Jagdish Bhagwati, one of the world's leading economists, offers a fascinating overview of the policies that produced India's sorry economic performance over a third of a century. His analysis puts into sharp focus the crippling effects of the inward-looking, bureaucratic regime that grew to Kafkaesque dimensions, starting in the early 1950s. It provides a coherent and convincing rationale for the economic reforms begun in June 1991 by the new government of Prime Minister Rao. These reforms, also discussed by Professor Bhagwati, are thus set into historical and analytical perspective. Written with wit and elegance, this text of the 1992 Radhakrishnan Lectures at Oxford has quickly gained a wide readership.
Readership: Faculty and graduate students of political economy, development studies, and post-Independence India. Policy-makers concerned with the background to India's economic failure. General readers interested in India's recent history.
Jagdish Bhagwati, Professor of Economics, Columbia University
"With his accustomed brilliance, wit, and wisdom, Jagdish Bhagwati describes India's urgent tasks of economic reform. We could not have a better guide." - Jeffrey D. Sachs, Harvard University
