V Anantha Nageswaran
A table of inflation rates in many countries around the world is beginning to reveal a disturbing picture. The lowest rate is found in Germany – at 3.0%. Many emerging countries that seem to be doing a truthful job are reporting inflation rates in excess of 10% and some in excess of 20%. […]
The economic benefits of a space program are a continuous source of debate. In India there is the constant suggestion that the thousands of crores spent on ISRO’s adventures should be utilized elsewhere. Here are some thoughts on why a space program makes economic sense.
Everyone knows that a space program offers great advantages from a […]
The crude oil prices have finally touched $100 per barrel - a psychological barrier and a statistical inanity. The composition of Indian crude basket represents average of Oman & Dubai for sour grades and Brent (dated) for sweet grade in the ratio of 59.8:40.2 since April 2006. The Indian crude basket has touched a high […]
Before the issue of the historicity of the characters in the Ramayana came along to cloud the issue, much of the public debate hovered around political and environmental issues.
Neither the commercial viability, nor the putative military strategic benefits, were adequately scrutinised.
The commercial case for the project rests on the time and cost saved due […]
The FT has a very illuminating article on the politics of climate change. It is illuminating because it brings a perspective to the debate that has sadly been lacking so far - one of pragmatic international relations. Taking that perspective explains why the US, China and other major polluters have not signed on to any […]
Pragati - The Indian National Interest Review is a monthly magazine on strategic affairs and public policy; and is devoted to promoting economic freedom, an open society and realism in international relations. It regularly features articles and essays from many IEB bloggers.
You can download and subscribe to the free digital community edition of the […]
Once again, the petroleum minister Murli Deora has requested the finance minister to issue oil bonds. In what is becoming common practice now, the money thus raised is going to be used to “compensate the firms for selling below cost”.
For starters, this move is simply bad financial practice, for it violates one of the basic […]
The share of the global economy belonging to emerging markets is increasing. According to Yahoo! Finance, Goldman Sachs has a new report indicating that the BRIC countries’ share of the global energy industry is now higher than that of the U.S.:
At the end of the first Gulf War in 1991, 55 percent of the 20 […]
Following my previous post on climate change, Nitin pointed me to a paper in the EPW on mitigating climate change in India (also available at GDNet). The authors analyze the impact of economic instruments such as a carbon tax on carbon emissions to conclude that, “the amount of reduction of carbon emissions is not substantial enough […]
The recent G8 summit did not achieve what Angela Merkel may have hoped for - a new treaty with binding CO2 emissions cuts for the world’s major polluters - USA, China, and India. While both India and China were under considerable pressure to accept such targets, they resisted, promising only to “cooperate”.
India’s position on climate […]
This has been something significant on the economic and trade diplomacy front that has largely gone unnoticed. But for a few mandarins in the Indian commerce and foreign ministries and some officials in the CII headquarters, the story has remained under wraps. It started around three years back and it is about India and West […]
During a guest lecture at IIM Bangalore a couple of years back, Arun Shourie had asked a rhetorical question as to why oil distribution should be termed “strategic” and hence the oil PSUs should be tightly in control of the government. He didn’t pause to answer it, for maybe he knew that a majority already […]
In the posts on a case for a carbon tax we saw a deliberate exclusion of existing power plants from the ambit of a “cleanup”. This made sense for a few reasons. Primarily since the plants are already up and running, it would be economically and politically more difficult to get them to cleanup. Since […]
This is a follow-up post to the “The Case For A Carbon Tax”. There were some very valid points raised in the comments which I will try to address here. The concerns have essentially been clubbed into two points.
Should the carbon tax pinch?
Lets start with the power plants. Lanco recently won the Sasan Ultra Mega […]
If you go to the NASA website, you can see beautiful satellite pictures of the earth at night. If you look carefully where the lights are, it says a lot about where the world economy is today. Europe is probably the most uniformly luminous; but not as bright as the eastern part of the US […]
Ajay Shah alerts us to a draft volume published by the World Bank (free download) titled Dancing with Giants: China, India and the global economy.
Drawing upon the latest research, this volume analyzes the influences on the rapid future development of these two countries and examines how their growth is likely to impinge upon other countries. […]
It is reasonable to suggest that new roads, power plants or water reservoirs must be built before existing ones — if they exist at all — run out of capacity. It is also reasonable to suggest that when new infrastructure is being built, it is both convenient and economical to build more than just attend […]
Attacking targets of convenience won’t bring down the retail price of petrol
I was invited to a luncheon yesterday with union power minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, hosted by the Indian Consulate General in New York. Mr Shinde was doing a roadshow inviting U.S. investors to invest in India’s power sector, which allows 100% FDI in generation, T&D and trading. I took notes about some key issues/facts about […]
Indian Express reports:
In a bid to encourage private investment, including from abroad, in the country’s ambitious nuclear power programme, the Department of Atomic Energy is amending a law which prohibits such activities.
“We have been working on the possible amendments to the Indian Atomic Energy Act 1962 for the last five years and now […]