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  • S. Y.
    Feb 05 2008, 02:35 PM
    Hmm!
    Thanks for the information Julio.
    This reminds me of a conversation I was having the other day- on why India may never be as quick and efficient as some other economies.
    I believe one reason may be that all kinds of people can still make all sorts of noises against the government here (though the police continues to throws tear gas bombs & such stuff to control the protestors). Also the press (while often accused of sensationalizing stuff of little importance) has in fact managed to force the ‘powers that be’ to pay heed to at least some of the (many) injustices.

    i realize i'm making a dangerous connection here- space for public dissent slowing down economic progress.
    thoughts?

  • Richard Junnier
    Feb 05 2008, 03:30 PM
    According to the CIA World Fact Book, India has the fourth highest GDP of any country in the world. Though, of course, it has the 166th highest when you readjust per capita. Assuming you wish to go with per capita income as the better indicator of economic standing, then all ten of the top ten are democracies, with 2 as English protectorates with full liberal rights, 2 quasi-liberal Islamic states, 1 less liberal Islamic state, 4 liberal democracies with free speech rights, and Singapore. If you wish to look at industrial production growth rates, however, there may be a correlation between authoritarianism and economics. From a more Gestalt, generalized point of view, I would suggest that countries with consistently robust economies, that are diversified and not dependent upon a few resources--i.e. oil, diamonds--that have very significant populations, tend to have free speech rights. Notable counterexamples exist of course, but the per-capita income in those countries tend to be very low. In other words, I don’t think public dissent necessarily slows economic progress. Naturally, though, phenomena that tend to be correlated but independent of, economic growth, in some nations, may slow economic progress. I’m just guessing though.

  • S. Y.
    Feb 05 2008, 05:28 PM
    That's an interesting linkage between limited natural resources and free speech rights... thank you for your comment Richard! :)

  • A. R.
    Feb 06 2008, 11:14 AM
    I believe public dissent is one thing which leads to debate on a particular issue (at tmes supported by government) resulting into better and good decision. Its not necessary that a governement with iron fist will make decisions which are for public good. What may b good for few individuals may not be good for public at large........Secondly, its not the public dissent which slows down the economic growth but its the standard of education ( As per unesco adult literacy rate : India 52% and singapore 91% (1995 data, a little old bt still.....) and the red tapism, both of which are in opposite directions in India

  • S. Y.
    Feb 06 2008, 05:10 PM
    Thank you for your comment Ashish :)
    When i say 'slows down economic progress'... i do not mean a slower rate of economic growth is necessarily bad. if not for protests against special economic zones and the sardar sarovar dam on narmada... India would most likely have been a richer nation. but a richer nation, does not translate into a nation where these new found riches are equally distributed. as india has risen in the highest-GDP ranks, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened.
    public dissent and debate is great not because it always leads to a good decision, but because it proves that if some people in society are not convinced with a govt. move- they can speak, and stall or change it.
    since public discussion takes time, and is not an overnight activity... i suggested that a nation which addresses dissent through discussion, ends up implementing its economic policy at a slower pace- and so may not climb the ranks very fast. which is fine really i guess! :)

    [Edited Feb 06 2008]


  • Richard Junnier
    Feb 06 2008, 05:14 PM
    That theory would fit with several dictatorships holding the top spots for fastest industrial growth.

  • S. Y.
    Feb 06 2008, 05:58 PM
    Agreed. its a 'theory' i'm happy to have disproved.

  • S. Y.
    Feb 07 2008, 04:28 AM
    interesting read on singapore politics: http://www.littlespeck.com/SpecialReport/SpecialRpt-catherin...

  • A. R.
    Feb 07 2008, 08:09 AM
    jst one thing on Special Economic Zone, there are noises bcoz this concept of SEZ is a perfect example of robbing peter to pay paul, fertile land of farmers cannt be taken away to be handed over to industrial houses for private motive....this is precisely the issue before the Goa HC ..........secondly, yes public dissent/discussion may lead to slow implementation bt certainly the correct implementation (which covers up in the long run).....

    [Edited Feb 07 2008]


  • Richard Junnier
    Feb 07 2008, 02:45 PM
    By the way, if some of you haven't activated your NYU home account yet, you may want to soon. Basically, you can do everything but launch a missile from your email account! We have access to any database/research resource you can imagine. There is an application that you can use from your home account that will automatically download and write citations and footnotes for your papers. You can download music from around the world from any time period. You can watch hundreds of documentaries and live performances via streaming video. You can research feminist issues in medieval times by source of primary evidence. You can read La Monde. You can read cover to cover more then 1100 academic journals with the word "math" in the title. Yesterday, I was reading a financial newspaper from Iran (published in English). The day before that, I read cover to cover a 300 page book about Islamic Criminal Procedure. It was one of about 1,000 legal textbooks you can download for free through NYU. If you can imagine it; they have it. I am so happy! It's amazing!


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