In economic freedom…. I’m personally a little skeptical of this result – surely India’s in better shape than 118? The Financial Express reports – Mostly unfree –
That India still ranks in the last quarter of a world ranking on economic freedom with an index score of 3.5 illustrates the extent to which we are inured to clamps on our rights to trade and invest. One needn’t agree with all the details of this ranking of 155 countries by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal to go along with its basic thrust. The notion of economic freedom is only a theoretical ideal — like perfect competition — and its finest expressions are found in small trading bastions like Hong Kong (which topped the 2005 index for the 11th year running)followed by Singapore. …This global ranking should set aside a lingering delusion among IndiaÂ’s officialdom that one major advantage we have vis-a-vis our emerging economy rivals like China is our wider range of economic freedoms — rule of law and all that! Far from it. China occupies the 112th place when compared to IndiaÂ’s 118th and the report notes that the dragon has reduced tariff barriers since joining the WTO, cut government expenditure and privatised some companies. India, by contrast, has wound up the disinvestment ministry altogether under the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government.
Interestingly, India is the world’s 12th-largest economy by GDP (China is #6). So the sheer force of a large, enterprising population may mitigate an unfree economy.
I can’t help but think India is ranked way way way too low on this one. There are tons o’ other countries that should land between India and, well, rock bottom. Almost all of Africa, for ex. (that’s like 40 countries right there) Most of S. America (another 10-15). Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal. Nearly the entire Mid East. etc….
Haven’t checked the article, but such indices often look at what percentage of GDP are imports and exports. Most of the smaller third world countries have a small domestic economy, and are highly vulnerable to trade fluctuations, India has tried to develop its domestic market for reasons of both nationalism and efficiency. But I’ve also seen similar studies that simply counted the number of permits and licenses that a business man had to get to start up, and India was worse than many countries in those. They’re opened up far more in tech than in other sectors. Email me, I can poke around …
I think quite a number of these surveys needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. The reason is the disparity in the sample size.
One of the reason why India would be ranked lower would be on parameters of corruption. But what defines corruption? Is it limited to bribes and kickbacks, i think it should also include ‘recommendations’ from ‘colleagues & relatives’ to ‘fund’ a ‘harvard education’.
And we have seen enough of these surveys. But why will i not dismiss them completely – it shows me that i still have a 30% population that earns less than Rs 1000 a month! Make sure that you set a goal and work towards it, surveys like these are good for high socialites & party talk. Of course, building resumes also