India: The Emerging Giant,
Arvind Panagariya
OUP, Rs 595

This is a book that will be treasured and quoted, like Bhagwati and Desai’s in an earlier era
It isn’t easy to write about the Indian economy if you are a non-resident. Even in this Net-enabled world, access to information can be difficult and one may not be able to keep abreast of policy changes. (It helps if there are no reforms and policy doesn’t change.) Consequently, it is possible to produce stuff that is hopelessly out of date. In an earlier generation of economists, Jagdish Bhagwati and

T.N. Srinivasan managed this knowledge disadvantage extremely well; and in a subsequent generation, Arvind Panagariya. While these aren’t Panagariya’s words, the introduction advances the following proposition. In the 1950s and early ’60s, economists wrote about the Indian economy. India promised to be the model for the rest of the developing world. Then, everyone lost interest. Not only did nothing change in India, except in a negative sense, but the economy also fell behind in cross-country comparisons. There were more interesting economies to write about. “I distinctly remember noting this change upon arrival at Princeton for my doctoral work in the mid-1970s. That observation led me to switch my own area of research from India to international trade theory.” Post-1991 reforms changed that. Not only were reforms being introduced, but the economy also perked up, particularly in the past four years.

Consequently, there are several books on the Indian economy now. For the most part, these are of four types. First, there are edited collections, typically of conference papers. While these are good and often have excellent sectoral papers that are extremely well researched, authorship is invariably multiple and the reader doesn’t form a comprehensive view. Second, there are quickies, interpreted as rehashing newspaper columns. Typically, these produce excellent copy, but lack academic rigour. Third, there are single-author volumes focusing on selected sectors. And fourth and finally, there are excellent volumes that emanate from multilateral organisations, and even consultancy firms. Panagariya’s volume fits into none of these categories.

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