Debates - Bhagwati on Growth

Discuss;

Redistribution, as distinct from growth, cannot be the answer to removing poverty. In countries such as India, China, and Brazil, the large numbers of the poor mean that redistribution will do little and that, too, will not be sustainable. A peasant may get no more than another chappati or burrito a day: we quote the great communist economist Kalecki of Poland, who told one of us in 1962 that the problem for India is that “there are too many exploited and too few exploiters.” The pie has to grow; growth is a necessity.

Bhagwati, Jagdish; Panagariya, Arvind. Why Growth Matters: How Economic Growth in India Reduced Poverty and the Lessons for Other Developing Countries .

Bhagwati on India- recommended podcast