Behind the Scenes of Policymaking- a talk by Dr. Prachi Mishra

On 25th October 2024, students from the Ashoka Public Policy Society and the student body at large had the opportunity to interview Dr Prachi Mishra. 

Having worked extensively in the formulation of economic policies at the highest levels of government, Dr Mishra believes that the key to good policy making is efficiency and quick thinking. These become all the more important when there is a lack of resources or good data, which is often the case. A firm believer in using data and evidence to formulate policy, she is nonetheless vary of discarding the human element in economics. In fact, she says that shift towards professorship has been driven by her desire to mould young students into all-rounded economists who are not only good at calculations and optimization but are also aware and alert about ground realities. She prefers flexibility in research, and is aiming to use her time at the Isaac Center to focus on practical research into a definitive list of issues and areas. This will allow her to create a set of ready solutions for many of the problems facing the country. 

Answering questions about the complicated interplay between politicians and policymakers, Dr Mishra emphasised that an economist must have the necessary skill of simplifying their ideas in order to convey them effectively to politicians and to the people. She also acknowledged that politicians and economists ‘speak different languages’, advising future economists to strengthen their ability to communicate.

Commenting on her PhD, Dr Mishra asserted that the process of attaining one teaches the extremely valuable skill of questioning things and being curious; she did, however, acknowledge that at places like Goldman Sachs, the PhD acted more as a signalling device for her qualifications and less as a necessary tool. 

Throughout the event, she seemed consistently focused on conveying to the eager students in the audience that policy making is an intersection of many academic and non-academic skills. Natural human judgement, brevity and effectiveness in communication, and guts to trust your instinct also play a huge role. She cited an incident in 2018, when most of her colleagues at Goldman thought that the RBI was going to raise interest rates - her experience with the institution had convinced her that that would not happen, and she turned out to be right. 

Speaking on India and its policy future, she recommended an increase in education and R&D funding, and advocated for strong safety nets and strong institutions. She states that in developing countries, strong institutions can go a long away in mitigating crises since institutions outlast individuals. 

Overall, Dr Mishra had an engaging and stimulating conversation with Ashoka students from disciplines as diverse as Mathematics and PPE. She touched on various topics, jumping from high level analyses of policy events to frank college advice to students.