The wealth of nations

India's prospects for rapid increase in human capital are hobbled by the state of our education systems

Books and columns devoted to trends in national income (mainly gross domestic product) are legion. But we have to remind ourselves that national income is a flow (typically per year) stemming from a nation’s underlying stock of productive wealth in all its forms. Yet, very rarely do we come across a book or article which focuses on national wealth. The last few months have been a refreshing exception. November 2017 saw the release of Surjit Bhalla’s thoroughly engaging and provocative The New Wealth of Nations, which attributes most of human social and economic progress to education, in his closing words: