High Pay, Small State Paradox

In some poorer countries, inflated public salaries attract huge applicant queues but shrink actual headcount because budgets can’t support many hires. The result is both misallocated talent and understaffed agencies—e.g., India has 'all the laws of a rich country' with roughly one‑fifth the civil servants per capita. High pay thus weakens state capacity while draining private productivity. — It reframes civil‑service reform by showing that mispriced wages can produce a weaker, not larger, state alongside growth losses.