IIT JAM Economics Syllabus 2026, Section Wise Detailed Syllabus

IIT JAM Economics Syllabus Overview

Category

Details

Exam Name

IIT JAM 2026

Post Category

IIT JAM Economics Syllabus 2026

Status

To be announced

Exam Mode

Online

Exam Duration

3 hours

Total Marks

100

Number of Questions

60

Paper Pattern

Divided into three sections (A, B & C Section), Section A (30 Multiple-Choice Questions), Section B (10 Multiple-Choice Questions), Section C (20 Numerical Answer Type Questions)

Eligibility Criteria

Graduate in Economics or a related discipline

IIT JAM Microeconomics Syllabus

Topics

Sub Topics

Consumer theory

Preference, utility, and representation theorem, Budget constraint and choice, Demand (ordinary and compensated), Slutsky equations, and Choice under risk and uncertainty Revealed preference axioms.

Production, costs

Technology and isoquants, Production with one or more variable inputs, Returns to scale, Short-run and long-run costs, Cost curves in the short run and long run, Perfect competition in markets

General equilibrium and welfare

Equilibrium and efficiency under pure exchange and production, Welfare economics, Theorems of welfare economics

Market structure

Monopoly and pricing with market power, Price discrimination (first, second, and third degree), Monopolistic competition, and oligopoly

Game theory

Strategic form games, Nash equilibrium, Mixed extension and mixed strategy Nash equilibrium, Iterated elimination of dominated strategies, Examples: Cournot, Bertrand duopolies, Prisoner's dilemma, Cooperative game theory: Shapley value, Nash bargaining

Public goods and market failure

Externalities, Public goods and markets with asymmetric information (adverse selection and moral hazard), VCG mechanism and transfer rules

IIT JAM Macroeconomics Syllabus

Topics

Sub Topics

National Income

Accounting: Understanding the structure, key concepts, measurements, and circular flow of income for both closed and open economies. Examining money, fiscal, and foreign sector variables, along with their concepts and measurements.

Behavioral and Technological Functions

Consumption Functions: Analyzing various consumption functions, including the absolute income hypothesis, life-cycle hypothesis, and permanent income hypothesis. Investment Functions: Exploring Keynesian investment functions and understanding money demand and supply functions. Production Function: Examining the production function, a key element in economic analysis.

Business Cycles and Economic Models

Business Cycles: Studying the facts and features of business cycles, including both the Classical and Keynesian models. Keynesian Cross Model: Understanding the simple Keynesian cross model for income and employment determination and the multiplier effect (in a closed economy). IS-LM Model: Analyzing the IS-LM Model and Hicks’ IS-LM synthesis. Evaluating the roles of monetary and fiscal policy in managing business cycles.

Business Cycles and Economic Models (Open Economy)

Open Economy: Investigating the dynamics of an open economy, including the Mundell-Fleming model and the Keynesian flexible price (aggregate demand and aggregate supply) model. Assessing the roles of monetary and fiscal policy in open economies.

Inflation and Unemployment

Inflation: Examining theories, measurement techniques, causes, and the effects of inflation. Unemployment: Exploring various types of unemployment, methods of measurement, underlying causes, and the impact of unemployment on the economy.

Growth Models

Harrod-Domar, Solow, and Neoclassical Growth Models: Studying these important growth models that explain the factors contributing to economic growth and development.

IIT JAM Statistics for Economics Syllabus

Topics

Probability theory, Sample spaces and events, Axioms of probability and their properties, conditional probability and Bayes’ rule, independent events

Random variables and probability distributions, probability distributions, expected values and functions of random variables, properties of commonly used discrete and continuous distributions

Random sampling, Density and distribution functions for jointly distributed random variables, computing expected values of jointly distributed random variables, covariance and correlation coefficients

Point and interval estimation, estimation of population parameters using methods of moments and maximum likelihood procedures, properties of estimators, confidence intervals

Hypothesis testing, distributions of test statistics, testing hypotheses related to population parameters, Type I and Type II errors, the power of a test, tests for comparing parameters from two samples

IIT JAM Indian Economy Syllabus

Chapters

Topics

Indian economy before 1950

Transfer of tribute

Deindustrialization of India

Planning and Indian development

Planning models

Relation between agricultural and industrial growth

Challenges faced by Indian planning

Indian economy after 1991

Balance of payments crisis in 1991

Major aspects of economic reforms in India after 1991

Reforms in trade and foreign investment

Banking, finance, and macroeconomic policies

Aspects of banking in India

Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR)

Financial sector reforms in India

Fiscal deficit

Savings and investment rates in India

Inequalities in social development

India’s achievements in health, education, and other social sectors

Disparities between Indian States in human development

Poverty

Methodology of poverty estimation

Issues in poverty estimation in India

India’s labor market

Unemployment

Labor force participation rates

IIT JAM Mathematics for Economics

Topics

Sub Topics

Preliminaries and Functions of one real variable

Set theory and number theory

Graphs, elementary types of functions: quadratic, polynomial, power, exponential, logarithmic, sequences and series: convergence, algebraic properties, and applications

Continuous functions: characterizations, properties concerning various operations, and applications

Differentiable functions: characterizations, properties with respect to various operations, and applications

Second and higher-order derivatives: properties and applications

Single-variable optimization

Geometric properties of functions: convex functions, their characterizations, and applications

Local and global optima: geometric and calculus-based characterizations, and applications

Linear algebra

Vector spaces algebraic and geometric properties

Scalar products, norms, orthogonality

Linear transformations: properties, matrix representations, and elementary operations

Systems of linear equations: properties of their solution sets

Determinants: characterization, properties, and applications

Functions of several real variables

Geometric representations graphs and level curves

Differentiable functions: characterizations, properties with respect to various operations, and applications

Second-order derivatives: properties and applications

The implicit function theorem, and application to comparative statics problems

Homogeneous and homothetic functions: characterizations and applications

Multivariate optimization

Convex sets, geometric properties of functions: convex functions, their characterizations, properties, and applications

Further geometric properties of functions: quasi-convex functions, their characterizations, properties, and applications

Unconstrained optimization: geometric characterizations, characterizations using calculus, and applications

Constrained optimization with equality constraints: geometric characterizations, Lagrange characterizations using calculus, and applications

Properties of value function: envelope theorem and applications

Linear programming

Graphical solution

Matrix formulation

Duality

Economic interpretation

Integration, differential equations, and difference equations

Definite integrals

Indefinite integrals and economic applications

First-order difference equations

Equilibrium and its stability

First-order differential equations

Phase diagrams and stability