Economic Transformation of a Developing Economy ― The Experience of Punjab, India

This book traces the development experience of one of India’s most dynamic and prosperous states, Punjab, which has provided the country with a much-needed degree of food security. The relative regression of Punjab’s economy in the post-economic reforms period and slow current economic growth give cause for concern. The contributions in this book address the question of why the structural transformation of Punjab’s economy has fallen into the middle-income trap. Each investigates the policy constraints influencing the relative stagnation of the economy and suggests appropriate measures for alleviating them. By integrating theoretical constructs and new evidence, the authoritative contributions diagnose the nature of the current problems and offer practical solutions. They cover important issues such as the crisis of agrarian transition, agrarian markets and distributive justice, employment growth and transition to non-agriculture sectors, fiscal policy, external factors in economic transformation, and perspectives on rejuvenating the state’s economy.

Lakhwinder Singh is a Professor, Department of Economics and Coordinator, Centre for Development Economics and Innovation Studies (CDEIS) at Punjabi University, Patiala. Prior to this, he has been a faculty at the University of Delhi and National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi. He has been a Ford Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow in Economics at Yale University, USA and a Visiting Research Fellow, Seoul National University, South Korea. He has been awarded Asia Fellowship by the Institute of International Education, New York, 2001. His current research interest focuses on the national innovation system, international knowledge spillovers, pattern of development, globalization and agrarian distress in developing economies. Apart from publishing number of research papers in journals of national and international repute, he is also the founding editor of the journal “Millennial Asia: An International Journal of Asian Studies”, published by Sage Publications and Association of Asia Scholars. He has co-edited the books “Economic and Environmental Sustainability of the Asian Region”, Routledge, 2010 and “Technology, Innovations and Economic Development: Essays in Honour of Robert E. Evenson” SAGE Publishers 2015.

Nirvikar Singh is a Professor of Economics and Sarabjit Singh Aurora Chair of Sikh and Punjabi Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he also the Director of the Centre for Analytical Fin

ance. He is a member of the Advisory Group to the Finance Minister of India on G-20 matters, and has served as a consultant to the Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. His current research interests include entrepreneursh

ip, information technology and development, business strategy, political economy, federalism, and economic growth. He has authored over 100 research papers, including several on the East Asian and Indian economy and coauthored or edited four books. His recent book is “The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of the Pacific Rim” Oxford University Press, 2014. He has also served as an advisor for several startup and knowledge services firms in Silicon Valley and in India.

Contributors:

Nirvikar Singh, Department of Economics, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA.

Shinder S Thandi, Coventry University, Coventry, UK.

Pritam Singh, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK.

Aradhna Aggarwal, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.

Anita Gill, Professor of Economics, Punjabi University, India.

Sucha Singh Gill, Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), Chandigarh, India.

Uppinder Sawhney, Department of Economics, Punjab University, Chandigarh, India.

Tapas Sen, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi, India.

Rita Pandey, National Institute of Public

Finance and Policy, New Delhi, India.

Sukhpal Singh, Centre

for Man

agement

of Agriculture, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmadabad, India.

Sukhwinder Singh, Centre for Research in Economic Change, Punjabi University, Patiala, India.

Jaswinder Singh Brar, Centre for Research in Economic Change, Punjabi University, India

Inderjeet Singh, Department of Economics, Punjabi University, Patiala, India.

Varinder Jain, Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur, India.

H. S. Shergill, Department of Economics, Punjab university Chandigarh, India.

M S Sidhu, Department of Economics and Sociology, Punjab Agriculture University, India.

R S Sidhu, Department of Economics and Sociology, Punjab A

griculture University, India.

Indervir Singh, Department of Economics, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, India.

Kamal Vatta, Director, Centre for International Projects Trusts (Columbia University), New Delhi, India.

Pavithra, Centre for International Projects Trusts (Columbia University), New Delhi, India.

K N Nair, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, India.

Gurpreet Singh, Centre for Studies in Economics and Planning, JNU, New Delhi, India

Shayequa Zeenat Ali, Centre for Studies in Economics and Planning, JNU, New Delhi, India.