Interesting case study in progress...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/world/asia/09gurgaon.htm
The gist:
Governments get in the way of economic growth. Solution: remove the government, and watch the "magic." Keep that in mind when you vote for more state thugs, hoping they'll change things (hint: they won't).
Quotes from the piece linked above:
Pretty good summary by Stossel here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/world/asia/09gurgaon.htm
The gist:
Governments get in the way of economic growth. Solution: remove the government, and watch the "magic." Keep that in mind when you vote for more state thugs, hoping they'll change things (hint: they won't).
Quotes from the piece linked above:
In Gurgaon, economic growth is often the product of a private sector improvising to overcome the inadequacies of the government.
Gurgaon was widely regarded as an economic wasteland. In 1979, the state of Haryana created Gurgaon by dividing a longstanding political district on the outskirts of New Delhi. One half would revolve around the city of Faridabad, which had an active municipal government, direct rail access to the capital, fertile farmland and a strong industrial base. The other half, Gurgaon, had rocky soil, no local government, no railway link and almost no industrial base.
As an economic competition, it seemed an unfair fight. And it has been: Gurgaon has won, easily. Faridabad has struggled to catch India’s modernization wave, while Gurgaon’s disadvantages turned out to be advantages, none more important, initially, than the absence of a districtwide government, which meant less red tape capable of choking development.



Pretty good summary by Stossel here.