Ajit Karnik

Professor Ajit Karnik completed his MA and PhD in Economics at the University of Bombay, India. He was previously Professor of Political Economy before assuming the role of Director of the Department of Economics at the University of Mumbai, and served as Professor of Economics at the University of Wollongong in Dubai.

He is a Fellow of Wolfson College (Cambridge University, UK) and is a Life Member of the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore, the Indian Economic Association, and The Indian Econometric Society. His career has witnessed multiple achievements including being awarded Indo-American Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin (USA), Overseas Visiting Fellow at St John’s College (Cambridge University, UK), Fulbright Scholar at the Haas Business School, University of California (USA) and Smuts Fellow at Wolfson College (Cambridge University, UK).

He teaches across areas spanning Econometrics, Introductory and Advanced Economics, Marketing Research, Operations Strategy, Research Methods, and Trade and Multinational Enterprises. To date he has supervised the dissertations of 11 PhD students, 5 MPhil students, 25 MA students, 4 MSc Banking and Finance students, and over 75 MBA students.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. (Economics), University of Bombay, India
• M.A. (Economics), University of Bombay, India

Previous Positions

• Reserve Bank of India, Professor Political Economy, Department of Economics, University of Mumbai (1997-2006)
• Director, Department of Economics, University of Mumbai (2002-2005)
• Professor of Economics, University of Wollongong in Dubai (2006-2009)

Awards and achievements

• 2003-04: Smuts Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge University, UK
• 1998-99: Fulbright Scholar at the Haas Business School, University of California, Berkeley, USA
• 1995: Overseas Visiting Fellow at St. John’s college, Cambridge University, UK
• 1989-90: Indo-American Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, USA

Membership of professional bodies and associations

• Fellow, Wolfson College, Cambridge University, UK
• Life Member, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Banglore.
• Life Member, Indian Economic Association
• Life Member, The Indian Econometric Society

Referee for Journals

• Applied Economics
• Artha Vijnana
• Economic and Political Weekly
• International Review of Applied Economics
• Journal of the Indian School of Political Economy
• Journal of Quantitative Economics
• Public Budgeting and Finance
• Publius: The Journal of Federalism
• Economics and Politics
• Paneconomicus
• Journal of Sports Economics
• Sport in Society

Research Interests

• Economic Growth,
• Public Finance,
• Elections
• Political Economy
• Applied Econometrics
• COVID and its economic impact

Selected Publications

• Mala Lalvani and Ajit Karnik (2021) “Budget 2021–22: Any Lessons Learnt from the Pandemic?” Economic and Political Weekly, 56(14), 15-20
• Ajit Karnik (2020) “Spatial Effects of COVID Transmission: An Analysis of Cases in the City of Mumbai”, Economic and Political Weekly, 2020, 55(36), 15-20
• Ajit Karnik, Pallavi Kishore and Mohammad Meraj (2020) “Examining the Linkage between Class Attendance at University and Academic Performance in an International Branch Campus Setting”. Research in Comparative and International Education, 15(4)
• Ajit Karnik, Mala Lalvani and Manali Phatak (2019) “Determinants of Electoral Outcomes: An Analysis of General Elections in India”, Economic and Political Weekly, March 2019, Vol. LIV, No. 3, pp. 83-89
• Ajit Karnik and Mala Lalvani (2018) “State Finances After Fiscal Responsibility Legislation: Genuine Improvement or Illusion?” Indian Review(Taylor & Francis), 17(4)
• Ajit Karnik and Mala Lalvani (2018) “Incongruence between Announcements and Allocations”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 53(9).
• Ajit Karnik (2018) “Growth and Convergence under Uniform and Varying Rate of Change of Technology”, Journal Panoeconomicus, 2018
• Ajit Karnik and Mala Lalvani (2017) “An Examination of Revenue Generation”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 52(9).
• Mala Lalvani and Ajit Karnik (2016) “Fiscal Performance in the wake of Fiscal Responsibility Legislation: A Study of Maharashtra’s Public Finances”, Journal of the Indian School of Political Economy, Vol. 28, No. 1-2, 2016.
• Ajit Karnik and Mala Lalvani (2016) “Budget 2016-17: Lacking in Substance”, Economic and Political Weekly, Issue 16, Vol. 51 (16).
• Ajit Karnik and Mala Lalvani (2015) “Incumbency In Maharashtra Assembly Elections, Assessing the Impact of Delimitation” (with Mala Lalvani)in S. Alam and K.C. Sivaramkrishnan (eds) Fixing of Political Boundaries in India: Process, Outcomes and Implication, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
• Ajit Karnik and Swati Raju (2015) “State fiscal capacity and tax effort: evidence from Indian states”. South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance (Sage), Vol. 4 (2).
• Ajit Karnik and Mala Lalvani (2015) “Budget 2015-16: Long on announcement, short on intent”, Economic and Political Weekly, March, Vol. 50(12)
• Ajit Karnik and Mala Lalvani (2013) “Growth, Welfare and Fiscal Discipline: The problem of incompatible objectives in Budget 2013-14”. Economic and Political Weekly, March 30, Vol. 48(13)
• Ajit Karnik (2013) “Pricing Of Cricketers: The Experience Of Two IPL Auctions” International Journal of Sports Finance, Vol. 8(1).
• Ajit Karnik and Mala Lalvani (2012) “Growth Performance of Indian States” Empirical Economics, Vol. 42 (1).
• Ajit Karnik and Cedwyn Fernandes (2010) “Estimating Elasticity of Demand for Tourism in Dubai”, Tourism Analysis, Vol. 15(1).
• Ajit Karnik (2010) “Valuing Cricketers Using Hedonic Price Models”, Journal of Sport Economics, Volume 11(4).
• Ajit Karnik and Mala Lalvani (2009) “Heterogeneity in Growth Processes: Estimating Growth Equations using Panel data”, International Economic Journal, Vol. 23(4).
• Cedwyn Fernandes and Ajit Karnik (2009) “Assessing UAE’s Oil Dependence - An Optimal Control Approach”, Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues, Vol. 2 (2).
• Ajit Karnik and Cedwyn Fernandes (2009) “Natural Resource Dependence: A Macroeconometric Model for the United Arab Emirates” Applied Economics, Vol. 41.
• Ajit Karnik and Mala Lalvani (2008) “An Examination of the Flypaper Effect Incorporating Spatial Interdependence” Review of Urban and Regional Development Studies, Vol. 20(2).
• Ajit Karnik (2008) “Transformations, Then and Now: The Appeal of Karl Polanyi”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.43 (48).
• Ajit Karniki (2006) “State Finances: Continuous Deterioration, Bleak Prospects” Journal of the Indian School of Political Economy, September.
• Ajit Karnik and Mala Lalvani (2005) “Urban Local Governments And The Flypaper Effect: Empirical Evidence From A Panel Of Indian Jurisdictions”, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 35(2)