ECON 470
The Indian Economy: Development and Social Justice Spring 2015
Division II Exploring Diversity Initiative
This is not the current course catalog

The Indian economy today is described in two competing narratives. India is, on the one hand, a fast-growing “emerging economy:” it is producing a range of information technology services, threatening white-collar jobs in the United States; its growing consumption of fossil fuels is stressing world energy supplies and contributing to global warming; along with China, it is changing the balance of international economic and political relations. In another narrative Indian economic growth is lop-sided and unsustainable: poverty and malnutrition remain widespread; Maoist insurgencies threaten a swath of eastern districts; and conflicts rage over threatened ecological resources. In one prominent academic work India has been described as an “Emerging Giant;” in another, it is a “Republic of Hunger.” This course will introduce the student to these narratives in the words of participants, ranging from books by CEO’s of major corporations to pamphlets produced by left-wing critics of present economic policies. We will then use the traditional theoretical and quantitative methods of an economist to evaluate these perspectives, and, consistent with the goals of the Exploring Diversity Initiative, consider how they are shaped by power, privilege, and the social location of the narrator.