(Note: I had written this post more than a week back when the High Court had decided to block the development of mangroves. I didn’t post it because the IIPM fracas was consuming the blogosphere. Now that the High Court has gone and blocked the sale of mill lands too, I thought it would be […]
A visual treat for you, dear reader. The India - China comparison in pictures, courtesy Deutsche Bank
Hat tip: The World Bank Blog, which in turn got it from New Economist…
Sidebar: I sometimes wonder if this China-India comparison is a tad overdone. However, given that we’re talking about 2.3 billion people, or more […]
As per the India Stock Blog
The Rupee is fundamentally weak, but has been propped up by overly positive sentiments of Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), which are now moderating…
Factors weighing on the Rupee:
Trade and Current Account Deficit
On the surface it would appear that oil would be the cause of the widening trade deficit. But non-oil imports […]
This seems like stating the obvious, but some fundamental truths of economics elude so many people, especially in the Indian government, that it is necessary to keep repeating them. Referring to the shortage of LPG, the Indian Express writes:
Before the disease of price and quantity controls spreads to other sectors, the PM must step in […]
An earthquake rocked Pakistan, India and Afghanistan Sunday — read more about it here
For more information, and if you want to help, this is a good place to start
Growing up in India in the 1980s, India’s population “problem” was never too far away from the public arena.
Textbooks, newspapers and the chatterati constantly pointed out that
a) India was overpopulated and
b) this overpopulation was a significant reason for our economic backwardness.
Gary Becker dispels this guff
…particularly in modern […]
Reader AC writes in:
Just read your Wall Street Journal article, “The Kidnapping of India.”
What is more incredible is here in the USA we have many academics, and other “intellectuals,” usually very rich and prominent, that still dream of the return of the workers paradise, except this time, in the USA.
The actual, real world track record […]
Gandhiji had said something about the four stages that an idea whose time has come goes through. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win”.
Dear friends, I too have four stages for you. But unlike Gandhiji, I do not offer any hope at the end, because […]
A version of this piece was first published today in the Asian Wall Street Journal (subscription link).
Imagine this scenario: someone kidnaps a child and, for decades, maims and exploits him. Then, in a sudden revelation, we learn that the kidnapper was once under the pay of a branch of the mafia that is now defunct. […]
Robert Frank, a professor at Cornell describes the “economic naturalist” writing assignment in his introductory economics course.
The specific assignment is “to use a principle, or principles, discussed in the course to pose and answer an interesting question about some pattern of events or behavior that you personally have observed.”
“Your space limit is 500 words,” the […]
In response to the previous post by Reuben bearing us glad tidings about the economy (that it grew at 8.1% last quarter) reader Patel points to a piece on Bloomberg claiming that the growth figures might be incorrect because of statistical fluctuations. But isn’t it possible that something elsee is happening? Much of India’s […]