Comments on: Advantages Of Being A Village Idiot

By: Girish Mallapragada

Girish Mallapragada — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 23:08:59 +0000

The fact of the matter is that Mr. Swami is an economist who chooses to write in a paper which on its front page has a video with a link titled, “Rani apologizes to media” (with her looking very seductively).

There is no point to even following what he writes on that garbage.

By: Sarat

Sarat — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 13:37:00 +0000

“The indian ethos has always been about simplicity and being non-materialistic. We need to build a sustainable country where people can be happy.”

I don’t know about the first statement. I find nothing wrong with the second. Of course, building a country where people can be “happy” - and what exactly is the index of happiness - is the province of social planners and not economists, and even they wouldn’t know how to go about it. But even on an economic blog, there is nothing simpleminded in suggesting that economic well-being is not the same as economic growth. With globalization in particular, one has to admit that corporations may think and act globally. People cannot. So globalization is a zero sum game, causing improved living standards in certain parts of the world at the expense of people in other parts of the world. Whether globalization will truly create economic efficiency that in turn will raise living standards globally is still to be seen.

Atanu, another “idiot” joke and my all time favorite. A successful businessman was lecturing his less successful friend about the value of enterprise. He said, “If you work hard, you will accumulate wealth. If you have enough wealth, you can then stop working and put all your cares behind you. You will then live happily ever after.” To which the simpleton replied, “I am already living happily ever after.”

By: The Indian Economy Blog » Sense and Swami

The Indian Economy Blog » Sense and Swami — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 07:35:03 +0000

[…] November 15, 2006 « Advantages of Being a Village Idiot […]

By: Haku

Haku — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 19:56:02 +0000

The title is inflammatory but I don’t really see the reason for the fuss about the basic argument. Atanu, your post also does not say what you find idiotic about the article’s premise (as opposed to its title). Maybe you can expand on it somewhat? I don’t see anything fundamentally wrong about the argument that middle-income countries with no particular competitive advantages will find it tough going in a global economy.

By: Harsha

Harsha — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 09:29:08 +0000

Atanu, I’m pointing you to this article if you haven’t read by Larry Summers on global middle class, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/89aac4dc-6777-11db-8ea5-0000779e2340.html
contradictory though.

By: schizo phrenic

schizo phrenic — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 14:44:01 +0000

Sweet LORD, thay pay him to write this!! I wanna be a journalist too.
Well, actually I didnt quite get what he was propounding, my funda is, if you didnt understand it in your first read through, its probably BS.
Got me through med school, should work with newspapers eh?

read Hindu and frontline.

ciao

schizo

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 09:01:45 +0000

Atanu,

Thanks for bringing this out.

I was shocked when i read the first sentence. And i seriously cant understand the intention of writing that. It is sheer absurdness.

No wonder, why so many people get beguiled by such writers.

By: Bhaskar

Bhaskar — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 14:09:35 +0000

While I don’t read the Times of India….I do find myself agreeing with the article, though for different reasons. The aim of economic policy is to provide a stable and reasonable standard of living for all of a country’s citizens. I don’t think India should aim to be a “developed nation” like the west. One’s eyes are blinded by the spectacular buildings and roads, but the fact is that much of the modern lifestyle is unsustainable (http://www.myfootprint.org/), and India definately cannot afford to go that way. The indian ethos has always been about simplicity and being non-materialistic. We need to build a sustainable country where people can be happy. Not one that pampers our ego, or our greed. There is nothing wrong with commoditification.

By: Chandra

Chandra — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 07:27:26 +0000

“And the point isn’t that one should not read the Sunday Slimes Times, nor that newspapers should not have resident idiot columnists.”

As others have said there is a good case to do both. How TOI is a top selling paper in India is beyound me. Less said about Swami the better (IEB has a link to his columns!)

By: RJ

RJ — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 05:53:59 +0000

If India is planning to be become middle income by wage arbitrage alone, it would find the going tough. The expectation is that somewhere along the line, the focus would shift to increasing productivity and use that to sustain the competetive advanatge of providng better value at a lower cost.