Lessons from Asian Tigers

♤ The Asian Tiger success stories all involve capitalism preceding democracy, indicating an uphill climb for India which has taken matters "in reverse."

♤ But the Tigers learned an important lesson from their late 1990s financial crises. The Illiberal democracies are conducive to economic development up to a point. But overly centralized regimes ultimately impede growth and prosperity.

♤ Empowering individuals to control and manage their resources, however, can propel social and economic development to the levels people have come to expect and demand.

♤ The mere fact of being the world’s largest democracy with an emerging global economic presence is not enough to claim India’s greatness. After the elections is when the real work begins.