The GDP has become the Holy Grail for pop culture economists who have created a folklore about boom and growth in India.

Talk to CEOs of print firm (as we did on 27 August during PrintWeek India's breakfast session), and you realise they are a bit more realistic; and grounded.

The closed door discussion made one realise that it's perhaps a good time to re-visit a few good economic theories. These are:

Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations – written when Britain was a developing economy during the Industrial Revolution. Smith talks about economic exchange being a critical part of economics; and how goods are distributed.

Amartya Sen's Resources, Values and Development? is a collection of essays. Sen pays attention to improved access for the poor (an idea which Indian printers can benefit from). He is interested in the issues of equity – and follows the Adam Smith tradition of economics and tries to bridge ethics and economics.

Raj Patel's Stuffed and Starved considers international inequality rather than how inequality is manifest amongst the billion richest. Patel looks at the role wealthy nations play in causing poverty in the developing world. He follows in the footstep of David Landes' classic, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, looking at why some countries are rich and others poor.

Finally there's Pranab Bardhan's Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay: Assessing the Rise of China and India which scrutinises the rise of both nations, and demolishes the myths. Bardhan focuses on real facts to prove how India's celebration glosses over ground realities. Bardhan analyses the challenges that lie ahead in the road to development in the two countries for them to truly become global powers, the long term implications of China's labour problems and the need to encourage manufacturing and small businesses in India.

A good example is what transpired with the auto parts and ancillary industries. Today India and China have international best practice in auto parts and they are exporting to the rest of the world. This was not achieved overnight.

Perhaps a lesson for the print industry?

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