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| Amit Bubna, Assistant Professor of Economics and Finance, ISB |
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Often mistaken for a student, youthful and vigorous, Amit Bubna, Assistant Professor of Economics and Finance at the ISB, is energy personified. Inside the classroom, he is mentor, ally and an equal to the excitement he generates.
Students rate him approachable, articulate and full of verve. They get a taste of him on their very first day at the ISB, as he introduces the students to the nuances of micro economics. “Economics is a course in tools and can be very abstract. I am trying innovative ways to make these abstractions seem more real-world,” says Professor Bubna, a PhD holder in Economics from the Stanford University. Inside the classroom, he decides to introduce an auction game, to help clarify the key insights of a market and the role of prices. He divides the class into bidders and sellers and simulates a trading pit. The students experience the existence of a real market, going beyond theory. They notice first hand that a lot of transactions take place at the same price, much like in a stock market. “This simple game helps me to introduce the concept of taxation a few classes later,” explains the Professor.
Professor Bubna shares his other attempts at imparting the extra edge to classroom teaching. The ‘Class Economist Contest’ is one of them. It is an open contest where groups of students discuss topics online, learning how to apply even basic economics to real world issues. For instance, he initiated the topic on ‘why banks give students study loans?’ “This is a voluntary contest. No points allotted. I constantly endeavour to generate more class participation, moving beyond points and grades,” he says.
Prior to joining as faculty at the ISB in 2004, Professor Bubna served as a Senior Managing Economist with LECG, LLC, a leading economic consulting firm based in California. His return to academia and to teaching was a natural move. The challenge on the teaching front at the ISB, he feels, is in designing the course and determining the depth and the breadth of what to teach. However, the task of a teacher, hefeels, does not end with the course design. |
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“Inside the classroom, what keeps me ticking is the fact that I can be questioned. I keep the discourse open to queries all the time. The apprehension, that I can be challenged by any of the 400 plus students at any time, gives me an adrenaline rush and helps me perform,” he says. A visiting Professor at the University of California at Berkeley and more recently at the Wharton School, he confesses that each day he takes to the classroom, he still gets those knots in his stomach. “I think that’s a sign of a good teacher,” he laughs at his own trepidations.
How does the mentor, sitting within his academic fort, keep in touch with the real world of business and finance? “Constantly being in touch with news and research,” retorts Professor Bubna. This also helps him maintain an archive of articles of importance and interest to his students. Even simple concepts in economics, such as elasticity, make more sense to students when supplemented with a related article on a real world issue. Professor Bubna’s research interest covers a wide spectrum – ranging from applied microeconomic theory with applications to credit markets and venture capital, to empirical research on Indian capital markets. He has written research papers on venture capital syndication, microfinance, role of kin in credit markets, among others.
“To some extent, there is a schism between the theoretical research I do as an academic, and how much of that I can actually bring into my classroom teaching, especially in a purely tools-based subject like micro economics,” admits Bubna. When he does teach a course in Corporate Finance, he hopes he can assimilate his research findings on Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in India into his lectures.
The future reads full for the young Professor. “Research and more research, teaching and more teaching,” he sums up. “I am an opportunistic researcher and find current topics fascinating. At the moment it is all aspects of the capital market.” That is the Professor’s next shot for some time now.
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