How India Keeps Its Economy Down

As India debates whether to allow Walmart to colonize its economy, William Pesek in Businessweek says it’s a good moment to reflect on how the world’s largest democracy holds its own economy back. It’s big and inefficient; both its public and private sectors are bloated with corruption and waste. But India’s worry about protecting its small businesses may be making the problem worse. “The real failing of free trade and globalization is that the parts of the world that need them most get short shrift. The anti-globalization movement, however well-intentioned, should turn its energy to extending the benefits of free trade and capital flows to the world’s neediest people.”