Look back in anger: Why aren't economists setting down roots in India now?

The economic refugees of earlier years have been replaced by well-placed people leaving (or staying away from) India's unattractive political economy, writes T N Ninan

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, in his non-memoir, Backstage: The Story behind India’s High Growth Years, recounts how he and wife Isher decided to return to India from Washington 40 years ago, giving up attractive careers at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Montek joined government as an economic advisor in the finance ministry, and Isher joined a think tank. They would have had modest salaries and below-par government housing, but they felt they were contributing to India’s development process. Along the way, they became the capital’s power couple, so life had its compensations.
 
Other economists too came back