Public Finance & Taxation
Research spans fiscal federalism, resource mobilisation, public expenditure analysis, GST architecture and compliance, Finance Commission issues, and Kerala's state finances. Prof. Joseph serves as policy advisor to successive Kerala Finance Ministers and chairs the Kerala Public Expenditure Review Committee.
Key outputs include 25+ policy reports to the Government of Kerala, contributions to the 15th and 16th Finance Commission submissions, and ongoing work on the Routledge Handbook of India's Public Finance with Dr. C. Rangarajan as Lead Editor.
Science, Technology & Innovation for Development
A career-long engagement with how developing countries build technological capabilities and innovation systems. Research covers national innovation systems, ICT for development, industrial catch-up, informal sector innovation, and the measurement of innovation performance.
Co-author of the seminal 2009 Elgar Handbook on Innovation Systems and Developing Countries (with B.A. Lundvall, Chaminade and Vang), Founding Editor-in-Chief of Innovation and Development (Q1, Taylor & Francis). Member, NSTMIS, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
International Economics & Trade
Research covers FDI patterns and spillovers, WTO's Information Technology Agreement (ITA), ASEAN–India economic relations, South-South and triangular cooperation, and the employment-export nexus in Indian manufacturing.
Lead Author of ASEAN-India Vision 2020 and Trinity of the South (India-Brazil-South Africa Economic Cooperation) at RIS New Delhi; Consultant to UNCTAD and UNESCAP; represented India at the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development.
Plantation Agriculture & Natural Resources
Comprehensive empirical research on India's plantation economy — natural rubber, tea, cardamom, and spices — covering production, pricing, processing, trade, labour relations, and innovation. Coordinated the Rs 5 crore National Research Programme on Plantation Development (NRPPD) established in Union Budget 2008-09 at the instance of Shri Jairam Ramesh.
Member, Expert Committee on National Rubber Policy; Member, Expert Committee to Amend Tea Act 1953; submitted 68 policy reports to the Ministry of Commerce.
Industrial & Regional Economics
Research on the electronics and ICT industries in India — growth, structural change, export performance, and technology behaviour — as well as regional development with a focus on Kerala. Explores how macro-industrial policy intersects with local economic trajectories.
Early work on India's electronics industry (PhD thesis, Sage, 1997) was a pioneering empirical study reviewed by Dr. Arun Ghosh in EPW. More recent work addresses deindustrialisation, manufacturing employment, and regional innovation systems.