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This book examines the evolution and implications of effective state-business relations for economic performance in Indian states. It explores the factors that explain the emergence of effective state-business relations and why collusive state-business relations persist. The book is based on original empirical research conducted in India and Africa.
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STATE BUSINESS RELATIONS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA KUNAL SEN IDPM, UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER AND JOINT RESEARCH DIRECTOR, EFFECTIVE STATES AND INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT (ESID) RESEARCH CENTRE
WHAT WE TRY TO DO IN THE BOOK • We addressed three core research questions that have been previously less studied in the literature. • Firstly, what characterises effective state-business relations and how have they evolved over time in Indian states? • Secondly, what are the implications of effective state-business relations for economic performance? • Finally, how do effective state-business relations emerge? What political factors explain their provenance, and why do collusive state-business relations that are not growth enhancing persist over time? • Both quantitative and qualitative methods, and contributions by political scientists and economists • Based on original empirical research undertaken in India (and Africa), as part of work done in the IPPG research consortium (www.ippg.org.uk)
What do we understand by effective State Business Relations (SBRs) • “a set of highly institutionalised, responsive and public interactions between the state and the business elite”
What characterises effective SBRs? • Transparency in information • Reciprocity in actions • Credibility in statements • Trust • Absence of collusive behaviour between business and states
Which (Economic) Institutions Matter? • The earlier Northian view of ‘good’ institutions was focused on well defined and secure private property rights. Influenced WDR 2002 and the De Soto agenda. Shaped most of the empirical work that followed (AJR, Rodrik et. al., Hall and Jones,…). • The Williamsonian emphasis was on transactions costs – the WB interpreted this narrowly in their Doing Business surveys to mean any regulatory/legal and extra-legal impediments to the investment activities of firms. • More recent theoretical literature allows a broader view of institutions – as coordination mechanisms and recognise that informal institutions may dominate formal institutions as a means of governance in certain contexts (Bardhan 2005, Dixit2009).
SBRs as coordination mechanisms ‘The rules of the game and the players of the game’ • SBRs embody both formal and informal institutions- both rule and relationship based governance. • They help solve information related market and co-ordination failures and collective action problems(e.g, business associations monitoring their members and ensuring compliance). • Help address credible commitment issues. • The players: Organisations – business associations, trade unions, ministries, public sector agencies. • Subsumes property rights and transactions costs, but allows a more nuanced and wider lens through which to look at institutional questions.
How do effective SBRs matter for economic growth in Indian states? • To causally establish the effects of SBRs on growth, we need to measure the effectiveness (quality) of SBRs. • We wanted to go as far as back in time as possible (to the 1970s) as the relation between state and capital had started changing both nationally and sub-nationally in the late 1970s/early 1980s. • So we needed a measure that was time-varying and across Indian states to capture the effects of SBRs both over time and across geographical space. • This also avoided some of the problems with cross-sectional empirical work on institutions and growth. • We also needed a measure which was based on the observable features of effective SBRs, mostly relying on secondary data.
Measuring SBRs • How is the private sector is organised vis-à-vis the public sector? • How is the government is organised vis-à-vis the private sector? • How are SBRs practiced and institutionalised? • What mechanisms are there for the avoidance of harmful collusive behaviour?
Explaining regional growth in Indian States • While economic growth in India has been strong since the mid 1980s, not all regions in India have benefited equally from the improvement in overall economic performance. • The significant political autonomy and independence in legislative powers enjoyed by state governments, along with regional variations in the collective strength of the economic and political elite, has led to strong variations in SBRs across states in India (Sinha 2003).
Measuring SBR In Indian States • 1. How is the private sector organised? • 2. How is the public sector organised? • 3. Practice of SBRs • 4. Presence of Collusive SBRs Each given equal weight; coded from 0 to 1; and aggregated to form an overall measure of SBR (which varies from 0 to 1)
How is the private sector organised? • Is there an umbrella business association and when did it come into being? • Indicators of activity/reach of business associations that are time-varying. • Indicators of fragmentation of the private sector in the state. • We look at the main private sector assoc for the state, and the two leading industry assocs.
How is the public sector organised? • The presence of state owned or state participated productive corporations, which are investment promotion agencies, Financial, Infrastructure Development and Tourism Development Corporations. • The governments’ signalling of their relative priorities through the allocation of public resourcesto productive sectors– share of economic services in total govt expenditures.
How is SBR practised? • Stamp duty as a measure of the attitude of the state governments towards business establishments and their expansion. • Labour regulation, as an indicator of the govt’s signal to the capitalist class in the state.
What are the mechanisms to avoid collusive behaviour? • Transparency of the BAs (regular publications for its members, frequency of publications, etc.). • De-licensing changes in the 1980s and 1990s.
Figure 1: Evolution of the Effectiveness of State Business Relation measure in Indian States, 1985-2006
Do effective SBRs matter for State-level Growth in India? • We estimated dynamic panel data regressions, with 15 states and period: 1985-2004 (two stage to handle endogeneity concerns). • Range of controls (year and state specific effects, regional effects, demographic, literacy, weather shocks, etc.) • We found strong evidence of the impact of effective SBRs on growth, with a one per cent increase in our measure leading to a three per cent increase in long-run state-level growth.
Functioning matters, not the form • The results suggest that the key dimensions of SBRs that stimulate economic growth seem to be those related to the actual operations of the interactions between states and businesses. • Confirms the arguments made by Kohli, Rodrik and Subramanian and De Long on the role of the ‘attitudinal shift’ of the state in explaining India’s growth acceleration at the national level. Our findings suggest a similar story at the sub-national level. • Sinha (2005) and Kochanek (1996) has documented the transformation of FICCI and the emergence of CII as developmentalbusiness associations. Some evidence of this at the sub-national level. • On the other hand the formal organisations (both public and private) in place to favour such interactions seem to be even counterproductive for economic growth.
Limitations of our work • Quantifying the effectiveness of state-business relations using objective/observable indicators essentially captures formal dimensions, not informal dimensions (similar problem with any de jure measure of state capacity/governance/institutions). • Going back in time meant a reliance on secondary data, and limited the scope of the study – future work could be more reliant on primary data, and based on perceptions, rather than objective measures. • However, our measure of institutional quality more credible than other measures out there – e.g World Bank’s Doing Business indicators.
What explains the emergence of effective SBRs in some contexts and not in others? Two state case-studies (WB- DeepitaChakravarty/Indranil Bose, AP – Srinivasulu et al.) • Development ideologies and goals of dominant political and economic elites • Relative power of state vis a vis that of business elite/s • Organization of the bureaucracy and bureaucratic organizations • Form, structure, multiplicity and representatives of Business Associations (BAs). • Formal and informal institutional arrangements linking State and Business • Leadership / human agency. • Establishing, sustaining and renewing effective state-business relations are political processes, and cannot be had to order.
