India, Dec. 12 -- A weekly political economy column about to complete its fourth year is bound to struggle for ideas every once in a while. This is more likely to be the case during the end of the year when the news cycle slows and there is nothing immediate to cannibalize upon. This is the year-ender edition of the column and what it intends to do is lay down five broad points which can become a starting point for a political economy thesis when it comes to understanding the challenges facing India.

Inequality is only a necessary and not a sufficient condition for political instability

Every once in a while, we see an animated debate around how bad or not bad inequality in India is. There are claims such as it is the worst since the da...