The Political Economy of Growth in China and India

This paper attempts to examine the growth performance and its impact on inequality and poverty in China and India. The recent upsurge in growth rates in China and India is seen widely as the “success” story of globalisation. It is also claimed that these developments will make a significant impact on the reduction of global inequalities and poverty.

Although a number of scholars have analysed the recent economic performance of China and India, however, these studies have not taken into account the past policies and its impact on current performance. We find there is a gap in the current discussion, which overlooks historical and economic factors on the recent performance.

This article critically asses the claimed fall in global poverty due to mainly the rise of China and India in recent years. The article questions the “pro-globalisation” argument, which suggests that there is a link between ‘market liberal’ free market polices and falling poverty. It is argued instead that the evidence concerning poverty reduction is ambiguous, and is not that the most successful economies have adopted pro-globalisation policies.

Studying the developmental changes taking place in these two countries is important because they together account for 37.5% of the global population. These populous neighbours, regarded as symbols of poverty and failure until two decades ago, contain large numbers of people are living below the officially defined poverty line.