In December 2009, the economist Kaushik Basu left the rarefied international of educational learn for the nuts and bolts of policymaking. Appointed via the then top Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, to be leader fiscal adviser (CEA) to the govt of India, Basu -- a theorist, with distinctive curiosity in improvement economics, and a professor of economics at Cornell collage -- found the complexity of employing financial types to the true global. powerful policymaking, Basu discovered, integrates technical wisdom with political knowledge. during this publication, Basu describes the paintings of financial policymaking, considered throughout the lens of his and a part years as CEA.Basu writes from a different viewpoint -- neither that of the profession bureaucrat nor that of the conventional researcher. Plunged into the deal-making, non-hypothetical global of policymaking, Basu suffers from a type of tradition surprise and perspectives himself in the beginning as an anthropologist or scientist, amassing observations of unexpected phenomena. He addresses issues that variety from the macroeconomic -- monetary and fiscal guidelines -- to the granular -- designing grain auctions and rules to guarantee all people has entry to simple meals. Basu writes approximately globalization and India's interval of remarkable progress, and he experiences that at a dinner hosted through best Minister Manmohan Singh, President Obama joked to him, "You may still supply this man a few counsel" -- "this man" being Timothy Geithner. Basu describes the combined luck of India's anti-poverty courses and the issues of corruption, and considers the social norms and associations worthwhile for financial improvement. India is, Basu argues, at an economics crossroad. As CEA from 2009 to 2012, he used to be current on the production of a possible financial powerhouse.