Kerala, 1956 to the Present
India's Miracle State

Most studies highlight Kerala's human development; this points out its economic growth and explains how growth and development are related.

Tirthankar Roy (Author), K. Ravi Raman (Author)

9781009521635, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 November 2024

182 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 1.6 cm, 0.42 kg

'Kerala is different, but not in the way we think.' Economic change in this southern state has fascinated economists. Most studies focused on the state's unusual human development, asked how a poor and economically stagnant state could achieve high levels of education and healthcare and pointed to politics and government policy to answer the question. Little of that scholarship took history seriously. History, this book says, shows that the foundations of human development were laid before the formation of the state and were owed to many factors besides politics. The striking thing about the state is its unusual income growth, which has been faster than most states since the 1990s. The question the authors ask is, 'How could an income-poor state break out of stagnation so dramatically?' The answers consider past globalisation, labour mobility, a legacy of welfare spending, and the positive ways these features interacted since India's economic reforms.

Preface
List of Tables
List of Figures
1. Introduction
2. Before Independence
3. The Retreat of Agriculture
4. Capital: Retreat and Resurgence
5. Work, Labour, and Migration
6. Growth and Development
7. The Left Legacy
8. Geography: An Asset or a Challenge?
9. Conclusion
References.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ]