Bibek Debroy (1955-2024): A gadfly who wrapped erudition about mythology around market economics
An acquaintance remembers the chairman of the prime minister’s economic advisory council.
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Bibek Debroy was my age and came to our university in Bhubaneswar in 2016 to deliver a key note lecture on my invitation. There was a certain flamboyance about him that you generally do not associate with economists, who are most often staid and tad tiresome to listen to.
Like Alan Greenspan, the longest-serving governor of US Federal Reserve bank, he was an abashed admirer of Adam Smith and the invisible hand of the market to spin magic and create wealth. The chairman of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic advisory council, he possibly thought that free market had a cosmic force.
It spurred him to translate the Ramayana and Mahabharat into English in several volumes, in contrast to the slim editions by C Rajgopalachari. They would remain his greatest legacy, unlike economics where he was a standout face, without being profound.
Modi’s fascination for Debroy possibly stemmed from his erudition on mythology wrapped around market economics.
Economics as a subject has divided the Indian economists into two sharp camps after Independence. The Bombay School of DT Lakdawala harped on monetary policy while the Delhi School led by doyens like KN Raj championed a fiscal approach. It was much like Milton Friedman being pitted against John Maynard Keynes.
Nehru who...
