Books, articles & talks


Book: The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics Author: William Easterly Magnanimity of IMF and World Bank leads to policies unfavourable to poor people – The Fund and the Bank did not go far enough, argues Easterly The Elusive Quest for Growth by William Easterly reviews various theories of growth and the consequent efforts by World Bank and IMF. As the title indicates he looks at how these approaches ‘failed’ and traces some reasons for their failure. The book is interspersed with live accounts of little cases (“intermezzo”) from the field to animate the discussion. […]

Review of Easterly’s Elusive quest for growth


Understanding popular theories and their challenges is crucial to understanding institutions. Notions such as Clash of civilisations by Huntington have a powerful influence on how foreign policies are shaped in the United States. In a memorable talk, Edward Said takes on Huntington’s thesis with a powerful critique. Edward Said incisively analyzes Huntington’s notion that differences in culture between the ‘West’ and ‘Islam’ will lead to conflicts between the two civilizations. Arguing against monolithic understanding of cultures, Said makes a powerful case for multiculturalism. Edward Said is one of the most powerful speakers I have listened to off-late, and this dense […]

Edward Said’s talk on ‘Clash of Civilizations’ by Samuel Huntington


Book: India: Development and participation Authors: Amartya Sen & Jean Dreze My favourite book on India’s development issues. Provides a comprehensive overview of many important development issues In my opinion this book is gold standard and is a must read for anyone intersted in development issues. Amartya Sen is distinguished for his ability to incorporate a wide variety of concerns including growth, inequalities, gender issues, power relations, etc. Dreze complements these abilities and also brings in significant field-level experience apart from rigorous research. India: Development and Participation combines a broad understanding of development with remarkable balance in dealing with various […]

Best book on India’s development by Amartya Sen and Dreze



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In his famous book Elusive quest for growth William Easterly criticizes World Bank’s attempts to control population. But his ‘economic approach’ and failure to get contextual information makes his analysis poor and prescriptions dangerous. For an overall review of the book, click here Critique of ‘unwanted babies thesis’ The key theme of The elusive quest for growth is ‘people respond to incentives’. This is a statement that will find broad agreement – but the devil is in the details. In a chapter titled Cash for Condoms? Easterly discusses efforts by World Bank to contain population growth in various countries. He […]

Easterly’s critique of cash for condoms: a case of poverty ...


Book: Anthropology and institutional economics Editor: James M. Acheson This volume is one of the rare collection of papers I found looking at Anthropology and institutional economics. Surprisingly, though the two have a large scope for collaboration, there is very little work happening between these two disciplines, to my knowledge. This volume provides a useful introduction. The book starts with an introduction about Anthropology and Institutional economics by James Acheson. This is followed by an essay on New Institutionalism by Robert Bates. The best part of the book is made up of case studies divided into three sections (1) Transactions […]

Collected works on Anthropology and institutional economics


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A growing collection of Ambedkar’s works are available online at Ambedkar.org Ambedkar is easily one of the finest Indian thinkers ever. Academically, he has a degree in law, a Masters in economics (from London School of Economics), and a doctorate in social sciences (from Columbia University). At Columbia he majored in sociology and economics for his M.A. with a smattering of anthropology, politics and philosophy as other subjects. He also had a stint at University of Bonn. His experience ranges from being a untouchable boy to the principal architect of India’s Constitution. He started and ran a political party and […]

Babasaheb Ambedkar’s works online: Books, articles, talks



In this very entertaining talk, Ha Joon Chang argues against mainstream trade theories. He argues that most of the success stories, including the USA followed practices that are rejected by the current trade theories and that those who followed the policies have actually not done well. Ha Joon Chang argues this from an institutional perspective and makes a case for “infant industry argument”. While these arguments themselves are not too new, he brings in a lot of historical information that were new to me and gave me many “ah ha” moments. This entertaining and passionate talk is also delivered with […]

Institutions for an unequal world: Talk by Ha Joon Chang


During my recent field work in India, I was impressed by the depth of social understanding by common people I met in the villages. Often, their views on the society were more sophisticated than many works I read in the academia. This has made me question not just what we learn in the social science disciplines, but also how we learn. I feel that the process of disengaged reading comfortably away from the hustle-bustle of the society compromises our learning. I have been thinking about how we can “teach” social sciences better and this talk by John Seely Brown was […]

Learning as doing: John Seely Brown’s exciting ideas


Book: Food politics: How the food industry influences nutrition and health Author: Marion Nestle The book was motivated by the contradictions between nutrition policy and practice. The author argues that the basic nutrition advice has remained more or less constant for the last fifty years. She examines the role of food industry in the US in creating an environment conductive to over eating and poor nutritional practice. From an ID Perspective, this book offers a fascinating picture on formation of policies and laws regulating the food industry; I’ll have more to say on this below. Overproduction, Competition & pressure to make […]

