Tips for India's middle-income journey from top ADB economist Albert Park
Albert Park said, citing the successful experience of other developed economies. India should also commit to remain an open economy and review import tariffs that may be making inputs costlier for sectors where it has an advantage, Park said on the sidelines of ADB’s annual meeting in Tbilisi last week. Park said that if ADB were to do an economic diagnosis of the country, education would be among the priority areas where it should really improve the quality since becoming a middle-income country means moving up the technology ladder.
“And you're trying to start producing more and more sophisticated goods. And that's going to require more skilled labour," Park said, adding that it entails training more people to higher levels and raising average attainment levels. That is one thing China did very well, Park said, quoting China’s high score in Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA.
Education is a long-term investment as the results of teaching children today will only be seen when they enter the labour market, Park said. “In terms of the ambitions of India to reach these goals by 2047, I still think these are good investments," said Park, adding human capital investment is important because learning outcomes in India are still relatively poor compared to more successful economies. None of India's higher education institutions made it to the top 100 in the latest QS World University rankings, which was topped by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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