The Centre for Development Economics (CDE) was set up with a grant from the Ministry of Finance, Government of India as a research adjunct of the Delhi School of Economics (Department of Economics). It is a non-profit organization that supports research in all areas of economics. It came into existence in May 1992 and began effectively functioning from early 1993, with the full range of activities picking up only in late 1993 after it received its grants from the Government of India and the Ford Foundation
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To promote and disseminate research
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To sponsor economists from outside Delhi and outside India to visit the Delhi School of Economics;
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To conduct regular conferences and workshops;
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To upgrade research infrastructure, including communication and computing facilities.
The Centre has well-equipped air-conditioned computer labs with software and hardware for meeting the research and training needs of M.A., M.Phil and PhD programmes of the Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics. Currently, there are 100 Desktop Computer Systems linked through the network with a powerful HP Server. Broadband internet connectivity from NEXTRA Teleservices Pvt. Limited has been provided to all of the Computer Systems. The Centre also provides web-based e-mail facility to the faculty, visiting research scholars, M.Phil. and PhD students of the Department of Economics. Here students receive training in data analysis and economic modelling using specialized econometric packages like STATA, E-Views, Shazam, Gauss, RATS, LIMDEP, NLOGIT, MICROFIT, Mathematica, GAMS and Scientific Work Place. The computer lab also provides subsidized printing facilities to research students through a network printer. Computer labs provide access to various offline and online databases such as NSSO (National Sample Survey Organization), NFHS (National Family Health Survey), Census data, ASI (Annual Survey of Industries), NAS (National Accounts Statistics), CMIE Prowess database on companies, SDP (State Domestic Product) from EPWRF, indiastat.com, EPW Online etc. The online access to journal archives such as jstor.org, sciencedirect.com etc is also available to students through Delhi University’s Internet.
The Centre maintains a mini library, which consists of specialized research resources including collection of published material and data sources related to economic research.
Seminars and Workshops
An important activity of the Centre is the holding of Conferences, Seminars, public lectures and workshops covering a wide range of economics issues on a regular basis.
The Centre's research output is available in the form of books, occasional papers and working papers. The publications of the Centre are currently being exchanged with about thirty research institutes in India and abroad.