Rajasthan Board RBSE Class 11 Economics Notes Chapter 14 Economic Ideas of J.K. Mehta
→ Indian economist, J. K. Mehta was bom On December 25, 1901 at Rajnand village of Mumbai.
→ Mehta received his primary education in Rajnand village
→ In 1927, he began teaching in the economics department, at Allahabad University.
→ He is counted among those economists who gave original ideas on definition of economics, representative firms, micro and macro economics, revenue, development of economics, etc. which made him stand in the ranks of great economists.
The major books written by him are as follows-
- Ground work of Economics
- Public Finance
- Studies in Advance Economic Theory
- Economics of Growth
- Principles of Exchange
- Foundations of Economies
- Macro Economics
→ Prof. J. K. Mehta can be called the pioneer and establisher of Indian theoretical economics.
→ Mehta attempted to give a new perspective to economics which is different from that of economists in western countries.
→ He based his explanation of the definition of economics on the ideas of hermits and sages and great men, and on Indian Philosophy.
→ Prof. Mehta clarifies by expressing this point of view that human behaviour, which is a topic of economics, is but the consequence of mental imbalance.
→ There is a great schism between man’s wants and the means available to satisfy them.
→ The feeling of sensing the condition of imbalance is sorrow and a decrease in feeling of imbalance, attainment of balance or progressing towards this is happiness.
→ In order to attain maximum happiness, sorrow has to be minimized.
→ Prof. Mehta’s definition of economics is, “Economics is a science which studies that human behaviour which attempts to attain the objective of the state of wantlessness.”
→ Wants are unlimited, infinite, and as one want is fulfilled, another is bom.
→ Mehtra has followed the fundamental tenet of Indian culture that Satisfaction is the greatest comfort (Santosh Param Sukham), and believes wantlessness to be the ultimate objective.
→ According to Prof. Mehta, “ the process of fulfilling one want, gives rise to another want.
→ According to Prof. Mehta, “There is no scientific or justifiable basis to the premise that a poor man deserves pity because of his poverty”.
→ According to Prof. Mehta, “ the fixation of taxes and their quality should be in accordance with the extent of sacrifice.
→ Prof. Mehta says that man derives true happiness in not increasing his desire and wants, but in reducing them.
→ Mehta says that the true objective of economics is to show the path of reaching the state of wantlessness.
→ Prof. Mehta presented economics in both its pure and applied forms.
→ In Mehta’s words, it would be appropriate to say that we study the general principles under pure science, whereas in applied science we examine these principles within the given framework.
→ According to Prof Mehta, people live in society, thus economists cannot ignore the study of macro-economics and they have to study not only one, but all the individuals collectively.
→ When we aspire for this state of balance under the economic system, and study it, it is called static economics.
→ When there is no change in initial data and final state can be attained through integration and inclusion, and if we want, we can adopt a path that can achieve complete balance, this study is called dynamic economics.
→ In developmental economics, the study of the gradually obtained state of balance in a given period of time is done.
→ Prof. Mehta does not consider rent to be an income.
→ According to Mehta rent is a surcharge on investment.
→ Acccording to Prof. Mehta, Public finance is related to the financial relations of a public institution.
→ According to Prof. Mehta, income is a means and public expenditure is the objective to be achieved. Public income is earned for public expenditure.
→ Constant public expenditure is that which does not decrease when the public reduces the consumption of the service and does not increase when public increases its consumption.
→ Variable expenditure is the expenditure which is affected and determined by consumption of service by people.