Friday, February 15, 2008

Jagdish Bhagwat- the protectionist!

Book recommendation -India: The Emerging Giant by Arvind Panagariya

Read the transcript of the book event at Brookings;
A very interesting story there, actually -- you know, Jagdish Bhagwati, in whose name I chair at Columbia -- after whom my chair at Columbia is named -- he in 1961 returned to India and, actually, you know, he also shared these nationalistic sentiments of his generation, which has participated in the national movement. So he wrote to his professor, Harry Johnson -- and so he wrote to Harry that, you know, “I’m very disturbed by the craze for the foreign goods that exists in India.”

And Harry Johnson, who was really a quick wit, kind of wrote back saying that, “Look, you know, if the quality of the paper on which your letter is written is any indication of the quality of the products in India, the craze for the foreign goods seems quite rational to me.”




Related;
India - an Emerging Giant

No comments: