Once Upon a Time, I Was an Economist

In this chapter, based on his experience as researcher in labour and development studies for close to quarter of a century, the author explains the disciplinary shifts in his academic journey – from a young research enthusiast baptized into rigorous disciplinary approaches in economics to one who currently works with tools gathered from many ‘other’ disciplines and perspectives. Relying on self-reflective and auto-ethnographical narratives the chapter tries to show how standard conceptualizations in economics (based on notions of optimization, efficiency, supply-demand and marginal productivity) are grossly inadequate in understanding the dynamics of labour in its totality

Economics · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Development, Ethics, and Society · World Systems and Global Transformations