Breaking the Mold: Indias Untraveled Path to Prosperity

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

The new path for economic development that India must create

The whole world has a stake in Indias future, and that future hinges on whether India can develop its economy and deliver for its populationnow the worlds largestwhile staying democratic. Indias economy has overtaken the United Kingdoms to become the fifth-largest in the world, but it is still only one-fifth the size of Chinas, and Indias economic growth is too slow to provide jobs for millions of its ambitious youth. Blocking Indias current path are intense global competition in low-skilled manufacturing, increasing protectionism and automation, and the countrys majoritarian streak in politics. In Breaking the Mold, Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba show why and how India needs to blaze a new path if its to succeed.

India diverged long ago from the standard development model, the one followed by Chinafrom agriculture to low-skilled manufacturing, then high-skilled manufacturing and, finally, servicesby leapfrogging intermediate steps. India must not turn back now. Rajan and Lamba explain how India can accelerate development by prioritizing human capital, expanding opportunities in high-skilled services, and reviving democratic openness. India must pivot from brawn to brains, even at this early stage in its development.

Filled with vivid examples and written with incisive candor, Breaking the Mold shows how India can break free of the stumbling blocks of the past and embrace the enormous possibilities of the future.

Reviews

"There are no better guides to how [India] might best leverage its potentialand manage the obstacles. . . . [Rajan and Lamba] expertly devise a new growth model for India, offering detailed recommendations for reforming the countrys industrial strategy, healthcare, education and democracy. . . . This is a novel, well-argued and solidly evidenced pitch for Indias future. . . . A must-read for anyone keen to understand a nation that will play a big part in all our economic futures."
"[Rajan and Lamba] sketch out a vision that amounts to an entirely new model of development for Indiaone that they argue is better suited to its strengths than its current model."

Author Bio

Raghuram G. Rajan is the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. His books include Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy (Princeton), winner of the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award. Rohit Lamba is assistant professor of economics at Pennsylvania State University, a visiting assistant professor of economics at New York University Abu Dhabi, and a former economist at the office of the chief economic adviser to the Government of India.