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Ashoka Mody

Ashoka Mody

34 commentaries

Ashoka Mody, a visiting professor of International Economic Policy at Princeton University, previously worked for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He is the author of India is Broken: A People Betrayed, Independence to Today (Stanford University Press, 2023).

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  1. India’s Poor Will Not Be Wished Away
    mody33_Shivam KhannaPacific PressLightRocket via Getty Images_india poverty Shivam Khanna/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

    India’s Poor Will Not Be Wished Away

    Mar 14, 2024 Ashoka Mody highlights the authorities’ ongoing failure to provide an accurate picture of growing economic hardship.

  2. The Slow Death of India’s Secular Democracy
    mody32_Kay Nietfeldpicture alliance via Getty Images_modi Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance via Getty Images

    The Slow Death of India’s Secular Democracy

    Jan 19, 2024 Ashoka Mody identifies the key moments and players in the rise, normalization, and political victory of Hindu nationalism.

  3. Ashoka Mody on Indian corruption, growth, jobs, and more
    Ashoka_Say-More_Ghersi-via-GettyRF

    Ashoka Mody on Indian corruption, growth, jobs, and more

    Sep 26, 2023 Ashoka Mody traces the roots of the lack of accountability in India, highlights shortcomings in human capital and gender equality, casts doubt on the country’s ability to assume a Chinese-style role in manufacturing, and more.

  4. India’s Fake Growth Story
    mody30_ Kabir JhangianiNurPhoto via Getty Images_g20 Kabir Jhangiani/NurPhoto via Getty Images

    India’s Fake Growth Story

    Sep 6, 2023 Ashoka Mody accuses the government of using faulty national accounting to cover up growing macroeconomic problems.

  5. Unlike China, India Cannot Be an Economic Superpower
    mody29-DIBYANGSHU SARKARAFP via Getty Images_INDIA DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP via Getty Images

    Unlike China, India Cannot Be an Economic Superpower

    Jul 28, 2023 Ashoka Mody explains why the hype around the country’s neoliberal policies and growth prospects is misguided.

  1. kirtondarling1_Andreas RentzGetty Images_european green new deal Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

    There Can Be No Business as Usual for European Industry

    Judith Kirton-Darling urges EU leaders to make a renewed Green Deal, backed by competitiveness-bolstering initiatives, a top priority.
  2. zizek30_Fatima ShbairGetty Images_gaza Fatima Shbair/Getty Images

    Protests of Despair

    Slavoj Žižek sees the pro-Palestinian student demonstrations as a signal of a much deeper, widespread malaise.
  3. carstens5_Getty Images_finternet Getty Images

    The Rise of the Finternet

    Agustín Carstens & Nandan Nilekani foresee a world in which cheap, secure, and near-instantaneous financial transactions are available to all.
  4. rodrik222_Kevin FrayerGetty Images_china solar panel Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

    Don’t Fret About Green Subsidies

    Dani Rodrik sees no good argument against industrial policies that accelerate growth in decarbonization industries.
  5. gros186_Sean GallupGetty Images_euro Sean Gallup/Getty Images

    Europe’s Geoeconomic Competitiveness Challenge

    Daniel Gros highlights the security risks raised by the prolonged decline of the EU’s relative economic power.
  6. op_ang1_retrorocketGetty Images_corruption retrorocket/Getty Images

    How Exceptional Is China’s Crony-Capitalist Boom?

    Yuen Yuen Ang

    While both the American and Chinese Gilded Ages raised material standards of living for hundreds of millions of people, their endemic corruption produced radically unequal and unsustainable growth. Ultimately, both periods offer cautionary tales about unbridled crony capitalism, not models for blind emulation.

    explains how corruption both drove the country's GDP growth and sowed the seeds for its current economic problems.
  7. bp india election Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images

    Will India’s Election Destroy Its Democracy?

    Since taking power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have stoked Hindu nationalism, hollowed out India’s democracy, and overseen an economy that is probably performing far worse than official figures suggest. And yet Modi and the BJP are genuinely popular, making them likely – though not certain – to emerge victorious when the ongoing parliamentary election concludes in June.

  8. benami213_YEHUDA RAIZNERAFP via Getty Images_israelflag Yehuda Raizner/AFP via Getty Images

    The Unbearable Lightness of Anti-Zionism

    Shlomo Ben-Ami warns that demonizing all Israelis will only make peace less likely – though that may be the point.
  9. alfredsdottir1_Getty Images_pay gap Getty Images

    How to Close the Gender Wage Gap

    Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir argues that Iceland’s experience lends further support to Nobel laureate economist Claudia Goldin’s research.

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