Health Can Be a Way Out of the Middle-Income Trap
The slowing of trade has left India in need of a new economic model once the coronavirus pandemic is over.
India has only 8.5 hospital beds per 10,000 people.
Photographer: NARINDER NANU/AFP/Getty Images
Even before the coronavirus, India was at a crossroads. At roughly $2,000 a year, per capita income in 2018 was half of what the country needed to become an upper-middle-income economy. Catching up with advanced nations posed a more daunting challenge.
Should India strive to break free of the middle-income trap by becoming a factory to the world, taking over from China? Or would it be better off prioritizing the domestic economy, expanding its rather narrow base of mass consumption? The answer in the post-pandemic world may support the second strategy, with health infrastructure as its centerpiece.