On the road to Liberty

During a recent trip to China, I spoke at a couple of conferences on the evolution of the population policy, in India and China. That gave me an opportunity to discuss with quite a few Chinese, scholars and students, the various dimensions of China's one child policy. I was also surprised to learn that increasing number of Chinese scholars are questioning the utility of the population policy, and warning of the serious implications. With the help of research inputs from Prateek Kapil, I have tried to explore some the potential consequences of the one-child policy for China, and for the rest of the world. China has defied many conventional wisdom, whether it can defy the old adage “demography is destiny” will be seen over the next few decades. A version of this article has been published in the Geopolitical Information Service. In the past three decades, China's rapid economic development has attracted attention of the world as well as le...

At noon on 11 May 2000, Aastha, a baby girl born in Delhi. She was officially declared as the billionth Indian. My article titled "India's One-Billionth Asset-The path to prosperity is economic freedom, not population policy" was published in May, 2000. India's population officially surpasses the one billion mark today. While government officials search for the suitable baby to herald the occasion, there are no plans for any grand birthday party. Instead people are being somberly reminded of the burden of the billion plus population. It is ironic that India has reached a situation where the birth of a child is considered to have a negative impact on GDP and other economic measures, but the birth of a calf, or production of an additional ton of rice or iron is considered to be positive. Is India's growing population to blame for its relatively poor economic performance in the past 50 years? Or did the policies pursued by successive governments lead to a massive was...

Celebrating 6 Billion: More the merrier When political freedom is secured and the market is unrestrained, more people increases demand, and therefore also the supply, and at the end there is more available for consumption than ever before. People are the ultimate resource, they just don't come with a mouth alone, but also a mind and a pair of hands. It is time to party and cut the cake on the arrival of the 6 billionth person on this planet, writes Barun Mitra. A shorter version of this article title "6 Billion and Growing" in The Economics Times, on 12 October 1999. • Problems of Plenty! • More people, Higher consumption, Falling prices! • Free but expensive to priced but cheap • Rising value of labour • Policies, not population, responsible for poverty • Breeding inequality • More the merrier! • History of World Population Birth of baby is usually a source of great joy. Therefore, on October 12, the date symbolically designated to mark the arriv...