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How Kerala got rich

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Re: How Kerala got rich

#51

Post by jeswin »

harichinnan wrote: post #31
jeswin wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. I lived there for the first two decades, and outside Kerala for the next two and a bit. The only thing Kerala exports is the workforce, since it's impossible to start anything in Kerala thanks to politics and high costs. I know because I've tried. Kerala had historical ties with the Middle East thanks in part to a substantial Muslim population, and the migrant labour force was able to funnel some of Middle Easte…

You aren’t keeping up then. Remittances is a much smaller % of economy these days.

Ten years back remittance was 31% of the GDP [1] - a massive number. It might have declined, but the tiny state accounts for 20% of India's inward remittance while holding a mere 3% of the nation's population. Wikipedia says that 3 million people are working abroad (mostly in the middle East), which is like 10 percent of the population (what percentage of the youth will that be?). Also, a very significant number of Malayalees work in neighbouring states - again due to Kerala having no industries.

I don't have numbers for the last ten years, but if remittance has gone down, it is also neck deep in debt. I am in Kerala quite frequently, and can confirm that there are no industries there - except for tourism, and some IT which is relatively miniscule compared to neighbouring states.

[1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Kerala

Re: How Kerala got rich

#52

Post by dartos »

vishnugupta wrote: post #45
zkmon wrote: post #39

India has a vast variation of cultures. A few states in India look like they are quite detached from mainstream India, in terms of issues, economy, norms, politics etc. This is true for north-eastern states as well and probably J&K too. It's like a colorful patch-work of different cultures. However, there is nothing good or bad with these variations. Tourism also adds to its economy. Higher per-capita doesn't always…

This statement > India has a vast variation of cultures. isn’t consistent with this. > mainstream India

Is it?

You can have a variety and a single largest.

Re: How Kerala got rich

#53

Post by dartharva »

ghoomketu wrote: post #38

If Kerala can do it why can't other states like Bihar do it too? (Not asking rhetorically) From what I see from the article the major gains were from investment in health and education which should be a no brainer.

That's the same as asking "if Singapore can achieve near-zero levels of crime, why can't Brazil do it too?" i.e. a nonsensical question. The culture is different, the people are different and the mindsets are different.

Re: How Kerala got rich

#55

Post by [deleted] »

MathMonkeyMan wrote: post #37

Paragraph after paragraph restating the question, then: > In short ways, four forces of change – Kerala’s reintegration with the global economy, remittances from the Persian Gulf, strong welfare policies from a legacy of Leftist government, and private investment from individuals and businesses who shared the remittance flows – have combined to form the structure of Kerala’s miracle of human wellbeing with economic g…

[deleted]

Re: How Kerala got rich

#57

Post by dartharva »

sangeeth96 wrote: post #16
the_arun wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you mean this temple in Andhrapradesh? - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venkateswara_Temple,_Tirumala

Probably referring to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmanabhaswamy_Temple_treasur...

I have visited this temple. The security inside the premises is handled by regular police, but the temple also has a strict dress code.. so you get to see shirtless men in dhotis carrying badges and pistols in cloth holsters. It's really funny to look at.

Re: How Kerala got rich

#58

Post by cafeoh »

impomura wrote: post #34
xyst wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yup, a definitive “neoliberal”/“neoclassical” economic theory puff piece.

a neoliberal neoclassical puff piece on the only region in india ruled by the communist party? that's fresh

The region has remnants of socialist ideas. The article, however, is indeed a puff piece on the vastly dominant economic theory, which is, as it turns out, not "fresh" at all.

I will say however that I think it's unfair to call professor Roy a neoliberal. Being a neoliberal is merely the expectation for most economic "theorists", but his vocal apologetics for imperalism and colonialism is not.

> Indian Marxists viciously attacked the CEHI, arguing the imperial state's aim was to extract surplus from India, that it withheld the capacity to do good in famines, and deployed the capacity to cause harm at all other times.

> In this void, blog and trade-book writers moved in with a leftist-nationalist political agenda posing as economic history. Most of their claims can be dismissed by subjecting them to the 1980s test: Can economic change be read as an effect of the Empire? The answer remains: No.

This is indeed a very powerful purity test, "Do your claim go against my utterly ahistorical narrative? If not, then I can comfortably dismiss them without addressing them."

> That India's trade surplus meant Britain looted India is bad logic because the surplus did not mean theft but the purchase of services. “Millions of Indians died of policy-induced famines” (Hickel) is bad logic by assuming infinite state capacity was deliberately withheld.

This one is quite rich aswell, it's just blunt unapologetic imperalism denial. It's bad logic because the logic bothers me.

I mean it just goes on and that's just his most recent tweets.

Re: How Kerala got rich

#59

Post by 1zael »

My great-grandparents were landowners in Kollengode, a village on the foothills of the Western Ghats. They operated on a system of sharecropping, which the Communist party took away (along with their land) in the 1970s for redistribution. While this eliminated much of our family wealth, most of the next generation family members weren't disturbed by it because they were proud of Kerala's reputation of having the highest literacy rates and human development standards in India due to these reforms.

Many people think of North Indians as the de-facto "business" class in India, but Kerala's long history of international trade has given its posterity a rich history of merchant knowledge. My parents started a technology company in Kerala and have seen the Communist party swing from traditional land and educational reforms to private market support. This in large part due to remittances from the Middle East fueling the state economy.

The ecological risks from climate change (e.x. the mass flooding that occurred in the past several years) is a real risk that claimed the lives of several employees at my parent's company. Kerala is posed to become the biggest success story out of India, but it needs to remain vigilant in investing in private markets and infrastructure projects to address these risks and maintain sustainable growth.

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