Testimonials- Dvara Research

From Dr. Indradeep Ghosh, Ph.D., Executive Director, Dvara Research

Why did Dvara Research invite Smita? What’s underway in economics and why this fills the gap–

At Dvara Research, we study financial inclusion and social protection as policy domains where the public as well as the private sectors can contribute towards formulating problem statements and towards solutioning. Unfortunately, much of our understanding of how these contributions might be conceived remains anchored to mainstream economics and its adherents. And this is unfortunate because such an anchoring over the last two decades at least has actually yielded very little measurable progress. So, as Executive Director of Dvara Research, I have striven to expand the set of perspectives we can bring to policy problems in these two domains. 

“In this regard, Smita’s work on institutional economics has been eye-opening for me since it roots itself in existing contextual realities of the arena in which policy is meant to act, rather than offering some transcendental top-down vision that would apply equally well in all places at all times, which has been the principal failing of a policy approach informed by mainstream economics.”

 A much closer attention to the stark realities of institutional context in any particular policy domain is already beginning to gain ground in the policy discourse, even if the quality of such an attention remains as yet immature. 

“Smita’s expertise, honed over two decades of thinking and writing about institutional economics and its implications for policy, provides a wonderful example of mature experiential wisdom in this area of urgent importance.”

I therefore felt it necessary to expose my team to Smita’s work and I invited her to Chennai for that purpose.

The dynamics of engagement

I had Smita meet my team in two different contexts. First, she met them over dinner in an informal setting. During this occasion, she had conversations with several of them about their work at Dvara Research, and got to know about their backgrounds. The day after, she delivered two 2.5-hour sessions to the team at our Chennai office. During these sessions she laid out the importance of institutional economics, both as a solution for the deficiencies of mainstream economics and as a way of thinking about policy problems. She also described the value of heuristics in constructing policy frames, and walked the team through some examples of this approach from her own policy work and her published papers.

“Smita has a very natural inviting approach in the way she speaks and presents, so that her audience feels encouraged to make comments, ask questions or seek clarifications. 

Certainly, this was the case with my team as well. Many of them were moved to engage with her during her sessions from the vantage point of the work that they are doing at Dvara Research, and Smita was able to help them see the relevance of her ideas in the context of their work. This was exactly the outcome that I had hoped for.” 

What was the impact?

“Several team members reported being deeply inspired by her work.” 

One person said – the most impressive thing about her is that she has devised her own way of thinking about policy problems, and that’s so unique! 

Some project teams at Dvara Research have now read some of her published work, especially her papers on heuristics, and begun applying these ideas to their own work. For example, we have discovered applications of a heuristics approach in thinking about inclusive finance for nano-entrepreneurs and social protection for gig/platform workers. 

Recommendation

“If you are a policy researcher/advocate or policymaker working in India, then no matter what your domain of practice or action, you will want to know Smita and her work. It’s unique, it’s grounded, and it shows a way forward amidst the cacophony of policy advice coming at you from all corners. Also, she is very personable and patient with her interlocutors, and she breaks things down in a very simple way so that complex abstract concepts become easy to understand in concrete settings.

Most of all, she understands how institutional context shapes the process by which policy action unfolds and evolves, and this makes her a very rare expert in today’s complex policy landscape. Please consider her for learning/training sessions for your teams, whether you are a researcher or a policymaker, and also please consider engaging her as a consultant if you are wrestling with a particularly difficult policy problem.”

Aishwarya Narayan also shares her reflections from the day here.

“Over the course of a day, she introduced us to her thinking in the fields of institutional and evolutionary economics. The field of economics is experiencing a moment of crisis, as both heterodox and mainstream schools tussle with resolving internal contradictions in the subject. This forces us to ask ourselves whether the theories and abstractions we learn through formal training can do justice to the phenomenological world and our lived experience. To understand reality (and think about policy problems therein) accurately, one requires tools or frameworks that can help understand the evolutionary logic behind how a system arrived at a certain design over time, and its progression from one stable equilibrium to another.”

“In a confusing and rapidly evolving world, Dr. Srinivas’ thinking provides a fresh lens to contend with the sheer complexity of the ‘wicked’ problems that public policy must confront.”