The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us.

• Author: Carnegie, Derek
• Position: Brief article - Book review

THE ELEPHANT AND THE DRAGON: THE RISE OF INDIA AND CHINA AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR ALL OF US

Robyn Meredith

(New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007), 252 pages.

Though Robyn Meredith's The Elephant and the Dragon does not offer many new insights on the causes and consequences of the growth of the Indian and Chinese economies, it does provide a very readable and interesting introduction to the topic. Meredith, who served as senior editor for Asia at Forbes magazine, weaves together history, economics and personal narratives to illustrate what growth has looked like on the ground in both countries. Her comparison of the experiences of India and China, which share many similarities, highlights the importance of economic policy in shaping the opportunities available to businesses and workers.

At times this book can seem more a collection of articles than a single work. Yet the bigger issue is Meredith's attempt to write an accessible book spanning a number of topics, often leading to broad generalizations, such as reducing India to a nation of call centers and China to one...