IIT Bombay hosted the latest lecture in the ‘Prof. N.R. Kamath Distinguished Institute Lecture’ series on campus. The ‘Prof. N.R. Kamath Distinguished Institute Lecture’ series honours the leadership and contributions of Prof. N.R. Kamath, former Deputy Director, and founding head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Bombay, to the Institute.

This year’s speaker was the renowned economist and Padma Bhushan recipient, Prof. Kaushik Basu.

Prof. Basu is a Professor of Economics and the Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University, and the Professor N.R Kamath Visiting Chair Professor, IIT Bombay. He was formerly Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. Prior to that, he was the Chief Economic Adviser to the Indian Government. Over the years, Prof. Basu has held visiting positions at the Institute for Advanced Study, the London School of Economics, Harvard University, Princeton University, and M.I.T.

Prof. Basu presented a thought-provoking talk on “Group Moral Responsibility: Some Paradoxes and the Role of Leadership.”

“The world is so linked up today, that we need collective action. Many of our moral norms are built into us. But as society gets more complex, we may need different kinds of moral norms for society to function effectively. We tend to ignore these matters in economics, but these implicit assumptions matter in a big way, especially in times of change,” he said.

Click here to watch Prof. Basu’s address: https://www.youtube.com/live/l7heVz1CvW8?feature=share