Association for the Promotion of Political Economy and the Law (APPEAL)
A Program of the LPE Collective
www.lpecollective.org
Friday, April 10, 2026 at 3 pm EDT (UTC-4)
Discussion with Jason Jackson featuring his new book, Trader, Speculators, and Captains of Industry: How Capitalist Legitimacy Shaped Foreign Investment Policy in India (Harvard University Press 2025).
Jason Jackson is Associate Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Drawing on the author's extensive field research, the book explores India's two contrasting policy approaches to economic governance in recent decades, one favoring "traditional" trade and one favoring "modern" business practices. Jackson analyzes these as dual "moral categories of capitalist legitimacy" that shape elite judgments about the nationalist effects of firms' economic behavior. Do Indian entrepreneurs and business practices deserve state support to protect India's economy and society against extraction by multinational corporations? Or does India's economic development instead depend on neoliberal state support for foreign investment bringing new technology and competitive practices in place of self-serving insular "traders"?
We'll begin with a 10 minute introduction by the author, followed by extended conversation with participants. For questions, contact appeal@politicaleconomylaw.org
All are welcome to join us for these informal online discussions!
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Zoom & reading link will be emailed.
Please contact appeal@politicaleconomylaw.org if you have questions. We hope to see you (on zoom)!