Evidence suggests that the likelihood of pandemics has significantly increased over the past decade due to several economic and environmental factors such as increased mobility of people, global integrated supply chains and greater exploitation of nature. As we currently live through an ongoing pandemic in the form of COVID-19, we are faced with several pressing questions -

• Just how effective are the current policy actions and what are their long term implications?
• What is the trade-off between lockdowns and livelihoods?
• How can we incentivize people to change their behaviour for their own/society’s safety?

This course takes a look at several of these aspects. Key topics that will be covered include –

• Behavioural Economics and Behavioural Science. Various (cognitive) biases. Nudge theory. Policy implications.
• Strategic Decision-Making and Coordination Problems. Social distancing measures and lockdowns. The Public Health approach: Coordination amongst different agencies within a country, and that amongst countries.
• Economic and Social Cost Benefit Analysis. The trade-offs between lockdowns (to help save lives from Covid-19) and livelihoods, income and the economy.

Date & Time: 06th – 09th May (Everyday), 2:30 PM – 5:00 PM.

Faculty: Dr. Abhinay Muthoo (Dean of Warwick in London)

Abhinay Muthoo is a Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick in England, UK. He is also the Dean of Warwick in London and the Director of the Warwick Policy Lab.

Abhinay was educated at the London School of Economics and the University of Cambridge. He has broad research interests and these include game theory, political economy, international development and public policy.

For further information about Abhinay and his work, please check his website.

Fees - INR 1,950 + GST

A certificate of completion will be issued by the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics (MDAE) at the end of the program. It is mandatory for everyone to attend all lectures.

Who is this Course for?

• Students pursuing their graduation or post-graduation in any discipline.
• Faculty members and research scholars.
• Young working professionals

Testimonial from Faculty & Student who attended the first batch.

"It was a great course on Economics of Pandemics by Dr. Abhinay Muthoo. The course started charting out the channels through which any pandemic could/would impact the economy and in the next three days the same was also explained with behavioural background. In a strategic environment, how people might make decisions which may be away from social optimal and how the public policy plays a role in nudging people (as a country) back to a social optimality was explained well in the course. I am sure everyone gained a lot of insights into the area of behavioural game theory too. I thoroughly enjoyed the course, and I thank MDAE for giving me the opportunity to attend it."
- Professor Rohit Muraleedharan, Assistant Professor, NMIMS, Mumbai

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"The certificate course on the economics of pandemics was very informative and left us wanting to learn more. The MDAE along with Dr Abhinay Muthoo picked up a topic of increasing relevance and provided a platform for students across the country and of varied disciplines to learn during the lockdown from the comfort of their homes. Not only did it entail important concepts in economics, it went a step further to talk about the problem of the COVID-19 from various other perspectives. The platform provided for discussions highlighted the various perspectives that students held and all were encouraged to think and learn and use the short term course as a medium to think and innovate."
- Namrita Shankar, Christ University, Bangalore

Important Pointers for the Certification Program

• Resources for the course can be found here
• There is no mandatory pre-reading requirement for the program, we encourage you to browse through some of them, and perhaps read a few of the short, non-technical articles there so as to get a flavour of some of the issues. Some of these readings will be helpful during the course, and for sure all will be helpful after the course to help develop a deeper understanding of the topics.