Recession to hit China more than India: Mirrlees

KOLKATA: The current global recession would hit China more than India, eminent Scottish economist James Mirrlees said on Wednesday. Since China's exports as proportion of national income were much higher than India, the Chinese economy would be hit hard due to the recession, Mirrlees, who received the Nobel memorial prize in economic sciences in 1996, said here.

Unwilling to compare the present downturn with the Great Depression of the Thirties, Mirrlees said that India could not remain insulated from the recession.

He said that every country would be hit to some extent. Asked how long the recession would last, the economist said "it is difficult to predict."

He advocated that government expenditure would have to be stepped up. "I am very Keynesian in my approach. It seems that the stimulus packages announced by governments are enough to reverse the trends," he said. He also said that there was a need for stringent regulations in the financial markets.