ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

economic developmentSubscribe to economic development

Forecasting the Post-COVID-19 Recovery Pattern

The COVID-19 crisis provides an opportunity to reorient the existing methods and methodologies for data construction. Such a move will also help gradually transit from a data deficit to a data-driven and empirical economic policymaking.

Impending Water Crisis in India

Emerging Water Insecurity in India: Lessons from an Agriculturally Advanced State by Ranjit Singh Ghuman and Rajeev Sharma, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018; pp xxvi + 298, price not indicated.

Family, State, and Ideal Populations

Reproductive Politics and the Making of Modern India by Mytheli Sreenivas, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2021; pp 274, `2,250.

From Developing to Developed Nations

The Art of Economic Catch-up: Barriers, Detours and Leapfrogging in Innovation Systems by Keun Lee, Cambridge, New York, Port Melbourne, New Delhi and Singapore: Cambridge University Press, 2019; pp xxiii + 279, price not indicated.

Productivity Growth in the Era of Debt, Diseases and Disasters

Global Productivity: Trends, Drivers and Policies edited by Alistair Dieppe, Washington, DC: World Bank (Advance Edition), 2020; pp xxiii + 389, price not indicated

Status Quo Anti

This article argues in favour of dismantling the Industrial Disputes Act. For several decades now, the provisions in the IDA have been the leading factor behind the irrationality and smallness of enterprises in India. The article further emphasises the issues for the “post-coronial” economic development of India.

The Idea of a University in India

In colonial times, universities were established in India to produce graduates who would serve the interests of a colonial ruling elite. Fast-forwarding to the present times, India is witnessing a massification of higher education, with the establishment of more universities and an increase in enrolment. Under such circumstances, what merits examination is whether universities are producing knowledge for knowledge’s sake, or training individuals to fall in line with a neo-liberal nationalist agenda of economic development.

An Imbalanced Ecosystem

The rapid development of various institutions supporting company creation in India has the potential to generate economic growth, innovation, and economic development. However, this article shows that the start-up ecosystem has unevenly developed across cities and economic sectors, and has failed to empower the overall population, so far. Using a comprehensive database on start-ups retrieved from Tracxn, a business data and analytics company, the authors find that venture capital concentrates amongst graduates stemming from a handful of prestigious education institutes in India and abroad. The article analyses the role of entrepreneurship policies and argues for a shift of focus and resources towards the building of a more inclusive start-up ecosystem.

Communal Space over Life Space

Ahmedabad, once a city known for its enterprise, is now a city whose various communities live lives defined by the communal space. The ascendancy of the communal space, however, has coincided with the global integration of its economy. This paper analyses how the city, its physical and socio-economic structure, responded to the needs of globalisation. The increasingly uncertain economic base of the city left self-employed and casual workers vulnerable to the vagaries of market forces. In the vacuum created by the exclusion of certain sections of the city's population from development programmes and as local governments abstained from their welfare responsibilities, an opportunity was created for the Sangh parivar to step in with its vicious propaganda, fomenting hatred and creating an identifiable, though false, image of the 'other'.

Paradox of Development

Issues in Pakistan’s Economy by S Akbar Zaidi; Oxford University Press, Karachi, 1999; pp 462, Rs 595.

Determinants of Social Mobility in India

The role of caste and community in class mobility and the impact of modernisation on such processes has long been a subject of local ethnographic research. This study, by using sample data from 1996 National Election Study, offers a first time overview of the national scenario. An overview that facilitates several perspectives and a continuing paradox - that opportunities of economic advancement do exist along with persistent and substantial class inequalities.

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