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Structural adjustment in India: economic crisis and policy choice

University of British Columbia

The decision to undertake a structural adjustment program usually comes at a time when a country is facing a severe economic crisis. In India, the conditions surrounding the economic crisis of 1991 left Indian policy-makers with little alternative but to pursue liberal economic policies. This thesis examines three aspects of India's economic crisis, political, economic and international, in an attempt to explain the Narasimha Rao government's policy choice. Three dimensions of the decision - timing, scope, and content - are used to simplify the analysis, and to measure the contributions of various factors. Whereas the ideology and international systems explanations only play an indirect role in India's policy choice, I argue that convergence of factors highlighted by the interest group, political institutional and international financial institutional explanations resulted in India's decision to liberalize its economy.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-03-04

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/5509

Political Science

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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