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Theories of Governance and Development: How Does India’s Experience Fit?

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  • Singh, Nirvikar

Abstract

This paper takes on the apparent paradox of India’s combination of durable democracy, capable bureaucracy, but a deficient development trajectory. It begins by outlining the nature of the problem. Then it summarizes and compares some significant approaches to drawing connections from governance institutions to development outcomes. Next, it reviews some of the contributions to understanding India’s political economy in the last few decades. Finally, it attempts to draw some lessons from India’s experience for the application of different theories of governance and development. The central lesson is that the paradox recedes when attention is paid to the subnational level, where India’s states encompass considerable variation in initial societal and economic conditions and in development outcomes.
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  • Singh, Nirvikar, 2023. "Theories of Governance and Development: How Does India’s Experience Fit?," Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt5nw6g2m6, Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:ucscec:qt5nw6g2m6
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    Cited by:

    1. Singh, Nirvikar, 2015. "Punjab’s Agricultural Innovation Challenge," Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt4716p3vr, Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    democracy; embedded autonomy; governance; limited access orders; India; inclusive institutions; political economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries
    • P26 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Property Rights

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