Law & Economic Development: India
This seminar examines the relationship between law and economic development by focusing on one of the largest and fastest growing economies: India. The seminar begins with a brief and general discussion of the role of the law in economic development and canvasses some influential and important theories. We then provide a thumbnail sketch of India and the Indian legal system. We explore the structure of the Indian Constitution - the world's largest written Constitution - and how the Indian judiciary manages to balance two competing and often opposing images: being one of the most active and independent judiciaries while also being slow, overburdened and occasionally corrupt. Following this the seminar examines specific areas of law and legal reforms in the India that have a significant impact on economic development. These include reforms to intellectual property, labor law, corporate law and financial markets laws, property, infrastructure policy, foreign investment, competition policy, and the role of the public sector. The seminar delves into how these reforms influence economic development and what implications they have for the sectors and regions of the Indian economy. From here the seminar briefly examines some of the experiences in other countries to tease out whether the "emerging" world presents interesting insights into the theories on law and economic development. We then conclude with a discussion of how the experiences in India help to enrich our understanding of the role of law in economic development. The readings for the sessions will span across theoretical, historical, empirical and "black letter" law.
This seminar will involve students from both the University of Michigan Law School as well as law students from India. The course will involve live videoconferencing every session.
Students are required to write five (5) memos during the semester examining the readings for 5 different sessions or, in lieu of that and with the prior approval of Professor Khanna, to write a paper examining in depth a topic of relevance to this seminar. Regardless of which option (memos or paper) is chosen, excellent class participation will count towards the final grade.