Time for a relook at the idea: Why not a per capita budget deficit

If high deficits were going to crowd out private investments or raise interest rates, it was seen as inimical to the political objective, says the author

Back in 1986, when Rajiv Gandhi was stoking GDP growth by increasing the budget deficits, I wrote about the need for the notion of a per capita deficit. One of my economist friends, who has gone on to great glories, poked severe fun at me. But I still think he was wrong.
 
Thirty two years on, it might be worth taking a relook at the idea. It is rooted in two realities: universal franchise and increasing poverty/inequality.
 
Basically, the issue is this: if a country has to incur a lot of welfare expenditure, which in a highly competitive