Youth Voices of Kerala 2.0 is an anthology of essays on pertinent and current public policy topics authored by young students from Kerala colleges. It is the outcome of college workshops organised by the Centre for Public Policy Research in collaboration with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, South Asia across colleges of Kerala in 2024.
The workshop offered alternative thinking to the public’s perceptions of liberty. It contextualised the grand theories with public policy case studies, providing basic information about the economy: what well-functioning markets accomplish, their limits, and exploring the impact of government intervention through policies. Discussions on liberty are often restricted to the myopic ‘socialism versus capitalism’ viewpoint, leading to misconceptions and false narratives on libertarianism.
The workshops focused on introducing and engaging the students to look at the political economy from a classical liberal perspective. The workshops empowered the participants to be critical thinkers with a nuanced understanding of the market economy and the innovative solutions it offers, especially in the context of public policy.
The essays cover a wide range of subjects, including the senior care economy, gig economy, waste management, youth migration, plantation economy, public transportation, etc. The contributors have examined the issues from a regional, Kerala perspective and have suggested recommendations based on classical liberal ideas.
Views expressed by the author(s) are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR).