http://indiabudget.nic.in/es2010-11/echap-02.pdf
For India to develop faster and do better as an economy, it is therefore important to foster the culture of honesty and trustworthiness. Thanks to the fact of this social prerequisite of economic development remaining unrecognized for a very long time, this has not received adequate attention in the scientific literature. Fortunately, a large body of recent economics research has been stressing the importance of these social and cultural factors. While it is true that we do not as yet have a hard science of how to develop these cultural qualities in a population, we know that even the mere understanding of the importance of certain qualities for promoting the economic development of a group of people, helps nurture these qualities in people. After all, people have learnt not to smoke in a crowded room even when not smoking is not in their self-interest simply because they have come to understand that this is not in their collective interest. These good values are then further supported in society through mechanisms of social stigma, which help bring individual and social interests into alignment. So once we recognize that honesty, integrity, and trustworthiness are not just good moral qualities in themselves but qualities which, when imbibed by a society, lead to economic progress and human development, people will have a tendency to acquire these qualities; and that should help build a more tolerant and progressive society.
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