The ignored B.R. Shenoy Report of 1966: An instance of missed opportunity for Sri Lanka?
Monday, 15 June 2015
Monday, 15 June 2015
Shenoy, the classical libertarian economist
B.R. Shenoy, Indian classical libertarian economist, was no stranger to Sri Lanka. He was a lecturer in economics at the University College which was affiliated to the University of London initially and later became the University of Ceylon, in 1940s.
Many of those who became renowned Ceylonese economists in later years having passed out from the University College or the university proper during that period were his students. He was so reputed as a leading economist of the day that E. Eramudugolla, former Senior Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, mentions in his memoirs titled ‘Reminiscences of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’ that, when the new Central Bank was set up, Shenoy was one of the economists who could have been drawn to the Bank to head its Economic Research Department.
But the offer went to another Indian economist at the University of Ceylon, B Das Gupta, who held the post only for 2 years. Had Shenoy come to the Central Bank as its first Director of Economic Research, it not only would have added one more laurel to his illustrious career as an independent economist but also sown the seeds of libertarian economics within the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
B.R. Shenoy, Indian classical libertarian economist, was no stranger to Sri Lanka. He was a lecturer in economics at the University College which was affiliated to the University of London initially and later became the University of Ceylon, in 1940s.
Many of those who became renowned Ceylonese economists in later years having passed out from the University College or the university proper during that period were his students. He was so reputed as a leading economist of the day that E. Eramudugolla, former Senior Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, mentions in his memoirs titled ‘Reminiscences of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’ that, when the new Central Bank was set up, Shenoy was one of the economists who could have been drawn to the Bank to head its Economic Research Department.But the offer went to another Indian economist at the University of Ceylon, B Das Gupta, who held the post only for 2 years. Had Shenoy come to the Central Bank as its first Director of Economic Research, it not only would have added one more laurel to his illustrious career as an independent economist but also sown the seeds of libertarian economics within the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
