Book Launch: The Nehru-Era

Join us on September 21st, 2024 for a matinée of celebration and engaging discussion. SIPA’s very own Dr. Arvind Panagariya returns for the launch of his new book along with special guest Dr. Indermit Gill, the Chief Economist of the World Bank Group. The two eminent economists will delve into the main messages of, The Nehru-Era Economic History and Thought & Their Lasting Impact. The event will be followed by an intimate lunch and reception. Capacity is limited and a ticket guarantees entry.

30% discount code on the book available with registration.

The Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies is proud to celebrate the launch of Professor Arvind Panagariya’s book, The Nehru-Era Economic History and Thought & Their Lasting Impact, published by OUP, New York. The book examines the evolution of Nehru's economic philosophy with socialism, self-sufficiency, and heavy-industry development at its core. Through extensive archival research, Arvind Panagariya reconstructs and reinterprets this history, paying particular attention to the administrative processes deployed to implement policies, contemporary economic thought, and important historical events not adequately covered in the existing literature. He assesses the evolution of Nehru's own political beliefs and the construction of the Nehru development model, the resulting regime and exclusionary nature of economic growth, and the lasting intellectual legacy of the Nehru-era socialism on politicians, civil servants, policy analysts, and businesspeople in the six decades since Nehru's death.
This book is the fascinating tale of a model with the near-unanimous approval of experts from all around the world at its inception and the impact of its failure.

Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission of India (Author)

Arvind Panagariya is currently the Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission of India. He is also the Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy and former Director of the Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Professor of Economics in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He was the first Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog, Government of India, in the rank of a cabinet minister. He has authored more than 20 books, published professional articles in all the top Economics journals, and written for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and the WSJ. In 2012, the Government of India awarded him with Padma Bhushan, its third highest honor in any field.

Dr. Indermit Gill, Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economic (Chair)

Before starting this position on September 1, 2022, Gill served as the World Bank’s Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions, where he helped shape the Bank’s response to the extraordinary series of shocks that have hit developing economies since 2020. Between 2016 and 2021, he was a professor of public policy at Duke University and non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Global Economy and Development program.

Gill led the World Bank’s influential 2009 World Development Report on economic geography. His work includes introducing the concept of the “middle-income trap” to describe how countries stagnate after reaching a certain level of income. He has published extensively on key policy issues facing developing countries—among other things, sovereign debt vulnerabilities, green growth and natural-resource wealth, labor markets, and poverty and inequality.

Gill has also taught at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.

Host or Publisher Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies