The Hindu Business Line : For growth, depend both on agriculture, industry: Stiglitz

To ensure sustainability of economic growth, countries would have to depend both on agriculture and industry. For, it is not feasible to leverage only on agriculture for sustained economic growth, according to Prof Joseph Stiglitz, US Nobel laureate in economics.

Speaking to newspersons while on a visit here, Prof Stiglitz said that as population grows, economic growth would have to depend upon industry and services as well. However, it would be important to maintain a balance between agriculture and economy, he said. There must also be a balance between large industries, and small and medium industries, he added.

Learning lessons

Talking in the context of IMF-WTO-led globalisation, he cited the instance of the East Asian financial crisis and spoke of lessons that needed to be learnt from it. According to him, countries must be careful in liberalising capital markets and restrict short-term funds inflow into their capital markets.

Prof Stiglitz, however, was not against foreign direct investment for the long term. “Countries must learn to manage globalisation,” he said, adding “they must say yes to what is good and no to what is not good for them”.

Prof Stiglitz said he disagreed with the view that, in developed markets, everything was market-led. “This is not true. The Governments must regulate financial markets and play an active role in this regard,” he said.

Discussing issues

Earlier, Prof Stiglitz met the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, at Writers’ Buildings. They discussed several issues, including strategies for sustainable growth in the context of a State like West Bengal.

Problems pertaining to poverty and creation of employment were also discussed, according to Dr Asim Dasgupta, West Bengal’s Finance Minister, who was also present at the meeting.