growth as in uncertain times people would rather save the windfall gains than spending or investing. He was of the opinion that the innovation should be directed towards the problems of society to be able to add to the GDP. He was against the Oligopolies who buy out small innovative companies which fails to transfer real growth to the economy and fails to create enough jobs for the society. He also drew attention to the aging factor in developed economies that has impacted their growth numbers. This would remain a memorable public lecture at Bhubaneswar for long time to come.