Urban Indians lead the world in support of free markets

Really.

This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.

Ajay Shah draws attention to some very interesting findings from a Pew Global survey. To the question “whether you completely agree, mostly agree, mostly disagree or completely disagree with the following statements: Most people are better off in a free market economy, even though some people are rich and some are poor”, 81% of the (mostly urban) Indians said they agreed. As Dr Shah writes “In 2002, India was halfway in the list with 62% support. In 2009, India is at the top of the list, with 81% support.”

Similarly, to the question “What do you think about the growing trade and business ties between (survey country) and other countries - do you think it is a very good thing, somewhat good, somewhat bad or a very bad thing for our country?” 96% of the Indian respondents said that it’s a good thing, compared to 88% in 2002.

A few years ago (circa 2005), an India Today survey showed that the urban middle class wanted the job security of the public sector but the income and opportunities of the private sector. Are urban Indians changing their mind?

Dr Shah believes that a combination of demographic change (the median Indian is 29), experience of sustained economic growth and the absence of the need to protect a welfare state might be the reasons why the urban Indian ended up on top of the table.

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