India and China: Trust, Social Capital, and Development

Abstract

Interest in the comparative development of India and China has increased along with the rapid growth of the two countries. Much of this research has focused on the countriesb political economies, formal institutions, and regime types. This thesis examines these arguments, discusses several critical shortcomings of them, and constructs a framework to compare India and China across several informal institutions based on a variant of the social capital theory. Specifically, the framework integrates the role of education, corruption, and social stratification into the existing political economy and regime type arguments. Aspects of this integrated perspective challenge several of the existing conclusions on development in India and China, and deliver new insight into both their past growth trajectories and the current challenges to continued growth.