Traders, Speculators, and Captains of Industry

A masterful and absolutely unique analysis of how foreign investment policies in India have been powerfully shaped by economic ideas and moral beliefs. On one level, Jackson clearly traces how changing interpretations of ‘legitimate’ capitalist activity underwrote different policy paradigms. On another level, he uses the Indian case to generate new insights into classic developmental debates about how to morally evaluate economic behavior.–Patrick Heller, author of The Labor of DevelopmentThis persuasively argued and conceptually innovative work will significantly reshape how scholars across disciplines understand the political economy of modern India. With theoretical sophistication and clarity, Jackson successfully explains the puzzle of the Indian state’s changing attitudes to both foreign and domestic capital in a way that is sure to have wide applicability.–Mircea Raianu, author of TataA revelatory examination of investment policy in India, shedding new light on how beliefs about morality inform a range of financial behaviors and influence the flow of capital. Jason Jackson has produced a superb work of social science, weaving together finance, political economy, sociology, and history with contemporary reporting. A reminder of how meanings make our markets.–Frederick F. Wherry, coauthor of Credit Where It’s DueErudite and original. Jason Jackson argues that economic policymaking in India is influenced by a moral economy favoring ‘modern’ capitalists–those seen as likely to grow industries and develop opportunities at home. This is a must-read for both students of Indian political economy and those interested in how ideas shape economic policymaking more broadly.–Atul Kohli, coauthor of Democracy and Inequality in India

Jason Jackson is Associate Professor of Political Economy and Director of the Political Economy Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.