An Economist in the Real World: The Art of Policymaking in India

In December 2009, economist Kaushik Basuleft the rarefied world of academic research forthe nuts and bolts of policymaking. Appointedby the then prime minister of India, ManmohanSingh, to be chief economic adviser (CEA) to theGovernment of India, Basu—a theorist, with specialinterest in development economics—discoveredthe complexity of applying economic models to thereal world. Effective policymaking, Basu learned,integrates technical knowledge with politicalawareness. In this book, Basu describes the artof economic policymaking, viewed through thelens of his two and a half years as CEA.Neither a career bureaucrat nor a traditional researcher, Basu, having plunged into the deal-making, non-hypotheticalworld of policymaking, suffers from a kindof culture shock and views himself as ananthropologist, gathering observations of unfamiliarphenomena. He addresses topics that range fromthe macroeconomic—fiscal and monetary policies—to the granular—designing grain auctions andpolicies to ensure that everyone has access to basicfood Basu describes the mixed success of India’santi-poverty programmes and the problems ofcorruption, and considers the social norms andinstitutions necessary for economic development.India, Basu argues, is at an economics crossroads.