India in Transition

`With his accustomed brilliance, wit, and wisdom, Jagdish Bhagwati describes India's urgent tasks of economic reform. We could not have a better guide: Bhagwati has been a persistent and eloquent advocate of market reforms in India for the past three decades. In his Radhakrishnan Lectures, we are reminded again that Bhagwati is one of the world's outstanding leaders on problems of economic development and international trade.' Jeffrey D. Sachs, Harvard University
`Jagdish Bhagwati is a leading economist of the day, and has worked as a policymaker in the heydays of planning, is a major scholar of the Indian economy, and has written extensively and persuasively on the advantages of freer trade and microeconomic policies ... The book is succinct and impressive. It is essential reading not only for those interested in India but also for development economists in general and anyone trying to understand what will be one of the most important experiments in the world over the next decade.' Nicholas Stern, London School of Economics
`The spectacular haemorrhage, otherwise known as India's economic performance, is chronicled with customary brilliance by Jagdish Bhagwati in one of the most eagerly awaited books of the year ... India in Transition will remain an enduring part of economics literature for its incisive and witty account of India's economic performance and for one of the most comprehensive and powerful treatments of poverty ever seen in recent years.' Economic Times
`Professor Bhagwati writes lucidly and, rare for an academic economist, he is able to make his ideas accessible to a larger audience as he does in this slim book.' NBThe Hindu
'The main value of the book lies, not so much in its topicality, but in the clear articulation of the rationale for reforms. This book steers firmly away from technical rigour and economic jargon and should help Professor Bhagwati find the wider audience his ideas deserve.' Economic Times
'Bhagwati's prescriptions are of more than academic interest ... Bhagwati claims convincingly that what distinguishes today's effort is both style and substance.' William McGurn, Far Eastern Economic Review
`Jagdish Bhagwati ... is undoubtedly amongst the best-known Indian economists internationally.' Financial Express, India
`Bhagwati has written an optimistic, prescriptive book, focusing more on what is to be done than on whether politically it will be done. But for anyone concerned with why India's economic development strategy failed and why the new liberalization strategy makes sense, this short, non-technical analysis is the book to read.' Foreign Affairs Journal
'This splendid volume is an elegant blend of unsparing, rigorous, and judicious reasoning, duly garnished with the author's characteristic puckish wit ... it ranks in the now-vanished grand tradition of classical political economy.' Anand Chandavarkar, Finance & Development
'India's economic performance, is chronicled with customary brilliance by Jagdish Bhagwati in one of the most eagerly awaited books of the year ... India in Transition will remain an enduring part of economics literature for its incisive and witty account of India's economic performance and for one of the most comprehensive and powerful treatments of poverty ever seen in recent years.' Srivatsa Krishna, The Economic Times
'Un guide exceptionel.' Gilbert Etienne, Tiers Monde
'small, lively and readable volume ... for anyone concerned with why India's economic development strategy failed and why the new liberalization strategy makes sense, this short, non-technical analysis is the book to read' Myron Weiner, Foreign Affairs, November/December 1993
`In spite of its conciseness, this book offers an unusual synthesis, as much in its form as in its content, of the development strategy pursued by India since its independence in 1947 and of the radical reforms introduced since 1991 ... An exceptional guide' Tiers Monde
`In an era in which many books are too large to read, it is refreshing to find a study that is succinct, relevant, and entirely authoritative. India in Transition: Freeing the Economy is the most useful analysis of the subcontinent in many years.' Business Review Weekly
`readable, generously leavened with witticisms and anecdotes' Economic and Political Weekly
'provides a very well reasoned support for the reforms that the present Indian government has been pursuing for the last 3 years ... The book is impressive for a number of reasons ... it is written in language that should appeal to professional economists as well as non-economists ... it puts policies, and changes thereof, in the context of the prevailing domestic and international political circumstances ... it covers a whole range of issues covering the entire post-independence period in 100 pages' Sajal Lahiri, The Economic Journal, Vol. 105, No. 428, January 1995
Bhagwati presents a concise and well-reasoned review of India's economic policies and results since 1950 ... an excellent short book on the Indian economy written by a very able economist ... It is a book that will be useful supplementary reading for courses in recent Indian and South Asian history, political economy, and comparative economic systems and development. Jagdish Bhagwati, too, has a point of view and presents it strongly ... It is well worth having. * Journal of Asian Studies *
This lively and concise volume provides an excellent introduction to the central issues in the study of India's economy ... In articulating these ideas, this lucid introduction to India's economy challenges its readers to consider innovative ways of combining market and state intervention to increase growth and reduce poverty. * Economic Development and Cultural Change *