Offering a thought-provoking, incisive analysis of Bengal and India, these memoirs, translated for the first time into English, spanning the 1930s to today, bring contemporary India alive. Mitra mercilessly dissects the middle class, the 'bhadralok', of which he is a member. He analyses the fledgling democracy of India, taking us through the heady days of state planning on the Soviet model, criticising the worldwide mantra of globalisation and liberalisation which he believes aggravates poverty. He held considerable positions of power within the establishment, including the office of economic adviser to prime minister Indira Gandhi. He provides much insider information on the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971. Most intriguing are his thoughts of being a Marxist in a poor country and his discussion of his stint as minister for nine years.
This collection of essays, collected and published in tribute to the economist Ashok Mitra is inevitably diverse, given the wide range of interests of his professional friends and colleagues. There is however one common thread that runs through the articles; a shared belief that ideology and experience, just as much as theory and policy, are inseparable in economics.
A Reprint, With A New Introduction, Of The Original 1977 Publication, The Book Presents A Novel Analysis And A Historical Account Of A Crucial Phase Of India`S Post-Independence Development.
Questioning the image of India as a nascent superpower or putative economic powerhouse that has been the flavour of the decade, Ashok Mitra draws on his experience as India’s chief economic adviser and West Bengal’s finance minister to look at critical current issues that include the policies of liberalization, the Indo—US nuclear deal and the attempt to take away land from peasants for industrialization. His clear sighted analyses of the roots of such societal tendencies as communalism and corruption force us to re-examine our assumptions about contemporary Indian realities and, indeed, question if there is a single Indian reality at all. The Nowhere Nation argues that India embraces several historical ages at a single point of time. Three-quarters of Indian citizens are horrendously poor; of which at least a quarter is below the level of subsistence. The rest do well, some very well indeed. But how does this all work? India, writes Mitra, ‘simmers in its incongruities’. The classes, castes and communities live their parallel lives and sort out their own economics. Reforms will not pry open up the exclusive saloon the Indian superstructure is accustomed to claim; and the usual ‘trickle-down’ defence ignores the difficult truth that jobs do not grow in the short run; in fact they shrink. Furthermore, the West Bengal experiment has proved that even when the opportunities are available to attempt social and economic restructuring in a miniature frame, contamination seeps in. These forcefully argued, elegantly written reflections first appeared in The Telegraph
This note weighs the merits of a capital market union (CMU) for Europe, identifies major obstacles in its path, and recommends a set of carefully targeted policy actions. European capital markets are relatively small, resulting in strong bank-dependence, and are split sharply along national lines. Results include an uneven playing field in terms of corporate funding costs, the rationing out of collateral-constrained firms, and limited shock absorption. The benefits of integration center on expanding financial choice, ultimately to support capital formation and resilience. Capital market development and integration would support a healthy diversity in European finance. Proceeding methodically, the note identifies three key barriers to greater capital market integration in Europe: transparency, regulatory quality, and insolvency practices. Based on these findings, the note urges three policy priorities, focused on the three barriers. There is no roadblock—such steps should prove feasible without a new grand bargain.
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