India Economic Development and Social Opportunity

by Drèze, Jean; Sen, Amartyá

• ISBN13: 9780198295280
• ISBN10: 0198295286
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-04-08
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

India's success in reducing endemic deprivation since Independence has been quite limited. Recent diagnoses of this failure of policy have concentrated on the counterproductive role of government regulation, and on the need for economic incentives to accelerate the growth of the economy. This book argues that an assessment of India's failure to eliminate basic deprivations has to go beyond this limited focus, and to take note of the role played in that failure by inadequate public involvement in the provision of basic education, health care, social security, and related fields, Even the fostering of fast and participatory economic growth requires some basic social change, which is not addressed by liberalization and economic incentives. The authors also discuss the historical antecedents of these political and social neglects, including the distortion of policy priorities arising from inequalities of political power. Following on from this, the book considers the scope for public action to address these earlier biases and achieve a transformation of policy priorities. Beginning with an introductory chapter presenting the motivation, focus, and approach of the book, it discusses the respective roles of the market mechanism and government action in economic development and discusses the particular role of public involvement in the fields of health and education. International comparisons of development experiences are brought to bear on the diagnosis of India's successes and failures, and the work discusses the lessons to be learnt from the contrasting development experiences of different states within India, with particular attention to Kerala's outstanding success in social fields. The authors consider the role of public action and political organization in promoting social opportunities. Attention is drawn, in particular, to the part played by widespread illiteracy in suppressing that process and perpetuating social inequalities. The work also looks at the issue of basic education, including a critical assessment of public policy in this field. The issue of gender inequality is discussed, and the role of women's agency in the expansion of social opportunities for both women and men is explored. The work concludes by consolidating the argument and discussing the policy implication of the analyses presented. A statistical appendix presents a comparative picture of India and other developing countries, and also the comparative performance of different states within India. This new work by two internationally renowned economists is an important and relevant argument for promoting human welfare.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	xiii
Introduction	1	(8)
India since Independence	1	(3)
On Learning from Others	4	(2)
Social Opportunity and Public Policy	6	(3)
Economic Development and Social Opportunity	9	(18)
Development, Freedom and Opportunities	9	(4)
On Education and Health	13	(3)
The Government, the State and the Market	16	(2)
Interdependence between Markets and Governance	18	(3)
Market-excluding and Market-complementary Interventions	21	(4)
A Positive Focus	25	(2)
India in Comparative Perspective	27	(30)
India and the World	27	(5)
Lessons from Other Countries	32	(3)
East Asia and Growth-mediated Progress	35	(7)
Human Capital and More Basic Values	42	(2)
Internal Diversities	44	(7)
Studying Indian States	51	(6)
India and China	57	(30)
Perceptions of China	57	(2)
Conditions of Life and Death	59	(2)
Contrasts in Basic Education	61	(5)
Pre-reform Achievements	66	(2)
Post-reform Records	68	(5)
Pre-reform and Post-reform Performances	73	(2)
Authoritarianism, Famines and Vulnerability	75	(2)
Coercion, Population and Fertility	77	(6)
The Real Lessons for India from China	83	(4)
Public Action and Social Inequality	87	(22)
The Public and its Role	87	(5)
The Reach of Inequalities	92	(5)
Social Inequality and Economic Reform	97	(2)
Basic Equality, Social Security and Health Care	99	(6)
Local Governance and Social Reform	105	(4)
Basic Education as a Political Issue	109	(31)
Education and Social Change	109	(2)
The State of School Education	111	(5)
Biases and Confounded Strategies	116	(4)
The Role of Expenditure	120	(3)
Priorities and Challenges	123	(5)
Provision, Utilization and Compulsion	128	(4)
On Female Education	132	(5)
Education and Political Action	137	(3)
Gender Inequality and Women's Agency	140	(39)
Female Deprivation and Missing Women	140	(2)
On the Female-Male Ratio	142	(17)
Women's Agency and Child Survival	159	(8)
Fertility and Women's Emancipation	167	(5)
Widowhood and Gender Relations	172	(3)
Gender Equality and Social Progress	175	(4)
Well Beyond Liberalization	179	(26)
What is the Cage?	179	(4)
People as Ends and as Means	183	(2)
Radical Needs and Moderate Reforms	185	(4)
Governance and Public Action	189	(4)
Women's Agency and Social Change	193	(2)
Comparative Perspectives	195	(7)
A Concluding Remark	202	(3)
Statistical Appendix	205	(26)
References	231	(48)
Name Index	279	(8)
Subject Index	287