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Between Numbers and Narratives
Rethinking Evidence in Public Policy
Speaker
What happens when the narrative outruns the measurement it claims to represent?
This lecture examines the fragile space where narrative meets measurement in public policy. In India and globally, indicators of growth, poverty, literacy, inflation, and employment shape decisions of enormous consequence. Yet these numbers are shaped by institutional choices, methodological assumptions, and ethical considerations that complicate their apparent neutrality.
The session delves into how measurement systems gain authority, why certain metrics dominate debate, and how public narratives (often persuasive, and sometimes premature) shape the reception of evidence long before it is fully verified. Through examples ranging from economic progress to poverty estimation and inflation targeting, the discussion reveals the gaps, tensions, and interpretive leaps that sit beneath widely accepted statistics.
A nuanced look at how statistical authority meets narrative appeal.
This lecture is a part of Azim Premji University’s Public Lecture Series.
Presented by:
Speaker
TCA Anant
TCA Anant retired as a Member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in January 2023. Before joining the UPSC, he served as Professor and Head of the Department of Economics at the Delhi School of Economics (DSE), University of Delhi. He previously held key national roles, including Chief Statistician of India and Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (2010–18), and Member Secretary of the Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) (2006–09).
His research spans labour economics, industrial organisation, law and economics, and econometrics. He studied economics at the Delhi School of Economics and Cornell University.
