Political Economy of India's Fiscal and Financial Reform

Although economic liberalization may involve curtailing state economic intervention, it does not diminish the state's importance in economic development. In addition to its crucial role in maintaining macroeconomic stability, the state continues to play a vital, if more subtle, role in creating incentives that shape economic activity. States create these incentives in a variety of ways including their authorization of property rights and market microstructures, their establishment of regulatory agencies, and the manner in which they structure fiscal federalism. While the incentives established by the state have pervasive economic consequences, they are created and re-created through political processes, and politics is a key factor in explaining the extent to which state institutions promote efficient and equitable behavior in markets. India has experienced two important changes that fundamentally have shaped the course of its economic reform. India's party system has been transformed from a single party dominant system into a distinctive form of coalitional politics where single-state parties play a pivotal role in making and breaking governments. At the same time economic liberalization has progressively curtailed central government dirigisme and increased the autonomy of market institutions, private sector actors, and state governments. This paper analyzes how these changes have shaped the politics of fiscal and financial sector reform.