# The Inequality Red Herring: What India's Development Discourse Gets Wrong
The real question confronting India's intellectual class is whether all this inequality debate has been fruitful in the slightest. The answer, I submit, is a resounding no.
China, even by official statistics, exhibits inequality levels comparable to America. Do most Indians not regret forgoing China's development path in the 1980s and 1990s? Today, even China's poorest provinces surpass India on a per capita basis—a sobering testament to the opportunity costs of India's developmental choices.
Regarding poverty reduction, economic growth maintains a 99% correlation with poverty alleviation. This is not mere academic abstraction but observable reality.
Consider a more salient, earthbound fact: cities consistently exhibit greater inequality than villages, yet people migrate from villages to cities in vast numbers. This reveals what people actually value—their absolute standard of living rather than their relative position among neighbors. Actions, as always, speak louder than words.
The disconnect becomes even more apparent when examining survey data. Indians appear remarkably unconcerned with inequality, a finding that should surprise those who consume Indian media discourse. The Indian media class acts as though the citizenry consists of jealous ideologues, but perhaps this reflects merely the pathology of India's middle class rather than any genuine popular sentiment.
The obsession with inequality serves primarily as intellectual masturbation—a distraction from the harder work of wealth creation. While India debates relative positions, entire provinces elsewhere have lifted themselves from poverty through the simple expedient of growth. The poor, it seems, prefer prosperity to equality.
Good read. I remember reading a piece by Bryan Caplan which tried to demonstrate that people don't actually care about inequality. Found the piece pretty convincing.
The goal with such inequality pieces is very often not scientific enquiry but rhetorical persuasion. As such they fall to even the most basic informed scrutiny
The point made about income mobility (as lead indicator of wealth mobility) across quintiles is likely the best measure of opportunity. As an individual, I don’t care for the wealth of an Ambani, as long as I have food on the table, and optimism/opportunity to advance.
A question I’d love to answer - is the percentage of population that is moving up 2 quintiles atleast, rising over a decade? If yes, things are likely good enough
Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything like that in the context of the Indian economy. In the US, the Department of Treasury had done the study and published their results. I don't know if there's a way to do it in India.
Yeah, even I couldn’t find this. It had come up in one of Bill Gates’ podcasts as a loose definition of the American dream - whatever quintile you’re born in, you have the belief that you can move two quintiles above your starting point
I would like to add that families don't necessarily provide equal opportunities to siblings. Parents are often wealthier and also more experienced in parenting later in life, so younger siblings get more benefits. Interestingly, birth order effects show that firstborns perform better despite this.
# The Inequality Red Herring: What India's Development Discourse Gets Wrong
The real question confronting India's intellectual class is whether all this inequality debate has been fruitful in the slightest. The answer, I submit, is a resounding no.
China, even by official statistics, exhibits inequality levels comparable to America. Do most Indians not regret forgoing China's development path in the 1980s and 1990s? Today, even China's poorest provinces surpass India on a per capita basis—a sobering testament to the opportunity costs of India's developmental choices.
Regarding poverty reduction, economic growth maintains a 99% correlation with poverty alleviation. This is not mere academic abstraction but observable reality.
Consider a more salient, earthbound fact: cities consistently exhibit greater inequality than villages, yet people migrate from villages to cities in vast numbers. This reveals what people actually value—their absolute standard of living rather than their relative position among neighbors. Actions, as always, speak louder than words.
The disconnect becomes even more apparent when examining survey data. Indians appear remarkably unconcerned with inequality, a finding that should surprise those who consume Indian media discourse. The Indian media class acts as though the citizenry consists of jealous ideologues, but perhaps this reflects merely the pathology of India's middle class rather than any genuine popular sentiment.
The obsession with inequality serves primarily as intellectual masturbation—a distraction from the harder work of wealth creation. While India debates relative positions, entire provinces elsewhere have lifted themselves from poverty through the simple expedient of growth. The poor, it seems, prefer prosperity to equality.
Good read. I remember reading a piece by Bryan Caplan which tried to demonstrate that people don't actually care about inequality. Found the piece pretty convincing.
The goal with such inequality pieces is very often not scientific enquiry but rhetorical persuasion. As such they fall to even the most basic informed scrutiny
Also none of these were new points. They are the most oft repeated left wing points applied to India now.
Yup! I agree. Standard left wing talking points.
The point made about income mobility (as lead indicator of wealth mobility) across quintiles is likely the best measure of opportunity. As an individual, I don’t care for the wealth of an Ambani, as long as I have food on the table, and optimism/opportunity to advance.
A question I’d love to answer - is the percentage of population that is moving up 2 quintiles atleast, rising over a decade? If yes, things are likely good enough
Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything like that in the context of the Indian economy. In the US, the Department of Treasury had done the study and published their results. I don't know if there's a way to do it in India.
Yeah, even I couldn’t find this. It had come up in one of Bill Gates’ podcasts as a loose definition of the American dream - whatever quintile you’re born in, you have the belief that you can move two quintiles above your starting point
I would like to add that families don't necessarily provide equal opportunities to siblings. Parents are often wealthier and also more experienced in parenting later in life, so younger siblings get more benefits. Interestingly, birth order effects show that firstborns perform better despite this.
Interesting, isn't it? Just goes to show that disparities are embedded in the human phenomenon.