Practical Economic Analysis and Computation

This book pays tribute to Professor Kirit Parikh through contemporary essays from experts on energy, climate change including mitigation and adaptation, agriculture, food procurement, water resources, and public health. The chapters use statistical methods and mathematical models to analyse questions of policy formulation and effectiveness. The book picks up important SDG topics such as – current issues and policy making in the infrastructure sector of power and their relationship to India’s climate commitments; computable models of the growth and absorption of renewable generation as the focal point of policy interventions in the power sector; increasing efficiency of national grids and to support integration of renewables in South Asia; natural gas pricing policy; achieving, nutrition, self-sufficiency and foodgrains surplus; welfare implications of the minimum support price (MSP) policy for food grains; evaluating epidemiological performance of strategies against COVID-19; critical examination of economic growth; methodological issues in policy formulation; modeling the Social Accounting Matrix; algorithms for solving convex optimization models; and fossil fuel power plant operations. The studies especially bring into focus the latest developments in climate change, the switch to renewable energy sources, and the public health crisis due to COVID-19. This collection will be of great value to policymakers and researchers, especially from a developing economy perspective.