Human development and the lessons

Human development (Table 8.5): China's Human Development Index (HDI) is 0.797, India's 0.685 and Pakistan's 0.544. China leads on almost every indicator: life expectancy, years of schooling, income per head, lower infant and maternal mortality, and access to sanitation.

But the HDI leaves out something important: liberty. It does not measure how far people can take part in democratic decisions, enjoy their rights, or rely on an independent judiciary. The book suggests such liberty indicators should be added.

Why did China do so well? Much of its human development comes from strategies of the pre-reform period: investment in health, education and land reforms. Its later reforms were introduced gradually, tested first on a small scale and then extended. Its growth was led by manufacturing. And the collective ownership of land gave rural people a kind of security.

Why did Pakistan slow down? Its farming depended on good harvests (the weather), not on steady improvements in technology. It suffered political instability. It relied heavily on remittances and foreign loans, which became harder to get and harder to repay. Poverty fell to about 25 per cent in the 1980s, but then rose again.

Trade: India buys far more from China than it sells there. In 2024-25, India's exports to China were only about 12.6 per cent of its imports from China.

The lesson: aim for growth together with human development, and with freedom too.