Food Politics: Building institutions that regulate choice



Book: Development as Freedom Author: Amartya Sen This is a world of unprecedented opulence, which coexists with remarkable deprivations. Overcoming these deprivations is central to development. Sen argues that individual agency is key to addressing these deprivations, but it should be recognised that agency is constrained by social, political and economic opportunities. Sen argues for “integrated analysis of economic, political and social activities involving a variety of institutions and many interactive agencies”. In my opinion Amartya Sen offers the most sophisticated view of institutions and their relevance for development; Development as freedom is the culmination of many decades of his […]

Development as freedom: Amartya’s importance for ID


A growing collection of Ambedkar’s works are available online at Ambedkar.org Ambedkar is easily one of the finest Indian thinkers ever. Academically, he has a degree in law, a Masters in economics (from London School of Economics), and a doctorate in social sciences (from Columbia University). At Columbia he majored in sociology and economics for his M.A. with a smattering of anthropology, politics and philosophy as other subjects. He also had a stint at University of Bonn. His experience ranges from being a untouchable boy to the principal architect of India’s Constitution. He started and ran a political party and […]

Babasaheb Ambedkar’s works online: Books, articles, talks




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“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.” – John Maynard Keynes A unconventional list for the beginner that starts with economic issues than theories I live in a part of the world where economics is considered ‘dry’ and boring. I blame it on the textbooks that are routinely prescribed in initiating beginners into the […]

Economics for beginners: An unconventional list of books, audio, video


Anthropology and institutional economics Rating: 3 out of 5 Editor: James M. Acheson Year: 1994 Category: Anthropology, economics, institutional economics Publisher: University Press of America ISBN: 0819195952 This volume is one of the rare collection of papers I found looking at Anthropology and institutional economics. Surprisingly, though the two have a large scope for collaboration, there is very little work happening between these two disciplines, to my knowledge. This volume provides a useful introduction. The book starts with an introduction about Anthropology and Institutional economics by James Acheson. This is followed by an essay on New Institutionalism by Robert Bates. […]

Collected works on Anthropology and institutional economics


Food politics: how the food industry influences nutrition and health Rating: 5 out of 5 Author: Marion Nestle Year: 2002 Category: Nutrition, Political Economy, Agriculture Publisher: University of California Press Fascinating book on the politics of food in USA The book was motivated by the contradictions between nutrition policy and practice. The author argues that the basic nutrition advice has remained more or less constant for the last fifty years. She examines the role of food industry in the US in creating an environment conductive to over eating and poor nutritional practice. Overproduction, Competition & pressure to make people eat […]

Food Politics by Marion Nestle: How industries influence eating



I had almost become tierd of reading the last few months. Books were becoming repetitive, and arguments were being recycled at an alarming rate. Finally, I landed on a brilliantly written book by Jane Jacobs. I have by now heard a lot about her seminal book, Death and life of great American cities, and I saw some webcasts of her interviews. Finally, I decided that I want to read some good stuff and laid my hands on this book. Jane Jacob’s presentation is lucid and she has a highly engaging style. The content is very original and challenging, and on […]

Finally a good book to read


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A list of biographies I have read, many of which I enjoyed If there is one class of books I enjoy reading most, it’s biographies. Given below is a set of biographies I have read, many of which I enjoyed immensely. There are others that were a drag, such as the autobiography of Mussolini, but were rather instructive. As of now, it is just a list. Over time, I hope to write short blurbs about it – depending on how much I remember them now! Gandhi My experiments with truth Biography of Gandhi by Sushila Nair and Pyralal Volumes pertaining […]

Biographies I have read: A list


Reading biographies has been a passion for me for a long time. I started as a fiction reader and soon realised that I need my “stories” to be “realistic”. I was reading a popular novel when I was finishing college. At one point the author mentioned that the handsome hero of the novel seduced women and converted them to believing in Castro – and was thus responsible for the success of his revolution. I closed that book with that sentence and gave up novels for a while. That’s when I started reading biographies. Incredible as they may be at times, […]

Why I need biography to understand history



India: Development and Participation Rating: 5 out of 5 Author: Amartya Sen & Jean Dreze Year: 2002 Category: Development, Economics, India Publisher: Oxford My favourite book on India’s development issues. Provides a comprehensive overview of many important development issues In my opinion this book is gold standard and is a must read for anyone intersted in development issues. Amartya Sen is distinguished for his ability to incorporate a wide variety of concerns including growth, inequalities, gender issues, power relations, etc. Dreze complements these abilities and also brings in significant field-level experience apart from rigorous research. India: Development and Participation combines […]

Best book on India’s development by Amartya Sen and Dreze