NATO expands into irrelevance

[Brad DeLong]

>Ulhas Joglekar wrote:
>
>>Hello Diane! I admire Chomsky, but I don't find much visual evidence of
>>greater
>>immiseration in absolute terms around me. India's GDP has trebled in last 20
>>years, it's unlikeky that things are worse. There is no indication
>>destitution will get worse in India. But then India is among the less
>>globally integrated economies in India.
>
>Really? Please say more. The GDP growth figures for India aren't 
>just statistical artifacts, but are translating into real material 
>improvement for Indians? How many? The standard Western left version 
>of events is that the benefits of growth are enjoyed by a small 
>portion of the population, and everyone else is left behind or 
>worse. Aren't there hundreds of millions of Indians living in 
>absolute poverty by the World Bank definition (incomes under 
>US$1/day)? Are those numbers rising or falling?
>
>Doug

I don't know anyone who has looked at the Indian numbers seriously 
who finds evidence for "absolute immiserization" for any substantial 
segment of the population.

Angus Deaton thinks that India's rural absolute poverty rate has 
declined from 37.2% to 30.2% between 1993-94 and 1999-2000, and 
India's urban poverty rate has declined from 32.4% to 24.7% in the 
same period.

The relative spread of the income distribution has, however, grown by a lot...

Brad DeLong