National Council of Applied Economic Research
Neemrana is the most prestigious forum in India for some of the best US scholars associated with NBER to come together with Indian policymakers and policy analysts from the public and private sectors. For 2014 conference, NCAER brought together a varied and exciting set of Indian participants to engage with our visiting NBER researchers on issues of common policy interest dealing with Indian, US, and global economic developments. A stimulating programme rich both in its depth and breadth was put together for the conference. This included a keynote address by one of India’s most prominent contemporary policymakers.
For now 16 years (1999-2014), the Neemrana Conference remains an enduring partnership that NCAER and NBER started in 1999. NCAER and NBER invited ICRIER to join this partnership in 2008. The impressive list of Indian and overseas participants over the past 15 years at Neemrana suggests the diversity and depth of people who have come—policymakers, politicians, regulators, scholars, corporate leaders, and journalists—and contributed to its success. The important conversations at Neemrana, both in the conference and over dinner and breakfasts have led to an impressive sharing of experience, evidence, and knowledge over the years as conference participants have grappled with policy challenges in India and in the US against the backdrop of a rapidly changing global economy and the shifting global economic order.
Neemrana has covered topics that have inevitably reflected the major economic policy concerns of the day for India, from growth and equity to inflation to infrastructure to the environment to education to social programs to labour markets and India’s demographics. Neemrana has also allowed NBER fellows to both engage with these problems but also bring to bear their policy experience and current research on these topics. And now and then it has anticipated problems that India may face based on the US experience. The informal, off-the-record conversations around these topics remain the hallmark of Neemrana.
