The Retreat of Democracy and Other Itinerant Essays on Globalization, Economics, and India

290 Pages·2010·2.286 MB·English

by  Kaushik Basu

The Retreatof Democracy

Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com
This edition first published in UK and USA 2010
by ANTHEM PRESS
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First published in India by Permanent Black 2007
Copyright © Kaushik Basu 2010
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved
above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or
introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by
any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the
copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested.
ISBN-13: 978 1 84331 865 1 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1 84331 865 2 (Hbk)
ISBN-13: 978 1 84331 827 9 (Pbk)
ISBN-10: 1 84331 827 X (Pbk)
ISBN-13: 978 1 84331 887 3 (eBook)
ISBN-10: 1 84331 887 3 (eBook)
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
To
AMARTYA SEN

Contents
Introduction 1
PART I: DEMOCRACY AND GLOBALIZATION 9
1 Elé Belé: The Subversion of Democracy 11
2 The Retreat of Global Democracy 15
3 Child Labour and International Labour Standards 21
4 International Labour Standards: A View from
the Tropics 31
5 Labour vs. Labour: The Politics of Business Outsourcing 36
6 The Politics of Economics 42
7 Groucho Marx and Global Currency Flows 46
8 From Cowries to the Euro: Towards a One-Currency
World 49
9 The WTO and North–South Bargains 52
10 Globalization and the Politics of International Finance:
The Stiglitz Verdict 56
PART II: INDIA AND THE WORLD 83
11 Jakotra Village, Santalpur Taluka: Debating Globalization 85
12 India at Fifty and the Road Ahead 97
13 The Indian Economy: Take-off and Strategic
Policy Issues 105
viii CONTENTS
14 Has Poverty Declined in India? 114
15 Infant Mortality and the Anti-Female Bias 118
16 Labour Laws and the Role of Contracts 122
17 The Reform of Small Things 134
18 Is India’s e-Economy for Real? 140
19 India’s Trade Policy and the WTO 144
20 The Coming Textile Turmoil 147
PART III: SOCIAL NORMS AND
POLITICAL ECONOMY 151
21 Social Norms, Law, and Economics 153
22 Methodological Individualism in the Social Sciences 168
23 Left Politics and Modern Economics 176
24 Hung Parliament: A Voting Scheme for Preventing It 179
25 Money, Music, and Harmony 182
26 Rules of Engagement 185
27 The Enigma of Advertising 188
28 The Truth About Lying 191
29 Rationality: New Research in Psychology and
Economics 194
30 Higher and Lower Education 198
PART IV: PERSONS 203
31 Amartya Sen 205
32 John Nash: Paranoid, Schizophrenic, Nobel Laureate 214
33 Nobel for Market Failures: Akerlof, Spence,
and Stiglitz 217
34 Nietzsche Century 220
CONTENTS IX
PART V: ON THE ROAD, AROUND
THE WORLD 223
35 Notarizing in Delhi 225
36 Traveller’s Bihar 228
37 Tango of Two Currencies: Buenos Aires 231
38 A Vietnam Diary 234
39 South Africa: Zebra Country 237
40 North Meets South: In and Around Bangalore 241
41 Muito Obrigado, Portugal 247
42 Queuing in Kolkata and Delhi 250
43 Viewing Bengal from Bankura 257
44 Loitering in Lahore 261
45 Thinking about Currencies in Kathmandu 265
Index 269