Synopses & Reviews
In its history since Independence, India has seen widely different economic experiments: from Jawharlal Nehruand#8217;s pragmatism to the rigid state socialism of Indira Gandhi to the brisk liberalization of the 1990s. So which strategy best addresses Indiaand#8217;s, and by extension the worldand#8217;s, greatest moral challenge: lifting a great number of extremely poor people out of poverty?
Bhagwati and Panagariya argue forcefully that only one strategy will help the poor to any significant effect: economic growth, led by markets overseen and encouraged by liberal state policies. Their radical message has huge consequences for economists, development NGOs and anti-poverty campaigners worldwide. There are vital lessons here not only for Southeast Asia, but for Africa, Eastern Europe, and anyone who cares that the effort to eradicate poverty is more than just good intentions. If you want it to work, you need growth. With all that implies.
Review
George A. Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2001and#147;Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya are two of the great intellectual lights behind one of the greatest miracles of economic history: the economic reform of India, and its subsequent takeoff.and#160; It is not just the well-to-do who have benefited, but, especially, the poor.and#160; The lessons from the spirit of 1991 are not just relevant for India today; they are also of prime importance for the billions of citizens of low income countries around the globe.and#8221;
Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University and president emeritus of the National Bureau of Economic Research
and#147;In this important book the two leading experts on Indiaand#8217;s economy refute the claims of those who reject pro-growth policies in favor of redistribution schemes. Indiaand#8217;s experience in the past two decades shows how a nationand#8217;s economic growth reduces poverty and improves the well-being of disadvantaged groups. Bhagwati and Panagariya explain what India needs to do now and how other countries can learn from Indiaand#8217;s experience.and#8221;
Hernando de Soto, economist and author of The Mystery of Capital
and#147;Assembling reams of evidence from Indiaand#8217;s astonishing economic success story, Bhagwati and Panagariya make an unbeatable case for why market reforms are essential to economic growthand#151;and improving the lives of the poor. Serious reformers throughout the developing world cannot ignore this book or Bhagwatiand#8217;s work throughout the years.and#8221;
Ernesto Zedillo, director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and former president of Mexicoand#147;Every important developing country should be the subject of a masterful book like this. Bhagwati and Panagariya have paid a great service to Indiaand#151;and actually other emerging countriesand#151;by writing it. If itand#8217;s a must read for scholars and practitioners of economic development, it should be absolutely mandatory for the Indian political leaders."
Pankaj Mishra, New York Review of Books
and#147;A passionate case for more privatization and liberalization, and less protection for laborand#133;Bhagwati has provided intellectual authority and sustenance to those who think that India, by prioritizing wealth-creation over health and education, can become a and#145;role modeland#8217; for and#145;other developing nations.and#8217;and#8221;
Publishers Weekly
and#147;[Bhagwati and Panagariya] assert that Indiaand#8217;s economic development is relevant to the developing world as a whole, and, in lively fashion, rebut myths of growth and poverty under the Jawharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi administrationsand#133; As much of the world struggles with elevated debt levels, the vision of India as and#145;a role model for reform todayand#8217; has applications reaching beyond the developing world.and#8221;
Washington Examiner
and#147;All economic correlations are complex, and many factors are at play, butand#160;Why Growth Mattersand#160;shows how the poor benefit from economic development and which regulations still stand in the way. As Pope Francis opens a discussion on reducing poverty, the book could not have come at a better time.and#8221;
James Crabtree,and#160;Financial Times
and#147;This latest contribution from Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya, two Indian-born economists at Columbia University, is welcome. Inand#160;Why Growth Matters, the duo provide perhaps the most full-throated defence to date of Indiaand#8217;s economic liberalisation, which began in 1991 and is widely understood to have led to a period of fast growth over the past decade.and#147;
Finance and Development (International Monetary Fund)
and#147;For those who have followed Indiaand#8217;s recent growth story,and#160;Why Growth Mattersand#160;is a useful summary of both the history of economic reform in India and of the controversies these reforms have generated, as well as a detailed and practical explication of what is necessary for the future.and#8221;
Global Asia
and#147;What are the secrets behind Indiaand#8217;s economic growth and poverty reduction for the past two decades?... The answer offered in this book is simple and straightforwardand#133; [Bhagwati and Panagariya] present a convincing, orthodox growth model of India.and#8221;
Prospect magazine
and#147;The book is written with zest and confidenceand#133; the evidence they have collected is deployed effectively.and#8221;
CHOICE
and#147;An excellent read for students and faculty of economic and international development as well as anyone involved in the nonprofit humanitarian industryand#133; Highly recommended.and#8221;
About the Author
Jagdish Bhagwati is university professor of economics at Columbia, and a long time fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. A native of India, Professor Bhagwati studied at Cambridge University, MIT, and Oxford before returning to India in 1961 as professor of economics at the Indian Statistical Institute. He is the author of many books, among them
In Defense of Globalization.
Arvind Panagariya is Professor of Indian Economics at Columbia. He is a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He has been the chief economist of the Asian Development Bank and a professor of economics and co-director, Center for International Economics, University of Maryland at College Park. He is the author of, among other books,
India: The Emerging Giant.