The Economy of Himachal Pradesh Growth and Structure: A Study in Development Performance

The book is based on the author's research work of a period spanning over nearly last six years. The discussion in the book starts with different perspectives on the concept of development and of development performance. It argues for the adoption of a broad-based, synthetic approach for this purpose, and also gives broad indicators which can be used for the evaluation of development performance of an economy. The initial socio-economic structure of the regional economy of Himachal Pradesh is analysed, and the resource-endowment as well as the development constraints of the economy are also discussed with a view to carry out a comparative evaluation of its subsequent growth and structure vis-a-vis the initial position. The development performance of the economy has been evaluated in terms of a set of criteria identified for this purpose, these being/classified under four categories, viz. (i) the actual growth of the economy, (ii) the level of its current growth potential, (iii) the changes in the production structure, and (Iv) the distributional characteristics of the economy the level of the current growth potential has been analysed in terms of the growth of infrastructural facilities. The growth of these facilities is viewed as determining the level of growth potential, since these facilities are known to create wide-ranging external economics. The change in the production structure have been studied by analyzing domestic product as well as the pattern of employment. The analysis of the distributional characteristics of the economy has been divided in to two parts, viz, the analysis of inter-class equality and that of inter-regional equity. The former has been discussed at length by providing estimates of the proportion of population below the poverty line, and the extent of socio-economic disparities in the State. The question of inter-regional equity has been provided for resolving an on-going debate over the level of development of the 'new' versus 'old' areas of the State. Besides, the development performance of the state economy also has been evaluated vis-a-vis the other States of the country.