Not On Balance

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Since T CA Srinivasa-Raghavan is so impressed with Harvard economists (On Balance, January 26) over our homegrown experts, I suggest that he read the work of another Harvard economist, Amartya Sen, and the works of Amiya Bagchi on the history of private investment in colonial India. I think then he would have to contend with some variables that Jeffrey Williamson did not include, such as the cyclical famines that struck colonial India in the first phase of globalisation, famines that were directly related to the pace and nature of Indias first integration with the global economy. I suspect that economic writers like Mr Srinivasa-Raghavan have not studied much history, otherwise they would not be rushing to condemn their more erudite colleagues either in JNU or in DU.