The Mahalanobis Growth Model (Ghate et al 2022) - Weekend Book Review

English Podcast Start at 00:00:00Bengali Podcast Start at 00:24:05Hindi Podcast Start at 00:32:03🎙️ Welcome to "Revise and Resubmit", and today’s special episode of the Weekend Book Review! 📚✨ I have to say — this one feels especially meaningful.Because today is June 29th, and in India, that means one thing: it’s National Statistics Day 🎉📊 A day we honor the legacy of the legendary Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis — the father of Indian statistics. He didn’t just gift us the famous Mahalanobis distance or found the Indian Statistical Institute back in 1931 — he helped shape India’s economic imagination as a key architect of the Planning Commission 🇮🇳📐So what better way to celebrate than diving into a book that brings Mahalanobis' economic vision to life in a way we’ve never seen before?The book is titled "The Mahalanobis Growth Model: A Macrodynamics Approach", authored by Chetan Ghate, Pawan Gopalakrishnan, and Srishti Grover, and published by Springer Singapore in July 2022. And let me tell you — if you’ve ever wondered how economics, computation, and Indian policy history collide, this book is your perfect storm 🌪️📈🇮🇳It’s not just a textbook. It’s a tour de force of theory, simulation, and critique. The authors walk us through every angle of the Mahalanobis model — from its original equations to the critiques by Bronfenbrenner and Ezekiel, to the fascinating extensions like the wage-goods model by Vakil and Brahmananda. This book is math, it’s macro, and it’s very much a map of India's developmental journey.And what a powerhouse of authors.🎓 Chetan Ghate, a top macroeconomist, Director at the Institute of Economic Growth, and recipient of the Mahalanobis Memorial Gold Medal.🏦 Pawan Gopalakrishnan, a macroeconomics expert at the Reserve Bank of India, and a scholar who straddles theory and policy like few can.📘 Srishti Grover, a promising new mind in quantitative economics from ISI Delhi, who brings a sharp and structured clarity to complex models.This book isn’t just for scholars. It’s for students, for thinkers, for anyone trying to understand what economic planning once looked like — and what it could become.So here’s what I’ve been thinking…🤔 In a world racing toward AI and digital finance, do we still have something to learn from India’s original model of industrial growth?A heartfelt thank you to Chetan Ghate, Pawan Gopalakrishnan, and Srishti Grover, and to Springer Singapore for bringing this important work to the world 🙏📖If this episode sparked your curiosity, don’t forget to subscribe to Revise and Resubmit on Spotify and our YouTube channel Weekend Researcher. We’re also streaming on Amazon Prime Music and Apple Podcast 🎧🍎📱Because sometimes, to understand the future, we have to go back to the math that built it.ReferenceGhate, C., Gopalakrishnan, P., & Grover, S. (2022). The Mahalanobis Growth Model. Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8980-2Mukhopadhyay, M. (2018, June 30). How Kolkata Biriyani helped me in understanding Mahalanobis Distance. Medium. https://mayukhdifferent.medium.com/how-kolkata-biriyani-helped-me-in-understanding-mahalanobis-distance-2b008b1da09bFP Explainers. (2024, July 23). India’s data man PC Mahalanobis is often hailed as the father of the modern budget. Who is he? Firstpost. https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/india-data-man-pc-mahalanobis-is-often-hailed-as-the-father-of-the-modern-budget-who-is-he-13795910.html‌Youtube Channel⁠https://www.youtube.com/@weekendresearcher⁠Support us on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/weekendresearcher