@surbhikesar
Economic development & political economy. Senior lecturer - Economics, SOAS U of London. Researches informality, structural transformation, post-colonial capitalist development, decolonizing econ. https://sites.google.com/view/surbhikesar/bio
📣 CfP | Social Reproduction @ IIPPE 2026
🗓️ Deadline: 15 February 2026
Come join us! The IIPPE Social Reproduction Working Group invites paper and panel submissions to the IIPPE 16th Annual Conference. 📍 Lisbon | 🗓️ 9–12 September 2026
👉 CfP in link below or by scanning the QR code
Enjoyed this conversation with Michael Walker @novaramedia.com on what the recent Nobel prizes in economics miss out about dynamics of development and what a decolonized lens helps mend that.
@soaseconomics.bsky.social @soasdevelopment.bsky.social
youtu.be/II7U4UlGaIA?...
Novara( @novaramedia.com )Media "The Case For Decolonizing Economics" Michael Walker, Surbhi( @surbhikesar.bsky.social )Kesar www.youtube.com/watch?v=II7U...
In this Economic &Political Weekly piece “The Politics of Data”, I identify 3 levels at which the politics operates- a) deliberate misrepresentation, b) adoption of certain categories, measurement, c) privileging methods for analysis at cost of obscuring complex realities.
www.epw.in/journal/2025...
@surbhikesar.bsky.social and @rosaabraham.bsky.social analyse high frequency panel data on transitions in India’s labour market. Rather than trends to formalisation, they find the main transitions are between different forms of informal work. sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 8/
Join Us at SASE 2026 in Bordeaux!
The upcoming SASE conference will feature a mini-conference on International Financial Subordination (IFS). How does IFS evolve in the current context of climate crisis and geopolitical tensions?
More info here 👉 sase.org/events/2026-...
Promotional poster for a GFTU Educational Trust event titled "Borders, Bosses & Labour: The Real Politics of Immigration" on Wednesday 4 February at 6 PM, featuring speakers David Bacon, Hannah Cross, and Surbhi Kesar against a backdrop with a vintage map.
Promotional poster for 'Meet the Tutor' featuring Hannnah Cross. Event details include the date 4 February 2026 and the location as online.
Promotional poster for 'Meet the Tutor' featuring David Bacon. Event details include the date 4 February 2026 and the location as online.
Promotional poster for 'Meet the Tutor' featuring Surbhi Kesar. Event details include the date 4 February 2026 and the location as online.
🚨 Borders, Bosses & Labour: The Real Politics of Immigration
Join our 7th Political International Economy International School session.
Tutored by: Hannah Cross & David Bacon | Chaired by: @surbhikesar.bsky.social
More about them below👇
#GFTUET #Political
Thanks! 🤩
Unfortunately, yes, staying away is the likely scenario for a while. Would ofc be / have been great to have a talk at UMass!
Exciting book launch with @cacrisalves.bsky.social @ingridhk.bsky.social @surbhikesar.bsky.social and @devikadutt.bsky.social at our very own @soaseconomics.bsky.social
📌 Join us TOMORROW at @soasuni.bsky.social #Economics for a discussion with @devikadutt.bsky.social , @cacrisalves.bsky.social , @surbhikesar.bsky.social , Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven on:
🌍 Decolonizing Economics: An Introduction 📚
Info and livestream 🔗 www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/...
📌 Join us at @soasuni.bsky.social for a discussion with @devikadutt.bsky.social @cacrisalves.bsky.social @surbhikesar.bsky.social @ingridhk.bsky.social on:
"Decolonizing Economics: An Introduction"
Livestream➡️: 🔗www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/decolonizing-economics-introduction
@eadi.bsky.social
In our podcasts we like to recommend books and here are some of our recommendations from our latest, including books by Nancy Folbre, Marilyn Waring, @devikadutt.bsky.social @ingridhk.bsky.social, @cacrisalves.bsky.social, @surbhikesar.bsky.social, @timjackson.org.uk & @clubofrome.org. #EconSky
🆕 Book Launch: Decolonising Economics
Join us for the launch of the new book 'Decolonizing Economics', by IIPP Professor @cacrisalves.bsky.social, @devikadutt.bsky.social, @surbhikesar.bsky.social and @ingridhk.bsky.social.
🔗 Learn more and register here: buff.ly/c3e34Sn
👏🏽 We are proud to announce that our @soasuni.bsky.social #Economics Senior Lecturer, Dr. @surbhikesar.bsky.social, has been appointed Associate Editor of the Oxford Development Studies journal. @Oxford Development Studies
💬 How do we really approach issues in economics from a decolonised vs non-decolonised lens?
Read the last piece of our @soasuni.bsky.social #Economics Senior Lecturer @surbhikesar.bsky.social on Exploring Economics
🔗 www.exploring-economics.org/en/discover/...
Thank you, let us know your thoughts when through !
Thanks so much, Nooshin !
Thanks everyone for coming to the launch of our book Decolonizing Economics with @devikadutt.bsky.social @cacrisalves.bsky.social @surbhikesar.bsky.social! Had such a great time engaging with students, friends, the public. And thanks to Marx Memorial Library for hosting 🤗
hetecon.net/2025/07/03/dec…
Thanks for your reflections and for engaging!
Some thoughts on reading ‘Decolonizing Economics’ by @devikadutt.bsky.social @cacrisalves.bsky.social @surbhikesar.bsky.social @ingridhk.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/robertbi...
Join us next week for a book launch co-hosted with
Rethinking Economics for Africa at UCT!
@surbhikesar.bsky.social & @ingridhk.bsky.social will discuss their new book, "Decolonising Economics: An introduction"
Date: 16 July
Time: 12:50-14:00 (lunch at 12:00)
Venue: UCT & online
(links below)
At least 73 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since dawn, including 33 aid seekers, according to medical sources.
🌏 New in World Development, @rosaabraham6 & our @soasuni.bsky.social #Economics Senior Lecturer @surbhikesar.bsky.social study the trajectories that characterise Indian labour market, & identify 7 dominant ones.
How do they 👀?🧵
🔗https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X25001147
8/
This should be read in light of Indian’s labour market structure:
1983:
Salaried: 16%
Casual wage: 27%
Self-employed: 56%
2019:
25% | 23% | 50%
While salaried work grew slightly, it became precarious—those w/ secure contracts & benefits fell from 32%(2005 ) to 23%(2019).
7/
Education and experience matter—but not evenly.
They help access formal salaried jobs (as expected).
But they have no consistent effect in trajectories involving informal wage work or transitions in/out of the workforce.
Skills matter only if the structure allows it.
6/
Let’s talk caste
Caste shapes not just outcomes, but entire employment trajectories.
SC/ST workers are concentrated in the lowest-earning, highest-churn informal wage trajectory. Caste penalty operates expectedly, expect in this traj, where SC/ST workers earn > General.
5/
Are people at least sorting into jobs that best match their education or experience or other characteristics?
Nope.
Most workers earn far less than they could if they were in trajectories that rewarded their characteristics.
A segmented labour market, not one based on sorting.
4/
Another surprise?
Self-employment—usually seen as subsistence-level fallback—offers higher and more stable earnings than most informal wage work.
Far from self-employment being desirable, wage work is just worse and transition to it is not voluntary.
3/
No trajectory from informal to formal jobs. Most workers aren’t climbing toward better jobs.
They’re stuck or churning.
Is informal work a stepping stone to formal jobs?
No!
Workers in informal wage work have the same chance of getting a formal job as those out of workforce.