hss.iitd.ac.in PhD Entrance Exam Economics Question Paper : Indian Institute of Technology Humanities & Social Sciences

Organization : Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Department : Humanities and Social Sciences
Exam : PhD Entrance Examination
Subject : Economics
Document Type : Previous Year Question Paper
Website : https://hss.iitd.ac.in/
Download Model/Sample Question Paper :
General  : https://www.pdfquestion.in/uploads/23698-PhDGEN.pdf
Economics : https://www.pdfquestion.in/uploads/23698-PhDEco.pdf

IITD PhD Entrance Exam Question Paper

Total Marks: 100;
Duration: 2 hours
Candidates : 70 Marks

Section – A

** In this section, you are required to read a passage and answer a few questions based on it.
** Answer any ONE of the TWO questions (Question 1 or Question 2) given below 30 Marks only

Test On General Comprehension

Question 1 :
Passage :
“Philosophic contemplation, when it is unalloyed, does not aim at proving that the rest of the universe is akin to man. All acquisition of knowledge is an enlargement of the Self, but this enlargement is best attained when it is not directly sought.

It is obtained when the desire for knowledge is alone operative, by a study which does not wish in advance that its objects should have this or that character, but adapts the Self to the characters which it finds in its objects. This enlargement of Self is not obtained when, taking the Self as it is, we try to show that the world is so similar to this Self that knowledge of it is possible without any admission of what seems alien.

Please answer the following :
1a.What kind of “pursuit of knowledge” is said by Russell to contribute to the “enlargement of Self” in the above passage? (Approximately 50 words)
1b.How does Russell contrast “Knowledge of Self-assertion” with “Knowledge as Contemplation” in the above passage? (Approximately 50 words)

Question 2 :
Passage :
One of the underrated pleasures of living in a city is anonymity —guaranteed not by the fact that you look the same as everyone else but that no one really cares that you look different. And a truly cosmopolitan city is one in which everyone looks different.

I have been fortunate that for the 30 or so years that I have lived in Bangalore I have not had to deal with the fact that I look different. Save for occasional reminders of my Chineseness, the city has given me enough space to be who I am — cinephile, bibliophile, foodie — without having to bother too much about questions of identity.

The need of the hour is to contain this spillover effect. Politicians of all shades and the media have to recognise the vital role that they play in diffusing the situation rather than inflaming it. Rumours and riots have always been insidiously linked to each other and we have no choice but to deal with the situation before us with utmost care and responsibility. Centuries of immigrant struggles have won us the right to say that a city can belong to us even if we do not belong to the city. And if we do not care of what belongs to us, we will run the danger of losing it.
(This is an article written by Lawrence Liang that appeared in the Hindu on August 18, 2012).

Please answer the following : (Approximately 50 words for each answer).
2a How did the events of August 2012 change Liang’s perception of Bangalore? Please take the entire piece into account before writing.
2b The writer suspects that the host-guest metaphor may not be suitable for a city claiming cosmopolitan status. What might he mean by this? Can you explain in your own words?
2c What sort of danger seems most pressing and terrible to the writer?

Section B

Test for Economics

Candidates: 70 MARKS
Part I :
** There are 15 questions in Part A.
** Answer any 10 questions.
** Each question carries 2 marks

For questions 1 to 12, write True or False?
1. A negative t-statistic indicates that the coefficient is not significant.
2. 95% confidence intervals are larger than 99% confidence intervals.
3. The F statistic provides a test that all coefficients including the constant are equal to zero.

4. If the omitted variable is positively correlated with the treatment and has a positive impact on the outcome, the effect is overestimated.
5. For the OLS estimator to be consistent and asymptotically normal, the residuals should be normally distributed.

6. Heteroskedasticity causes the Ordinary Least Squares estimator to be biased.
7. The sum of the Least Squares Residuals is always zero.
8. Linear Probability Model does not violate any Gauss-Markov assumptions.
9. Self-selection problem is generally not important in economics because we have random sample.

10. If we wish to allow for difference in slopes for two groups in a regression model, we have to use likelihood estimation because it is no longer linear.
11. Savings drive investment in the Keynesian model.
12. Public sector invetsment as a share of GDP declined in India after 1991.

For questions 13 to 15, fill in the blanks :
13. Interest rate is the reward for —– according to the Keynesian theory. (Options: (i) parting with liquidity (ii) thrift (or postponing current consumption))
14. Accroding to the Says Law, ——— creates its own ———
15. The ‘impossible trinity’ in international economics refers to: (i) perfect capital mobility (ii) ——-exchange rate, and (iii) ——-monetary policy (Options: fixed, flexible, independent, dependent).

Part II :
Answer any two questions. Each question carries 25 marks.
Expected length of each answer is approximately 500 words (or 2 pages of your answer book)

16. There are certain situations in which markets fail and government intervention may be required. Can you list and explain briefly two types of market failures with one example for each.

17. Suppose that there are two phases of life – young and old. Your preference is separable between these two phases of life. While young, you are going to earn an amount – w; but as old, you are earning nothing and living up on your savings. In the recent union budget, Government has proposed a tax on interest income. How will your savings be affected because of this tax? Does a tax on consumption (i.e., paying higher prices) would affect your savings in the same way as a tax on interest income? Explain through graph whenever needed.

18. According to you, what are the three most important development challenges before the Indian economy? Justify your answer.

19. Comment on the recent debate on NREGA after reading the following. passage
Passage :
Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya, hereafter BP, have argued for phasing out the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in favour of cash transfers (” Rural Inefficiency Act”, ToI, 23 October). It’s surprising—and amusing—that two eminent economists have chosen to make a case based on prior beliefs and some sophomoric wordplay (‘mis’leading economists), rather than on the available evidence. A survey by one of us of the empirical literature on NREGA can be found here.
We do not claim that all is well with NREGA. The programme needs better design and implementation, not slow suffocation. And certainly the public debate is not well-served by facile attacks uninformed by the facts.