The Economy 5
that the Indian reform effort lagged the Chinese effort by 13 years. It is ironic
that, in many respects, communist China was able to break free of autarkic and
socialist policies earlier and more effectively than democratic India.
Two key facts about the trade to GDP time-series are: (1) The lowest value of
trade to GDP was 7.5%, and (2) in 1952, the ratio was more than twice as high
at 16.63%. The most recent value was four times bigger at 30.41%. Thus, the
trade to GDP ratio plunged by a factor of 2.2 times in the period of socialism.
But it has recovered by a factor of 4 times thereafter.
The economy rapidly responded to the reforms of the early 1990s, with sharp
growth in manufacturing exports and an impressive investment boom with ...