Economic Justice in Post-COVID India: A Macroeconomic Perspective

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown wreaked havoc on substantial segments of the Indian population through unemployment and income loss, only highlighting the lack of institutional structures and policies to protect vulnerable sections of society from aggregate as well as idiosyncratic shocks. This chapter argues that the variations in the capacity to better one's life are conditional on socio-economic divisions a person belongs to and this makes such divisions fault lines. They constitute structural weaknesses in the economy leaving out millions of people without the capability to participate in the economy meaningfully and remuneratively. The author provides evidence of disproportionate impact of the pandemic along these fault lines and provides a policy framework for economic justice and prosperity to all in the post-COVID economy. He also highlights the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to policy-making given the complex nature of the problem. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023.