Why the Modi govt should pick Friedman over Keynes and cut its expenditure

Taking Friedman's advice can help improve the govt's finances and then it can return to Keynes again

Ever since the first quarter GDP numbers came out saying it had grown by only five percent, everyone — particularly economists with little or no knowledge of past theories — have been shooting from the hip. They have all blamed lowered consumption as the main reason. 

In some extreme cases the criticism has been coloured by political preferences. If someone disapproves of the BJP’s political agenda, its economics has also been criticised. The same thing has been true of Mr Modi personally, too. 

The reverse has also been true. An approval of the BJP’s political agenda and an adulation of