Why Growth Matters: How Economic Growth in India Reduced Poverty and the Lessons for Other Developing Countries

Though it seems like common sense that economic growth lowers poverty, Columbia University economists Bhagwati (In Defense of Globalization) and Panagariya (India, The Emerging Giant) argue forcefully that growth is the only effective approach. They assert that India’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 administrations. The authors’ view that a country with widespread poverty has a comparative advantage in labor-intensive goods, due to the availability of cheap labor, may be debated. Bhagwati and Panagariya more effectively argue that general economic growth is an indispensable prerequisite to redistributionist programs aimed at assisting the poor; without growth, there is little to redistribute. As much of the world struggles with elevated debt levels, the vision of India as “a role model for reform today” has applications reaching beyond the developing world. Agent: Markson Thoma Literary Agency. (Apr.)