Economists and Other Policy Analysts

Abstract

Abstract This chapter considers the impact of socialism on policy analysts, particularly economists. Remarkably, economists trained and raised in India have remained wedded to the socialist ideology even after the launch of the 1991 economic reforms. Until the mid-1980s, it was rare to come across any reform advocates from within India. Even in the mid-1980s, it was a tiny group of economists who had spent time abroad and worked inside the government that began pushing for baby steps toward liberalization. Though reform advocacy is no longer a lonely affair as it was even a decade ago, it remains the case that locally trained professional economists with a consistent record of advocacy of pro-market reforms are rare. For their part, leading Indian universities, including the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University, and Ashoka University, continue to be dominated by left or left-leaning economists.