Productivity, competitiveness, number of jobs created and skill of the labor force are some of the most important ingredients of economic growth of a country. It is for the Central and state Governments to generate enabling conditions for the speedy economic and social development, according to Karthik Muralidharan, renowned economist and Tata Chancellor’s Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego.

Muralidharan in his new book “Accelerating India’s Development – A State led Roadmap for Effective Governance” gives a new perspective to the roles of Central and State Governments in the economic and social development of India. Land, labor, capital, policies on taxation, bankruptcy, environmental regulation, promoting competition, and by investing in police and courts to facilitate safety, contract enforcement and dispute resolution are the cardinal points required for the economic growth of the Governments (both Central and State).

But he says that the present Central Government is always ahead in resolving issues which retard economic progress. “India’s public discourse on growth mainly focusses on Central Government actions to promote it, though many of the key issues above are in the domain of State Governments. It is critical to analyze and improve the effectiveness of State level actions for boosting productivity and job quality. State-led initiative and innovations followed by rapid replication of successful ones can play a key role in accelerating both growth and development in India,” writes Muralidharan in the chapter “Jobs, Productivity and Economic Growth”.What makes the book interesting is Muralidharan’s call for improving job quality than job quantity. It is not the number of jobs created but the quality of jobs that determine the welfare of the people, says Muralidharan Kumar Chellappan n KOCHI

Productivity, competitiveness, number of jobs created and skill of the labor force are some of the most important ingredients of economic growth of a country. It is for the Central and state Governments to generate enabling conditions for the speedy economic and social development, according to Karthik Muralidharan, renowned economist and Tata Chancellor’s Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego.

Muralidharan in his new book “Accelerating India’s Development – A State led Roadmap for Effective Governance” gives a new perspective to the roles of Central and State Governments in the economic and social development of India. Land, labor, capital, policies on taxation, bankruptcy, environmental regulation, promoting competition, and by investing in police and courts to facilitate safety, contract enforcement and dispute resolution are the cardinal points required for the economic growth of the Governments (both Central and State).

But he says that the present Central Government is always ahead in resolving issues which retard economic progress. “India’s public discourse on growth mainly focusses on Central Government actions to promote it, though many of the key issues above are in the domain of State Governments. It is critical to analyze and improve the effectiveness of State level actions for boosting productivity and job quality. State-led initiative and innovations followed by rapid replication of successful ones can play a key role in accelerating both growth and development in India,” writes Muralidharan in the chapter “Jobs, Productivity and Economic Growth”.What makes the book interesting is Muralidharan’s call for improving job quality than job quantity. It is not the number of jobs created but the quality of jobs that determine the welfare of the people, says Muralidharan