Basic Economics

Microeconomics Basics

• Supply, Demand & Market Equilibrium: Price mechanisms, demand curves, supply curves, market clearing
• Human Development: HDI, HDR, capabilities approach, gender inequality, multidimensional poverty, and the move beyond GDP toward measuring well-being
• GDP and National Income: GDP, GNP, NDP, NNP, methods of calculation, PPP, real vs nominal, limitations
• Elasticity: Price, income, and cross elasticity
• Market Structures: Perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly, monopolistic competition
• Consumer and Producer Theory: Utility, cost curves, profit maximization

Macroeconomics Basics

• National Income: GDP, GNP, NDP, per capita income
• Inflation and Deflation: Causes, types, measurement (WPI, CPI), effects, deflation, and policy response
• Monetary Policy: RBI, repo rate, reverse repo, CRR, SLR, open market operations, inflation targeting, MPC
• Subsidies in India: Food, fuel, fertilizer, and agricultural subsidies — their fiscal cost, design challenges, and the shift toward direct benefit transfer
• Fiscal Policy: Budget, taxation, government spending, deficit, FRBM Act, Union Budget process
• Banking in India: Commercial banks, the Reserve Bank of India as regulator, NBFCs, priority sector lending, digital payments, and the NPA crisis

Indian Economy

• Economic Planning: Five-year plans, the Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and the evolution of India's development strategy
• Economic Planning: Five-year plans, NITI Aayog
• Sectors of the Indian Economy: Agriculture, industry, services — contributions, challenges, and structural transformation
• Poverty and Unemployment: Measurement, structural causes, government schemes, and the persistent challenge of inclusive growth
• Foreign Trade & Balance of Payments: Balance of payments, exports, imports, FDI, trade agreements, and India's place in global commerce
• Liberalization, Privatization & Globalization: The 1991 reforms, the shift from License Raj to market economy, and the ongoing debate about self-reliance vs. openness
• Capital Markets and Financial System: Stock exchanges, SEBI, mutual funds, bonds, derivatives, and the architecture of India's financial markets

Resources