Asia | Bureaucrats, not bridge-builders

Is India’s education system the root of its problems?

A recent comparison with China suggests that may be so

Photograph: Getty Images
|Singapore

For most of history the economies of India and China grew in lockstep. In 1970 the countries were almost identically wealthy. But today China’s GDP per person, at around $13,000, is nearly five times India’s. The chasm is traditionally explained by the way their economies opened up. China became the world’s factory, which turbocharged growth. India became its back office. But what shaped these paths?

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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Bureaucrats, not bridge-builders”

From the November 30th 2024 edition

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