In an era of rapid technological advancement, shifting global economic landscapes, and pressing sustainability concerns, economics education plays a pivotal role in preparing future business leaders and policymakers. Dr. Naimitya Sharma, Assistant Professor – Economics at the School of Commerce, NMIMS Chandigarh, talks to Triparna Ray about the evolving significance of economics, key trends to watch in 2025, and how academia can bridge the gap between theory and real-world application. From the rise of AI to India’s economic ambitions, Dr. Sharma discusses how economics continues to shape the way we understand business, governance, and society.
How do you see the evolving role of economics education in shaping future business leaders and policymakers?
Economics education provides students with much needed thinking framework about relevant issues in Business, public policy and society in general. Economics has well developed and varied theoretical frameworks to think about impact of decisions on the bottom line of companies as well as the overall wellbeing of society. It also provides theoretical background to define the role of state conducive for inclusive development of the society. Students desirous to develop leadership and critical thinking acumen can choose to pursue economics in their undergraduate and master’s education. Many successful policy decisions and start-ups have applied learning emerging from economics around functioning of government, market and community to generate insightful actionable ideas.
What are some key economic trends that students and aspiring economists should closely follow in 2025?
De-globalisation and geostrategic realignment in 2025 provide a very critical point of observation for the Global Economy. Rise of AI and its impact on the economy is also an important trend within research circles in the field of economics. Energy transition, Climate Change, and Aging population in major economies have also garnered lot of interest. Financial sustainability and income inequalities in post-pandemic world continues to be another important set of topics of interest in 2025. With respect to India, ‘Viksit Bharat’ mission, prospects of India’s economic growth amidst global headwinds, Work-life balance and employment debate, AI, its application and impact, economic consequences and solutions of Air Pollution, are some topics of interest. There is also a lot of buzz around topics related with Data Science, Start-up ecosystem, Personal Finance, Ethical Consumption, Digitalization and Gaming economics.
How can economic policies contribute to sustainable development, and what role does academia play in this discourse?
Sustainability is an important constituent of economic thinking and application. There are interesting ideas like externality, public goods, coordination failure, human development approach, inclusive growth that are important offshoots of the study of economy and have applications in the field of sustainability. Cross-fertilisation of ideas with major social sciences has led to a well-developed intellectual tradition within economics to think about sustainability concerns. Sub-disciplines with in and around Economics like Environmental Economics, Ecological Economics, Political Economy, Institutional Economics, Economics of Governance, Sustainable Finance provide varied theoretical and empirical studies related with questions of sustainability. Academia is constantly working on issues pertaining to sustainability via their research and teaching duties to bring these issues to the fore and provide breakthroughs for movement forward.
What are the biggest challenges in teaching economics to the current generation, and how can educators make the subject more engaging?
Current generation of students are eager towards quick application of concepts. Economics requires patient acquisition of basic concepts for some time. The method of economic modelling and abstraction of reality in the form of a model also at times makes students wary of its applicability. Connecting students to models and theory by exploring applications, simulation of models, real life examples of policy and business ideas emerging from economic thinking may help engage students better. Data and visualisation-based classes and student projects help deliver important learning in effective manner. Case study based teaching and a more inclusive approach with respect to subject’s disciplinary boundaries helps connect with students. Getting to know students and their aspirations also helps to develop customised examples for better student engagement.
