Prospects of Institutional and Policy Reform in India: Toward a Model of the Developmental State

Abstract

India’s recently launched economic reforms will only be sustainable if they are accompanied by political reforms, which create the foundations of economic development. Establishing a Weberian-type bureaucracy adequately embedded in society will be useful, but not sufficient to enhance the incentive compatibility of public policies and economic performance. Due to the heterogeneity of the Indian economy and society, this institutional arrangement should be complemented by the concept of Participatory Market-Preserving Federalism, which combines the notion of embedded autonomy with the concept of Market-Preserving Federalism and the principle of subsidiarity. This induces a self-enforcing governance structure that reduces collective action problems, directly involves social groups and subnational governments into political decision making processes, and creates the political foundations of economic growth.