Description: Drawing on her knowledge of the country and on theoretical literature, Barbara Harris-White describes the Indian economy through its most important social structures of accumulation. The book explores a range of topics, including labor, class, the state, gender, religious plurality, caste and space. Harris-White's conclusion adeptly challenges the prevailing belief that liberalization releases the economy from political interference.
Brief description: Barbara Harriss-White is Professor of Development Studies at Queen Elizabeth House, and Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Oxford.
Review Quotes: "This book engages with a wide range of scholarship grounded in different disciplines to expand our understanding of how the contemporary Indian economy works. [D]ue credit must also be given to the author Barbara Harris-White for her self-conscious effort to converse with theories and empirical works outside the formal confines of economic studies." Prakash Kumar, Georgia Institute of Technology, Enterprise and Society