Essays in the Reconstruction of Political Economy

Contents: In lieu of an introduction. 1. The impact of globalization on Indian economic development. 2. Growing wasteland. 3. Economic growth: a meaningless obsession? 4. Economic theory and ideology. 5. Urban water supply: reforming the reformers (Co-authored with Arvind Kejriwal). 6. The political economy of social democracy. 7. The rise of monetarism as a social doctrine (Co-Authored with Josef Steindl). 8. Labour-market flexibility and economic expansion. 9. Joblessness. 10. The politics of sound finance. 11. Reflections on the role of the state in economic development. 12. An analysis of semi-feudalism in East Indian Agriculture. 13. Productivity, production relations and class efficiency. 14. Structural change and economic development. 15. Increasing returns and the division of labour in the theory of economic development. 

"A distinguished economic theorist of international fame, Amit Bhaduri stands out for challenging consistently the conventional wisdom of mainstream economics. Through his innovative research he has shown systematically how the postulates of individual rationality and methodological individualism of economic orthodoxy ignore the role of power which should be the centre piece of economic analysis. Fifteen less technical of his essays, written over the last three decades and collected in this volume, give a flavour of how political economy is shaped by power in a historical process. Often basing on the macroeconomic tradition of Marx, Kalecki, and Keynes, and combining it with his own field observations as an activist-researcher, these essays indicate the way in which political economy can be fruitfully reformulated."