India's Long Road

At a time when the Indian scene is flooded with many books, Vijay Joshi's latest contribution towers above all others. India's Long Road will only add to Joshi's reputation for profound insight into India's economic problems. Jagdish Bhagwati, University Professor and Director of the Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies, Columbia University This is a very compelling book that makes a strong case for a comprehensive agenda of economic reforms that would enable India to emerge as a high income economy over the next quarter century. Barry Bosworth, Economist, the Brookings Institution A brilliant book. It is broad and deep in its coverage, and balanced and judicious in its assessments. India's current position is viewed against its long history since independence. The author's academic objectivity cannot disguise his passionate engagement with India, its economy, and its future. Where the leading problems are to be found, and what needs to be done, are clearly revealed. A must-read for any student of modern India. Christopher Bliss, Professor Emeritus in Economics, University of Oxford India has a complex economy; Joshi makes the issues intelligible in lucid prose, without compromising on the complexity. He also provides a balanced perspective on many controversial questions. In today's partisan and shrill policy debates this book will set an example of clear thinking. Pranab Bardhan, Professor of Graduate School at the Department of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley Vijay Joshi's analysis of the Indian economy is wide-ranging, thorough, detailed, and convincing. His policy prescriptions carefully balance concerns for alleviation of poverty, economic efficiency and sustainability, without carrying any ideological baggage. This outstanding book will become required reading for everyone interested in India. Avinash K. Dixit, Sherrerd University Professor Emeritus, Princeton University A tour de force: a brilliant, lucid and comprehensive analysis of what could be put right in the Indian economy, and especially in government policy. The good news is that many of the proposed changes are surely feasible and have been practised in other countries. They might really lead India to fulfil its potential. For the world, the economic transformation of a nation of more than one billion people would be a huge event. W. Max Corden, Emeritus Professor of International Economics, Johns Hopkins University and Honorary Professorial Fellow, Department of Economics, University of Melbourne India's Long Road by Vijay Joshi, a leading macroeconomist, deserves to be required reading for anyone interested in India's performance and prospects. While being strongly grounded in economic theory, it succeeds in setting out a superb descriptive and prescriptive analysis of India's political economy in a readable style, without jargon or algebra. Its sensible and firm policy recommendations are based on careful argument and evidence. In consequence, the book will be valuable not only for the general reader but also for policymakers. It would also make an excellent text for students of the Indian economy. T.N. Srinivasan, Samuel C. Park Jr. Professor of Economics Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of International and Area Studies, Yale University I only wish that this book had been available 20 years earlier, when I was appointed Chief Economist for South Asia in the World Bank. To have had available such a well-argued and reasonable guide to the many problems confronting India in its quest to join the modern world by a leading member of the Indian diaspora would have been invaluable. I would particularly have valued the chapters on political economy. John Williamson, Senior Fellow Emeritus at the Peterson Institute for International Economics India's Long Road is a tour de force: it will be the new standard for those who want to learn about the Indian economy. Joshi provides lucid economic analysis and broad insights into the current and coming global context for India's future development. Nirvikar Singh, Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of California, Santa Cruz A cogent and sobering analysis of the enormity of the challenges India faces in ensuring inclusive, enduring and sustainable economic growth. Vijay Joshi lays out with rare clarity the necessary reforms that India must undertake - and the obstacles rooted in the country's political economy - if it is to fulfill its historical responsibility to improve the well-being of a sixth of humanity. One of the best - and most accessible - books on a complex and contentious subject. Devesh Kapur, Madan Lal Sobti Professor of Contemporary India and Director Center for Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania