Wealth should grow

Today in Wall Street Journal online is a review of Why Growth Matters  by Columbia University economists Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya.  Their central idea:

"[India's] post-1991 transformation "from a basket case into a powerful engine of growth" . . .  unambiguously proves something that many on the Indian left remain in denial about: that a rapidly expanding economy is the best antidote to poverty."  

A "rapidly expanding economy" is another way of saying that the total pie of wealth, so to speak, is getting bigger.  This is a good thing.

Here's another review of the book by George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics 2001:

“Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya are two of the great intellectual lights behind one of the greatest miracles of economic history: the economic reform of India, and its subsequent takeoff.  It is not just the well-to-do who have benefited, but, especially, the poor.  The lessons from the spirit of 1991 are not just relevant for India today; they are also of prime importance for the billions of citizens of low income countries around the globe.”