Scholarly Musings
This volume is a testament to the breadth and relevance of policy of development economics today. It grapples with questions on how to design antipoverty policies, and under what conditions we can expect them to be successful. It concentrates on programmes and policies for India and covers international experience with cash transfer programmes.
The essays, penned by Kaushik Basu, Eric Verhoogen, Sudipto Mundle and other experts, are collected under three broad themes – anti-poverty policies; land, labour and financial markets; and political economy. The work in this area applies core theoretical insights to policy discussions.
The book is targeted mainly towards specialists and students at the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels, but the depth of treatment as well as level of technical difficulty vary quite a bit. Generally-accessible essays on the role of property rights (private and communal) in resource allocation (by Maitreesh Ghatak) and the impact of colonial censuses on perception of caste hierarchies in India (by Rohini Somanathan) are found alongside long, technical pieces on automation and employer power in the labour market (by Nancy Chau and Ravi Kanbur).
Dilip Mookherjee’s essay introduces readers to the variety of anti-poverty interventions as well as problems of corruption and elite capture that have plagued efforts over the years.
The book closes with chapters that trespass the boundaries of economics and enter the territory of politics to engage urgent concerns of the day that are the basis of much dispute and debate.
About the editor
Kaushik Basu is Carl Marks Professor of International Studies and Professor of Economics at Cornell University. He was the chief economist of the World Bank from 2012 to 2016. Educated at St Stephen’s College, Delhi and London School of Economics, Mr Basu had served as the chief economic adviser to the Government of India between 2009 and 2012.