The gap in India has always been between the promise and the execution.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the disconnect between what is promised and what is delivered in India's development.
Raghuram Rajan's quote emphasizes the persistent challenge in India where there is often a significant difference between the commitments made by leaders and the actual implementation of those commitments. This gap can hinder progress and development, pointing to the need for accountability and effective execution in order to fulfill the potential of the nation.
In practice
In a presentation about economic reforms, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of actual implementation over mere promises.
The U.S. should worry about the effects of its polices on the rest of the world. We would like to live in a world where countries take into account the effect of their policies on other countries and do what is right, broadly, rather than what is just right given the circumstances of that country.
Customers often value a good more when its price goes up. One reason may be its signaling value. An expensive handcrafted mechanical watch may tell time no more accurately than a cheap quartz model; but, because few people can afford one, buying it signals that the owner is rich.
The problem with forbearance is that it always looks like a good thing to do until it stops working.
Perhaps the hardest challenge has been to persuade the public, impatient for rapid growth, of the need to ensure stability first. Growth, it is argued, is always more important, regardless of the looming economic risks.
Too many years away from academia renders you pretty incompetent at research and teaching. So I had to go back.
Democratic accountability means that governments must be popularly accepted, with citizens empowered to replace corrupt or incompetent rulers.
When inequality gets too extreme, then it becomes useless for growth, and it can even become bad because it tends to lead to high perpetuation of inequality over time and low mobility.
Regulation has gone astray. . . . Either because they have become captives of regulated industries or captains of outmoded administrative agencies, regulators all too often encourage or approve unreasonably high prices, inadequate service, and anticompetitive behavior. The cost of this regulation is always passed on to the consumer. And that cost is astronomical.
There is always some chance of recession in any year. But the evidence suggests that expansions don't die of old age.
In a mature economy like India's, which is becoming modern and a financially-oriented economy, an independent central bank, responsible central bank, is really central to success.
We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics. Out of the collapse of a prosperity whose builders boasted their practicality has come the conviction that in the long run economic morality pays.
If you paid Americans a living wage, they would be able to pay for products made by Americans in America.
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