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Public Policy: Process, Design & Governance in India

Reading list

Every reading this course assigns, module by module, with the best free copy we could find.

50 readings21 free to read2 on request27 books

A free copy is the published text, or the author's own manuscript held by a university repository, which has the same content without the journal's layout. A subscription reading opens at the publisher, where your library may give you access. If it does not, request a copy and we will reply by email. Books link to their publisher.

Module 1. What is Public Policy?

  1. World Bank (2017). World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Kapur, D., Mehta, P. B. and Vaishnav, M. (2017). Introduction. In D. Kapur, P. B. Mehta and M. Vaishnav (eds), Rethinking Public Institutions in India. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Bardhan, P. (2010). Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay: Assessing the Economic Rise of China and India. Princeton University Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 2. The Indian State: Architecture & Capacity

  1. World Bank (2017). World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Rudolph, L. I. and Rudolph, S. H. (1987). In Pursuit of Lakshmi: The Political Economy of the Indian State. University of Chicago Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Pritchett, L. (2009). Is India a Flailing State? Detours on the Four Lane Highway to Modernization. HKS Faculty Research Working Paper RWP09-013. Harvard Kennedy School.Read it free
  4. Kapur, D., Mehta, P. B. and Vaishnav, M. (2017). Introduction. In D. Kapur, P. B. Mehta and M. Vaishnav (eds), Rethinking Public Institutions in India. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 3. History of Indian Planning

  1. Singh, N. (2017). Reforming India's institutions of public expenditure governance. In D. Kapur, P. B. Mehta and M. Vaishnav (eds), Rethinking Public Institutions in India. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook
  2. Press Information Bureau, Government of India (2015). Government constitutes National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog. Cabinet press note, 1 January 2015.Read it free
  3. Chakravarty, S. (1987). Development Planning: The Indian Experience. Clarendon Press.Publisher pageBook
  4. Frankel, F. R. (2005). India's Political Economy 1947-2004: The Gradual Revolution, 2nd edition. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 4. How Policy Gets Made in India

  1. World Bank (2017). World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Gupta, A. (2012). Red Tape: Bureaucracy, Structural Violence, and Poverty in India. Duke University Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Madhavan, M. R. (2017). Parliament. In D. Kapur, P. B. Mehta and M. Vaishnav (eds), Rethinking Public Institutions in India. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook
  4. Chakrabarti, R. and Sanyal, K. (2017). The policymaking process. In Shaping Policy in India: Alliance, Advocacy, Activism. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 5. Federalism & Centre-State Relations

  1. Constitution of India, Article 280 (Finance Commission). Government of India.Read it free
  2. Rao, M. G. and Singh, N. (2005). The Political Economy of Federalism in India. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 6. Bureaucracy & Implementation

  1. World Bank (2004). World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People. Overview. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Wade, R. (1985). The Market for Public Office: Why the Indian State Is Not Better at Development. World Development, 13(4), 467-497.Publisher pageSubscription
  3. Gupta, A. (2012). Red Tape: Bureaucracy, Structural Violence, and Poverty in India. Duke University Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 7. Public Finance & Fiscal Federalism

  1. Constitution of India, Article 280 (Finance Commission). Government of India.Read it free
  2. Mansuri, G. and Rao, V. (2013). Localizing Development: Does Participation Work? World Bank Policy Research Report. World Bank.Read it free
  3. Drèze, J. and Sen, A. (2013). An Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions. Princeton University Press. Chapters 2 and 3.Publisher pageBook

Module 8. Budgeting in India

  1. Ministry of Finance, Government of India (2026). A calibrated fiscal strategy has anchored economic stability amid global economic turbulence: Economic Survey 2025-26. Press Information Bureau, 29 January 2026.Read it free
  2. Schiavo-Campo, S. and Tommasi, D. (1999). Managing Government Expenditure. Asian Development Bank.Read it free
  3. Singh, N. (2017). Reforming India's institutions of public expenditure governance. In D. Kapur, P. B. Mehta and M. Vaishnav (eds), Rethinking Public Institutions in India. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 9. Taxation & Revenue

  1. Ministry of Finance, Government of India (2026). A calibrated fiscal strategy has anchored economic stability amid global economic turbulence: Economic Survey 2025-26. Press Information Bureau, 29 January 2026.Read it free
  2. D'Souza, E. (2017). Reserve Bank of India. In D. Kapur, P. B. Mehta and M. Vaishnav (eds), Rethinking Public Institutions in India. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Kelkar, V. and Shah, A. (2019). In Service of the Republic: The Art and Science of Economic Policy. Allen Lane/Penguin Random House India.Publisher pageBook

Module 10. Regulatory Governance

  1. World Bank (2017). World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Dubash, N. K. and Morgan, B. (eds.) (2013). The Rise of the Regulatory State of the South: Infrastructure and Development in Emerging Economies. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Kelkar, V. and Shah, A. (2019). In Service of the Republic: The Art and Science of Economic Policy. Allen Lane/Penguin Random House India.Publisher pageBook

Module 11. Social Policy Architecture

  1. World Bank (2004). World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People. Overview. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Drèze, J. and Sen, A. (2013). An Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions. Princeton University Press. Chapters 5 to 7.Publisher pageBook
  3. Khera, R. (ed.) (2011). The Battle for Employment Guarantee. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 12. Environmental & Land Policy

  1. Ministry of Finance, Government of India (2026). India adopts a development-centred, whole-of-economy climate strategy: Economic Survey 2025-26. Press Information Bureau.Read it free
  2. Greenstone, M. and Hanna, R. (2014). Environmental Regulations, Air and Water Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India. American Economic Review, 104(10), 3038-3072.Publisher pageSubscription
  3. Narain, S. (2017). Conflicts of Interest: My Journey through India's Green Movement. Penguin Random House India.Publisher pageBook

Module 13. Evidence, Evaluation & Policy Learning

  1. World Bank (2004). World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People. Overview. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Pritchett, L. (2009). Is India a Flailing State? Detours on the Four Lane Highway to Modernization. HKS Faculty Research Working Paper RWP09-013. Harvard Kennedy School.Read it free
  3. Banerjee, A., Banerji, R., Berry, J., Duflo, E., Kannan, H., Mukerji, S., Shotland, M. and Walton, M. (2017). From Proof of Concept to Scalable Policies: Challenges and Solutions, with an Application. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(4), 73-102.Read it free

Module 14. Political Economy of Reform

  1. World Bank (2017). World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Jenkins, R. (1999). Democratic Politics and Economic Reform in India. Cambridge University Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Bardhan, P. (1984). The Political Economy of Development in India. Basil Blackwell.Publisher pageBook

Module 15. Comparative Policy: South Asia

  1. World Bank (2004). World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People. Overview. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Kapur, D. (2010). Diaspora, Development, and Democracy: The Domestic Impact of International Migration from India. Princeton University Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Jayawardena, K. (1986). Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World. Zed Books.Publisher pageBook

Module 16. Capstone Project

  1. World Bank (2017). World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Chakrabarti, R. and Sanyal, K. (2017). Shaping Policy in India: Alliance, Advocacy, Activism. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Bardhan, P. (2010). Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay: Assessing the Economic Rise of China and India. Princeton University Press.Publisher pageBook

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