Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay: Assessing the Economic Rise of China and India

183 Pages·2010·0.76 MB·English

by  Pranab Bardhan

AwAkENiNg giANts,
Feet oF Clay
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AwAkENiNg giANts,
Feet oF Clay
Assessing the economic
Rise of chinA And indiA
PrANAb bArdhAN
PRinceton UniveRsity PRess PRinceton And oxfoRd
Copyright © 2010 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bardhan, Pranab K.
Awakening giants, feet of clay : assessing the economic rise of China and India /
Pranab Bardhan.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0–691–12994–5 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. China—Economic policy—
2000– 2. India—Economic policy—1991– 3. China—Economic
conditions—2000– 4. India—Economic conditions—1991– 5. China—Social
conditions—2000– 6. India—Social conditions—20th century. I. Title.
HC427.95B37 2010
330.951—dc22 2009034252
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Goudy Oldstyle
Printed on acid-free paper. b
press.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
CoNtENts
preface  vii
Chapter1 Introduction: The Myths Floating around the Giants 1
Chapter2 Economic Reform and Growth: Differing Patterns
and Institutions 19
Chapter3 Agriculture: Still the Most Crowded Sector 42
Chapter4 Infrastructure: The Dazzling Difference 54
Chapter5 High Saving, Low Financial Intermediation 65
Chapter6 The Pattern of Burgeoning Capitalism 78
Chapter7 Poverty and Inequality: How Is the Growth Shared? 90
Chapter8 The Social Sector: The Relevance of the
Socialist Legacy 104
Chapter9 Environment: The Alarming Signs 117
Chapter10 Looking to the Future: Through the Lens of Political
Economy 125
references  161
index  169
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PrEfACE
T
his is a short book on two large countries, focusing on their com-
parative economic development in the past quarter century (a mi-
nuscule segment of their long history). It is not about their now
considerable impact on the global economy, which gets most of the
attention in the Western media; it is more about what has happened
to the lives of people inside those countries and under what structural
constraints. Nor is it about the impact of the current global reces-
sion; the deliberate focus in the book is on long-term institutional
and political-economic issues. It does not represent new frontiers
of research; it largely draws on existing information and scholar-
ship. Avoiding the minutiae of analytical or empirical details, it tries
with broad-brush strokes to portray the overall contours in a rela-
tively coherent exercise in comparative political economy meant
for a general readership. In the process it also demolishes some of
the myths popular in the media and parts of academia that have
accumulated around the significant economic achievements of the
two countries.
Thanks (nonincriminating) are due to Tarun Khanna, Gérard Ro-
land, and two referees for valuable comments on an earlier draft.
Pranab Bardhan
Berkeley, April 2009
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AwAkENiNg giANts,
Feet oF Clay