Events

This book talk is jointly organised by the Centre on Asia and Globalisation (CAG) at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy; and the Asia Research Institute (ARI) at the National University of Singapore. This event is funded by the Nalanda Professorship in India-China Studies.

CHAIRPERSON

The talk is based on Vamsi Vakulabharanam’s recently published book, Class and Inequality in China and India, 1950-2010, by the Oxford University Press. China and India have seen a significant revival over the last three decades in terms of their place in the world economy. Two and a half centuries ago, they contributed 50 percent of the world output; after suffering a decline thereafter, their share fell to a paltry 9 percent in 1950 but has since resurged to over 25 percent today. Their growth and inequality experiences diverged for three decades following India’s independence (1947) and the Chinese revolution (1949). Thereafter, there are remarkable underlying similarities in the experiences of both countries, especially in terms of their rising inequality patterns analyzed through a class lens. The author demonstrates that the mutual interconnectedness between Chinese and Indian growth and inequality dynamics and the transformation and evolution of global capitalism is key to understanding the within-country inequality dynamics in both countries over the 1950-2010 period. Based on this analysis of class-based inequalities, the author reflects on the current political moment in both countries, from a political economy perspective.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Vamsi Vakulabharanam is Co-Director of the Asian Political Economy Program at the Political Economy Research Institute, and Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has previously taught at the University of Hyderabad (2008-14) and the City University of New York (2004-07). His recent research focuses on inequality in India and China and the political economy of Indian cities through the axes of gender, caste, class, and religion. In the past, he has also worked on agrarian change in developing economies, agrarian cooperatives, and the relationship between economic development and inequality. Vakulabharanam was awarded the Amartya Sen award in 2013 given to distinguished social scientists by the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

REGISTRATION

Please express your interest by registering at https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/cag/events/details/class-and-inequality-in-china-and-india–implications-in-a-changing-world-order.