Kerala Transforming : Labor and Trade Mobility in Times of Pandemic

This book examines Kerala's recent development trajectory and highlights the impact of COVID-19 on its economy. It analyzes Kerala's growth and structural transformation while engaging critically with issues related to employment and migration. The book delves into policies aimed at reintegrating return migrants into Kerala’s development process. It examines the implications of Free Trade Agreements and policies initiated by the Government of India under the WTO regime on agriculture. The chapters in the book also investigate the impact of the growth trajectories on distributional aspects of inequality and social mobility.

Timely and topical, the book will be an indispensable resource for students and researchers of economics, development studies, trade, labour and migration, political economy, Kerala economy, and South Asian studies.

P. L. Beena is Professor at the Centre for Developmental Studies, Thiruvananthapuram. She has held positions as Consultant at NCAER, Research Information System for the Developing Countries, New Delhi and South Asia visiting scholar at Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford before joining CDS. Since her PhD at CESP, JNU, her main areas of research are in the field of corporate mergers, inward and outward FDI through CBM&As and antitrust policies; innovation and competition in the high-tech sectors under the new IPR regime; MSMEs and women entrepreneurship; WTO agreements and its implications on Indian Industries; Contemporary Issues on Indian Economy.

Thiagu Ranganathan is Professor at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram. Since his PhD at IIT Bombay, he has worked on issues in agricultural economics and development economics including agricultural price risk management, implications of water scarcity on rural livelihood diversification, institutional barriers to employment of higher educated women, and implications of monetary incentives on forest restoration. His work spans across themes of risk, vulnerability, resilience, livelihood diversification, and social mobility.