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%. […]
So the UPA government is set to improve credit availability (and write off loans) for farmers. Laveesh Bhandari tells you why, if improving the livelihood of farmers is a policy goal, the Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram are barking up the wrong tree.
Here lies the crux of the matter. If use of new seeds, fertiliser […]
Well my advice on this one - the galloping elephant part (you know, we’ve had the Tigers, the Lynxes, and the Giant Panda, and now its the turn of the Thundering Elephant to lead the global economy onwards and upward) - is not to try it. The very least that could happen is you get […]
Well, here I am, hard at it trying to write a review for this blog of the latest Economist Intelligence Unit country risk report on India (which, worry not, will follow in due course) and what I find myself doing is revving-up on all cylinders to come back and point out some of the facts […]
One of the criticisms leveled against India’s SEZ policy is that the zones are too small to make a real difference. But there’s a very big zone that could be an SEZ, especially if the state’s politicians—who are all for ‘autonomy’—decided economic freedom is something that is well in their capacity to achieve. And set […]
In a series of seven short posts over at The Acorn I show how Tehelka juggled facts and figures in order to poke holes into the “Vibrant Gujarat” story. I’m posting the concluding piece of the series here, to summarise where we are at the end of our examination of Shivam Vij’s article.
There is no […]
Ajay Shah has a post on the results of the Pew Institute’s latest survey:
They have three key questions that measure economic liberalism, covering attitudes towards international trade, attitudes towards foreign companies and attitudes towards free markets. The results contain many surprises. As an example, in urban India, they find 89% are supportive of international trade, […]
This is a game that is being played out in the media for a while now. Pick a number, preferably in percentages, below 93 and above 0. Then, say that number, is the percentage of people who live in dire (or choose your adjective) poverty.
Read this post to see how this game has […]
Daniel Altman in his IHT blog opines
Not so long ago, there were only two countries that collected client states around the world: the United States and the Soviet Union. These days, it seems like anyone with some economic clout can join in the fun. China has Sudan, Venezuela has Bolivia, and now Japan has India.
It […]
Amit Varma is nominated for the Bastiat prize in journalism
The funny, brilliant and eclectically prolific Amit Varma is on the final short-list for the Bastiat prize.
Regular readers of IEB won’t be surprised, I’m sure. And if you aren’t a regular reader, isn’t it time you became one? You can’t afford to […]
Bongop’o’ndit rips apart another Pankaj Mishra article:
Pankaj Mishra writes an opinion piece for Outlook’s India at 60 issue , seemingly cautioning on excessive championing of and reveling in India’s current resurgence at the cost of insensitivity to myriad problem that still plague the country. I say seemingly because that’s how he starts, and then meanders […]
And in the process, discover your Inner Economist
Tyler Cowen wants to give merit-based gifts to Indians. Yes, this involves economics professors and free-market fundamentals. He has made an announcement on his blog, and it may be worth your time to check it out.
With your email, send a one sentence proposal of how the money will […]
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 […]
This week’s Economist carries a letter from a certain Murali Reddy of Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey.
SIR – So, Krishnan Ganesh, one of the proud products of India’s higher-education system, is busy developing tools to help improve the quality of primary education in America by outsourcing teaching over the internet (Face value, June 23rd). Meanwhile, precious […]
Ravikiran Rao asks more questions than he answers in the June issue of Pragati - The Indian National Interest Review.
Advocates for Indian family businesses claim that they can teach a thing or two to the rest of the world, both about family values and about running a business. But family values are not unique to […]
But India needs to renew its love for rights and freedoms
Jerry Rao’s op-ed in today’s Mint is a must read.
That is why we are forced to ask ourselves: should we not have a political party that is a khullam-khulla defender of markets and an opponent of an intrusive state?
S.V. Raju of the Indian Liberal Group […]
Aaditya Mattoo, Deepak Mishra and Ashish Narain, in the Times of India, on the problem and solution for Indian agriculture:
So, here’s the paradox: the hard-working Indian farmer — one of the world’s low-cost producers — is unable to compete globally.
What is hobbling the Indian giant? A recent World Bank study finds that the biggest problems […]
Televisions don’t need sewers
Preeti Aroon, over at FP Passport, asks why the slum-dwellers of Dharavi prefer TVs to toilets.
I’ve visited Mumbai many times myself, and I’ve always wondered about the TV antennas poking through thatched-roofed shacks. How can “these people” buy TVs when their kids are malnourished and wading through sewage-infested water?
I suppose it’s a […]
Anyone who writes about there being “two Indias” is necessarily wrong. Anyone who describes India’s jettisoning of the licence raj in 1991 using words like “neo-liberal” is necessarily confused. And anyone who writes about Indian agriculture quoting P Sainath and no one else is necessarily unbalanced. Rajinder Sahota, writing in the Financial Times (they actually […]
Yes, the IT industry has to do more for India. But not what Amartya Sen says it should
Amartya Sen made a JFK-esque speech asking the IT industry what it had done for India. His point was not that the IT industry isn’t doing anything for the economy at large—he concedes that it is—but that it […]