Column : Chapter 2 makes all the difference

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: Why does one read the Economic Survey? It is usually an extremely boring and unattractive document. Once upon a time, one used to read it because it was only source of data. Though the Survey has no primary data and everything in it is secondary, for people outside government, it was a primary source. That’s no longer true. Data surfaces outside government and within government; there are regular flows, even within Finance Ministry, such as through monthly reports. Data-utility of the Survey is limited, though people who don’t regularly track the economy are sometimes drawn to it because it is an annual pre-budget exercise. Constitutionally, there is no requirement there should be a Survey. An annual statement on the economy before Parliament doesn’t have to be Survey and till mid-1960s, there was no Survey.

But beyond data, a Survey can have utility if it produces good analysis. There too, there is external competition. Therefore, one might want to read Survey because it gives us some idea of what the government plans. Since 1991, that has meant reforms. However, the correlation between what the Survey propagates and what Budget perpetuates is weak. One reason why Surveys are boring and unattractive is few Chief Economic Advisers (CEAs) have thought it worth their while spending time on these documents.