I am applying for a scholarship where I need to answer how my proposed study of Economic policy or Development Economics benefit my home country India. I am writing down my reply, would be happy to get it edited asap.
"Economics when understood as a science dealing with increasing income or production of a country, often shortens our approach of comprehending the true meaning of economic development. Economic development of a nation should not only be proportional to its GDP and growth rate, but also with the accessibility of opportunities or options available to its people. India comprises within itself a success story of dichotomy. On one hand it has a rising middle class with an increasing disposable income in their hands, entrepreneurs making their mark on the international circuit becoming global leaders, increasing base of highly skilled people in the sector of information technology and on the other the sad performance of India in the United Nations' Human Development Index, nutritional indictors among the worst in the world, insurrection of Maoism in many of its districts. Besides these challenges India is troubled with its ever growing population which is now expected to overtake China's position as the world most populous country in the world. A huge population can act either as a boosting factor or an impediment to the growth of a nation depending upon what course of policy a nation choose to follow. If post independence the socialist policies in the country strangled its economic growth and with it every kind of opportunities available to its people, then the policy of liberalisation helped to overcome these lacunae in Indian economy. Likewise, if we fail to capitalise on the immense potential of our growing population by empowering them through strong educational and health infrastructure India might find itself caged forever in the vicious circle of poverty-illiteracy and unemployment caused by mismanaged economic policy. Economic policy plays a crucial role in modifying people's behaviour and thus economic outcomes.
As illustrated by Fredric Bastiat through fallacy of broken window, a good policy maker is the one who not just takes into account the immediate implication of a policy, but also its long term impacts. A quick overview of some of the health goals for example illustrates the need of better policy and planning. For example both National Population Policy 2000 and National Health policy 2002 have stated their goals for infant mortality rate (IMR) as 30 per 1000 live births to be achieved by 2010, but the current 2011 census records the infant mortality rate to be around 47.57 per 1000 live births. This points towards the gap between the desired and the expected, and the additional resources necessary to be invested to fill the gap. Through my proposed course of study I would like to understand better the way markets, institutions and public policy interact to pave path for economic growth in a country and also to understand the dynamics of targeting issues which involves such variables that are mutually dependent like the vicious circle of poverty-illiteracy and population. These issues are contextual to Indian scenario, where in some parts economic growth is not accompanied by equal opportunities for the people for example Haryana which is among the richest states in the country yet with the lowest sex ratio and on the other hand is kerela which despite doing very well on various social indicators still lacks much economic growth owing to the overregulated economic governance in the state.
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As illustrated by Fredric Bastiat through fallacy of broken window, a good policy maker is the one who not just takes into account the immediate implication of a policy, but also its long term impacts. A quick overview of some of the health goals for example illustrates the need of better policy and planning. For example both National Population Policy 2000 and National Health policy 2002 have stated their goals for infant mortality rate (IMR) as 30 per 1000 live births to be achieved by 2010, but the current 2011 census records the infant mortality rate to be around 47.57 per 1000 live births. This points towards the gap between the desired and the expected, and the additional resources necessary to be invested to fill the gap. Through my proposed course of study I would like to understand better the way markets, institutions and public policy interact to pave path for economic growth in a country and also to understand the dynamics of targeting issues which involves such variables that are mutually dependent like the vicious circle of poverty-illiteracy and population. These issues are contextual to Indian scenario, where in some parts economic growth is not accompanied by equal opportunities for the people for example Haryana which is among the richest states in the country yet with the lowest sex ratio and on the other hand is kerela which despite doing very well on various social indicators still lacks much economic growth owing to the overregulated economic governance in the state.
Very good paper, great work chice. I think you need to take out the also in the blue and the word kerela should be spell kerala.
