ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on the author’s comparative studies of China and India going back to the 1990s. It focuses on three key questions: why compare? How to compare? And what has changed in China and India over three decades? When controlled experiments or quasi-experiments are not possible, small-N comparisons allow for an immersion in a society or a sub-sector of society from which interesting theoretical propositions emerge. Large-N comparisons based on formal models and statistical inquiry can thus be complemented by rich immersive studies that are especially useful in longitudinal analysis. The author’s experience also validates the benefits of immersion in large-N datasets specific to a country, interdisciplinary teamwork, and participation in the world of practice. Finally, on what has changed or not in China and India since the 1990s, the chapter suggests that the two have continued on different trajectories as a function of the differing paths on which they embarked in 1949 (China) and 1947 (India). On the other hand, knowledge of the two societies, in the United States and elsewhere, has grown significantly as has the economic confidence of the Asian giants.
