Introduction to Part 1

Abstract

International trade and investment across countries, both developed and developing economies, are a major source of economic growth by improving allocative efficiency of resources and rapid flow of advanced technologies. Several developing and socialist economies that pursued inward orientation since the last forty years started to open up their economies for international trade and investment. Countries that had initial endowment of industrial, technological endowments, and basic institutions have able to take advantage of this phenomenon. India fits this bill. It acquired basic industrial, technological, and capitalist institutions. The reforms operate on the basis of these endowments. The objective of the book is to trace out the underlying theoretical and empirical factors that demonstrate the effect of the reforms It explains the reason for dividing the book into two part: (1) International Trade Behaviour: the Pre-reform Era and (2) International Trade and Investment Behaviour: The Post-reform era.