The writer is professor of economics, Royal Bank research professor and Johal Chair, University of British Columbia, Canada
Competitive populism threatens to undo the gains of economic reforms
To sustain its growth story, India now desperately needs a next generation of reforms. Amongst the most important ones are land and labour reforms to encourage manufacturing to scale up
Election season is underway in India. The Indian voter has been greeted with a slate of electoral promises. From promises of minimum income transfers to astronomically high spending on infrastructure to promises of sustained government job creation, the voter has heard it all, and from all. At some level none of this is new. It happens every election cycle. And therein lies the tragedy for the Indian voter.
In the late 1960s, the debate on the appropriate strategy for battling poverty in India had two opposing arguments. On the one side were those who believed that redistribution of resources to the neediest sections of society was key to unleashing economic growth. This group advocated an aggressive policy of redistribution through myriad social welfare schemes and an ever increasing collection of protectionist policies directed to help the small, the agrarian, the exporter, the import competitor, etc.
In the late 1960s, the debate on the appropriate strategy for battling poverty in India had two opposing arguments. On the one side were those who believed that redistribution of resources to the neediest sections of society was key to unleashing economic growth. This group advocated an aggressive policy of redistribution through myriad social welfare schemes and an ever increasing collection of protectionist policies directed to help the small, the agrarian, the exporter, the import competitor, etc.
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