Project Leader: Dr. Smita Srinivas
Research Team: Dr. Smita Srinivas, Dr. Arpita Mukherjee and Mr. Sandeep Paul
Commencement: August 2017
Completion: August 2017
Funded by: Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR)
This is a bilateral scholars exchange grant. The research collaboration is focused on bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. The project aims to encourage and advance academic collaboration between Indian and Swiss social scientists and thus to make contributions to scholarly areas of relevance to wider bilateral relations between India and Switzerland.
Where is transnational trade determined? An analysis of development priorities and EU-India trade pacts
This interdisciplinary project connects economists and political scientists studying how development priorities can best be reflected in international trade agreements for specific industries, goods and services. The project builds on the empirical evidence that industry growth and goods/service regulation and harmonization can often be at odds with development policy goals within the country. Given that industry and national technological capabilities change, sometimes rapidly, the study aims to contribute to a better understanding of how industrial policies, economic plans, trade negotiations, can be better theorized and connected. How might trade agreements better reflect specific developmental priorities of the industry and diverse stakeholders? Changing demand drivers, urban and regional growth, and inconsistent centre-state-local priorities and incentives for industrial development imply that national trade agreements unevenly reflect diverse concerns and abilities to negotiate. The study will develop case studies in specific industries and draw from current trade agreements and ongoing trade negotiations of India with Switzerland and with the EU.
Scholarly papers and scholarly exchange will constitute a core part of the project. The Indo-Swiss team comprises ICRIER affiliated faculty and researchers and those from the University of Lausanne.