IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/soudev/v4y2009i2p203-228.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘Episodes’ or ‘Evolution’

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew McCartney

    (Lecturer in Economics (South Asia) Department of Economics SOAS University of London)

Abstract

This article begins by looking more closely at a debate now widely forgotten—that of liberalisation under Rajiv Gandhi in 1985–86. It is widely assumed this earlier attempt to liberalise the economy was only short-lived and 1991 marks the true turning point in policy reform. This article finds that arguments trying to simultaneously reconcile stalled liberalisation in 1985 with sustained liberalisation after 1991 (elite politics, reform by stealth, clever political management, elite psychology) do not convince. This article seeks to demonstrate that 1991 marked not a break but a continuation of liberalising economic policies. By shifting liberalisation back well before the structural break in growth (widely acknowledged to have occurred around 1980) its candidature as an explanation for that increase in growth needs again to be carefully considered.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew McCartney, 2009. "‘Episodes’ or ‘Evolution’," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 4(2), pages 203-228, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:soudev:v:4:y:2009:i:2:p:203-228
    DOI: 10.1177/097317410900400203
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/097317410900400203
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/097317410900400203?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raghbendra Jha & Ibotombi Longjam, 2006. "Structure of Financial Savings During Indian Economic Reforms," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 861-869, November.
    2. Rodrik, Dani, 1999. "Where Did All the Growth Go? External Shocks, Social Conflict, and Growth Collapses," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 385-412, December.
    3. Bhagwati, Jagdish, 1993. "India in Transition: Freeing the Economy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288473, Decembrie.
    4. Tewari, Meenu, 1999. "Successful Adjustment in Indian Industry: the Case of Ludhiana's Woolen Knitwear Cluster," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(9), pages 1651-1671, September.
    5. Dani Rodrik & Arvind Subramanian, 2005. "From "Hindu Growth" to Productivity Surge: The Mystery of the Indian Growth Transition," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 52(2), pages 193-228, September.
    6. T. G. Arun & F. I. Nixson, 2000. "The Disinvestment of Public Sector Enterprises: The Indian Experience," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 19-32.
    7. Jushan Bai & Pierre Perron, 1998. "Estimating and Testing Linear Models with Multiple Structural Changes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(1), pages 47-78, January.
    8. Dossani, Rafiq & Kenney, Martin, 2007. "The Next Wave of Globalization: Relocating Service Provision to India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 772-791, May.
    9. Pedersen, JOrgen Dige, 2000. "Explaining Economic Liberalization in India: State and Society Perspectives," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 265-282, February.
    10. Arvind Virmani, 2004. "India's economic growth: From socialist rate of growth to Bharatiya rate of growth," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi Working Papers 122, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, India.
    11. Deb Kusum Das, 2003. "Quantifing trade barriers: Has protection declined substantially in Indian manufacturing?," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi Working Papers 105, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, India.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aradhna Aggarwal & Nagesh Kumar, 2012. "Structural Change, Industrialization and Poverty Reduction: The Case of India," Development Papers 1206, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) South and South-West Asia Office.
    2. Arnab Bhattacharjee & Sumit K. Majumdar, 2011. "How much does industry matter in an emerging market economy?," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 256, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
    3. Shinhye Chang & Rangan Gupta & Stephen M. Miller, 2018. "Causality Between Per Capita Real GDP and Income Inequality in the U.S.: Evidence from a Wavelet Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(1), pages 269-289, January.
    4. Devi, P. Indira & Shanmugam, K.R. & Jayasree, M.G., 2012. "Compensating Wages for Occupational Risks of Farm Workers in India," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 67(2), pages 1-12.
    5. Kerekes, Monika, 2007. "Analyzing patterns of economic growth: a production frontier approach," Discussion Papers 2007/15, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    6. Dani Rodrik & Arvind Subramanian, 2005. "From "Hindu Growth" to Productivity Surge: The Mystery of the Indian Growth Transition," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 52(2), pages 193-228, September.
    7. Siddiqur Osmani, 2009. "Explaining Growth in South Asia," Chapters, in: Gary McMahon & Hadi Salehi Esfahani & Lyn Squire (ed.), Diversity in Economic Growth, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion & Rinku Murgai, 2020. "Poverty and Growth in India over Six Decades," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(1), pages 4-27, January.
    9. Manmohan Agarwal & John Whalley, 2013. "The 1991 Reforms, Indian Economic Growth, and Social Progress," NBER Working Papers 19024, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Balakrishnan, Pulapre & Das, Mausumi & Parameswaran, M., 2017. "The internal dynamic of Indian economic growth," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 46-61.
    11. Mauricio Cárdenas, 2007. "Economic Growth in Colombia : a reversal of "fortune"?," Revista ESPE - Ensayos sobre Política Económica, Banco de la Republica de Colombia, vol. 25(53), pages 220-259, January.
    12. Andrew G. Berg & Jonathan D. Ostry, 2017. "Inequality and Unsustainable Growth: Two Sides of the Same Coin?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 65(4), pages 792-815, November.
    13. Mazumdar, Surajit, 2011. "The State, Industrialization and Competition: A reassessment of India's Leading Business Enterprises under Dirigisme," MPRA Paper 47810, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Sam Hak Kan Tang & Charles Ka Yui Leung, 2016. "The Deep Historical Roots of Macroeconomic Volatility," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 92(299), pages 568-589, December.
    15. Mr. Chris Papageorgiou & Mr. Andrew Berg & Ms. Catherine A Pattillo & Mr. Nikola Spatafora, 2010. "The End of An Era? the Medium- and Long-Term Effects of the Global Crisison Growth in Low-Income Countries," IMF Working Papers 2010/205, International Monetary Fund.
    16. de Vries, Gaaitzen J. & Erumban, Abdul A. & Timmer, Marcel P. & Voskoboynikov, Ilya & Wu, Harry X., 2012. "Deconstructing the BRICs: Structural transformation and aggregate productivity growth," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 211-227.
    17. Ricardo Hausmann & Lant Pritchett & Dani Rodrik, 2005. "Growth Accelerations," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 303-329, December.
    18. Pritchett, Lant & Sen, Kunal & Kar, Sabyasachi & Raihan, Selim, 2016. "Trillions gained and lost: Estimating the magnitude of growth episodes," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 279-291.
    19. Fukuda, Takashi & Dahalan, Jauhari, 2011. "Finance-Growth-Crisis Nexus in India: Evidence from Cointegration and Causality Assessment," MPRA Paper 39467, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Koopman, Eline & Wacker, Konstantin M., 2023. "Drivers of growth accelerations: What role for capital accumulation?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:soudev:v:4:y:2009:i:2:p:203-228. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.