Economist in the Real World, An: The Art of Policymaking in India [Hardcover] Basu, Kaushik

The title of the book intuitively suggests that economics and real world are oxymoron. Secondly, the preface prompts one to think that the book would be a fascinating story of a professor appointed as chief economic advisor battling with politicians and bureaucrats in Delhi to get the right economic policies see the light of the day. The book disappoints on both counts but has much more to offer, that in the end, excels in the gestalt.“Economics is a strange discipline because it has one foot in science and one in intuition and common sense” says the author. Hence everyone in the system is in some way a self-styled economist based on the latter. Unfortunately, in our government, they form a substantial majority, and being a democracy, they prevail.The book points out certain areas where pure economic principles can bring better efficiency in the system. In the case of fixing Minimum Support Price of food grains for example, the price could be fixed at such a level that it automatically opens and closes the window of procurement based on crop output and market price, thereby stabilizing the market. So is the case of transferring the subsidy on food grains directly to the poor, to avoid system leakages a.k.a corruption.Economic policies to be successful, need to be backed by a system of laws and institutions of checks and remedies. Policies and laws need to be consistent, simple and self-enforcing. System of policing is sometimes self-defeating, when most people try to beat the system, since it breeds more policing and in turn more corruption. However it is interesting to see that simple laws like traffic rules work exceedingly well in developed countries, but fail miserably in developing countries (read India). The author uses game theory to suggest how every game can have several outcomes or focal points, depending on how the players collectively perceive the outcome and play or behave accordingly. Hence this collective behavior or ‘Social norms ’ seem to be very different across different countries. Is this hard wired? Are we in an impossible situation where our people will bypass all laws, making sound economic policies impossible to implement ?The good news is that social norms can be changed. South Koreans in the 1940’s were perceived to be lazy and Japanese, till a century ago were the least punctual. Today these societies are world class in their social norms on hard work and punctuality.The book begins with core economics, and then leads us into real insights on what really is needed to put this country on high economic growth. Economics is the easy part. We need to change social norms, eliminate corruption and inculcate core values of integrity and hard work. Fortunately, we have abundant knowledge from our rich cultural heritage to make it happen.The author should perhaps realign the chapters, and rename the book ‘Prosperity for India-Beyond Economics’ and make a compelling argument on these lines. As Tagore said “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high..”, today, we need freedom from corruption in all walks of life. We need people like Dr Basu to fearlessly articulate their views. This is the real free and prosperous India of our dreams.JAI HIND.

"Ratings can be a powerful instrument to enable markets to function effectively."-- As quoted by the author & I agree with this. 5 star rating for the good analysis & importance of food policy in India.The law of invisible hand is something like the law of wind or wave. Proper understanding of invisible hand is required by the policymakers to guide the economy. It is possible through interventions. Here Basu explained this interventions in terms of policy, law & economics as a challenge to implement it for the growth of Indian economy.This book has interesting examples of incidents to educate the readers about the importance of food disbursement during the times of food shortage. How access to international market can benefit Indian citizen to get things cheaper as happened during 2010 (To know more : Read the book).Good policy consists of exploiting the laws of the market, not denying that they exist. Right from the introduction of UTI in 1964 to the nationalization of banks in 1969 which changed the behavioral patterns of the Indians to start maintaining bank accounts, save money & invest in mutual funds.As a reader I believe this book will nurture our thinking to implement new policies (good or experimental). Unless we change our mindset to try experimental policies, we will be stuck with the free market equilibrium (no intervention) to settle things on their own.I think this mindset of experimenting new thing is lacking in most of our Indian population. This is because of the traditional education system of India. I have given 4 star rating to this book due to the less intervention by the author to modify the education system. I hope his idea of making India as an education hub for the students of rich countries will be true one day but before that happen, intervention is required to reform the entire traditional education system of India which is malfunctioning with the current generation just like the traditional law which needs replacement with better one.As a suggestion it would be great to have another book by Mr. Basu on how the nascent Crypto industry is affecting the traditional Financial system & the challenge for the policymaker to come up with new experimental policies.

A book written by an economist for the general public. He has suggested as to which chapters could be skipped, but I recommend all are read since it is written in a very easy read style.

Item received have some damage in front cover. But not big.

This a very good book giving in depth insight on Indian Economy and on economic policy making in the government. Mr Basu has made correct analysis of our bureaucracy which is brilliant but a big stumbling block in India's development. A must read

Unlike the developed countries which have entered a sort of ice age the Indian economy is full of energy and potential and makes for very interesting reading.This is a lukewarm wishy washy sort of book with a few interesting titbits like for example- in the higher echelons of the government it is considered impolite to knock before entering, the logic being that why disturb someone 15 seconds before you are going to disturb him.The Delhi School of Economics comes in for some praise which I feel is totally unjustified. The DSE is a very watered down copy of the LSE. There isn't any original thinking in the DSE-just some left wing socialist garbage that has shackled our nation for close on to fifty years.I hope the author does a better job when he writes his second book.

As an economics student,I found this book deeply engaging.The writing style has to be appreciated interms of language and intellectual insights.

This is an account by someone who is primarily interested in giving a voice to his patriotism rather than tell a story objectively. I have worked my life in bureaucracy and the working of Indian bureaucracy as portrayed in this book is more fiction than reality. Bureaucracies are inherently inefficient and feet-dragging. Well if Indian bureaucrats are so forthcoming in their views and so tuned about economic policies, then India should overtake the entire western world in the next couple of decades. But is that going to happen?

A reasonably good book with worthwhile thoughts on some policies e.g., monetary and food policies which are probably the book's most noteworthy parts. I would have liked to see discussion in more detail on many issues that have plagued the country in recent years like auction of natural resources, environmental laws and disparate impact laws on education such as #RTE and article 30 (including on higher education), approach to international trade (agreements like TPP).

Before picking up this book I felt I'm treading Into a subject I know very little about but after just after a few chapters I realized that it isn't a rocket science but just something we all see and observe in our day to day life. A lay man's guide to economics superbly put together by a revered Economist.An absolute must read for all.