What to study in economy?

1*. GDP (factor cost/production method, market price/expenditure method, income

method. Don t just read
definitions, analyze! When do we use one method vs. another? How will each metho
d give us a different value?)
2. GNP (compare with GDP. When are the two different?)
3. NNP/NDP (why deduct depreciation?)
4*. Inflation (demand pull and cost push. Structural. Headline and core. CPI and
WPI. Phillips curve, stagflation
and skewflation. Why has inflation remained persistently high in India?)
5*. Monetary tools to combat inflation (there is always a question from this are
a) CRR, SLR, Repo, open market
operations, government securities and treasury bills.
6. Nominal vs real GDP/GNP/Net National Income etc. (i.e., current prices vs con
stant prices.)
6a. Base year selection (why does this matter? Why did we recently update to 200
4-05 and are now planning to
update to 2011-12? Aren t we eroding the value of constant prices if we keeping chan
ging the base year
frequently?)
6b. GDP deflator. Just the definition here.
7*. MSME industries- also just the definition and current thresholds
8*. Budget process (you may have this covered in Polity already. Look at FRBMA g
oals also)
9*. Deficits in the budget- fiscal, primary, revenue, primary revenue, effective
revenue
9a. Deficit financing (monetizing vs borrowing)
10. Balance of Payments- current account and capital account.
11*. Current Account Deficit. Financing it with capital inflows.
12. FDI, FII, ECBs.
13. Capital account convertibility
14. Currency- fixed vs floating. LERMS (Liberalized Exchange Rate Management Sys
tem).
15. Why is the rupee in a free fall? How is this good/bad for India? Why are som
e countries competitively
devaluing their currencies ( currency war )? NEER and REER if you have the time.
16*. Demographic Transition Theory (another area which frequently shows up in th
e exam)
17. Banking: all the stuff under #5 above + base rate, priority sector lending,
NPAs, SARFAESI Act. No need to go
into excessive detail. Read any conceptual stuff that shows up in the newspapers
.
18*. National Manufacturing Policy (asked in both Prelims and Mains last year).
Maybe also look at the National
Minerals Policy this year.
19. Savings and investment rates (both expressed as % of GDP). First understandi
ng how they are different. India
has a higher investment rate than savings rate. How is that possible?
20*. Taxation- may be important this year due to GST. (direct and indirect. prog
ressive and regressive. Pigovian.
VAT, GST)
21*. RGESS may show up this year. Keep on the lookout for such current-affairs r
elated topics.
22*. Inclusive growth. Maybe focus on gender inclusion.
23. Agricultural subsidies, PDS, Food Security.