India in the Twenty-First Century

Gupta, Bhabani Sen.India in the Twenty-First Century. International Affairs 73(2):297-314.

This article was a bit difficult to read. I got through most of it, and came away with some interesting points that I am going to share, but some of the Economics was a little over my head. I'm not so sure that my level of economic understanding was anywhere near the author's level, so that was tough. I would be a little discouraged, but in the mean time I've started to read another book, and I'm enjoying it--so that is good news!

The article discusses India and where the country stands today in the global economy. In terms of purchasing power, India is expected to be the fourth largest economy in the world. While India has been progressing in the global market, many economists are concluding that the global integration has not been strong and the level of integration is very low. There are reasons many reasons why the growth has been slow to almost stagnant, according to this author. The author mentions four major weaknesses, which include: large deficits which slows down the growth of private investment, high levels of protection, defects in the transportation and communication, and the lack of flexibility in the labor markets. The author states that "India is still not attracting a level of attention from foreign investors commensurate with its size and economic potential, nor is its level of engagement in the world trade keeping pace with that of the more dynamic developing countries--especially the countries in East Asia that appear the most relevant comparators."

I have to apologize for the lack of explanation that goes along with this post. As I stated before, economically speaking, this article was above my level of understanding. I spent a good amount of time trying to understand and comprehend what the author was saying through looking at some charts and graphs. I thought about not blogging about this article at all, but then I decided since I spent a good portion of time with the article, I would do the best I could! I'm excited to report on the reading I've done in another book I've started--but I wanted to prove that I've been working by at least attempting to blog about this article!