He advocates a false morality to disguise his government’s failures
Dr Manmohan Singh the prime minister has routinely relied on platitudes (instead of on incentives) to motivate the UPA government’s policies. But he is getting even the platitudes wrong. In a country where the average annual per capita income hovers around an unacceptably low US$1000, he […]
The first Africa-India Forum summit was held at New Delhi earlier this month. There were several other events organised on the sidelines of the Summit: the first ever India-Africa Editors Conference, joint performances by Indian and African cultural troupes a seminar of intellectuals from Africa and India on India-Africa Partnership in the 21st century, a […]
Who gets hurt when grain exports are banned?
Swaminathan Iyer took the words out of this bloggers mouth. The UPA government, he writes “has suddenly shifted from protecting Indian farmers against cheap imports to protecting the consumer by cheapening imports”. He is referring to the ban on rice exports (which follow the export of wheat late […]
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 […]
A new research paper titled Trading Population for Productivity: Theory and Evidence by Oded Galor and Andrew Mountford focuses on a novel Unified Growth Theory. The paper argues that the -
differential effect of international trade on the demand for human capital across countries has been a major determinant of the distribution of income and population […]
As another year draws to an end, extracts from two speeches delivered this year — one by an ex-finance minister (who happens to be the current Prime Minister) and another by the current Finance Minister. Both the speeches were delivered to a foreign audience and the extracts reproduced here cover only the hard facts, […]
Renowned Australian author and economist Stewart Klegg brings a new angle to the India and China debate. He is scathing in his criticism of the Chinese state apparatus while claiming that there are enormous distortions in the Indian growth model due to a small oligarchy atop the system.
India is often compared with China. But […]
Demolishing the myth of “historical ties” and “strategic partnership that has stood the test of time”.
Noted defence analyst Ajai Shukla, in his column for the Business Standard (reproduced on his blog Broadsword ), has highlighted the changing paradigm of the Indo-Russian relationship. He also suggests that India has been unable to come to terms with […]
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 […]
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, […]
Tajikistan, under the Russian influence, has repudiated the Indian proposal for an air base in the strategically important Central Asian republic. The Russians have pressed the Tajikis for this eviction to pressurise the Indians into favouring the Russians while signing the lucrative multi-billion dollar defence deals. The Russian insistence comes as no surprise as […]
The bid for procurement of 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft at an estimated cost of Rs. 42,000 crores ($10.2 billion) for the Indian Air Force this week has generated a lot of buzz in the international defence market. The NYT reports that-
Determined to build a domestic arms industry, India is requiring foreign suppliers to make […]
Let’s have unilateral trade liberalisation
Abi is right. Dweep didn’t go far enough. What India needs to do is to say “to hell with the WTO” and unilaterally, completely, dismantle trade barriers. For that matter, so does everyone else.
Here’s Sauvik Chakraverti on the topic on TCS Daily:
Unilateral free trade is a very good idea for a […]
Earlier this year the Doha round of WTO trade negotiations collapsed (again) after the US, Europe, India, and Brazil were unable to reach a reciprocating agreement on cutting farm subsidies in the west, and lowering industrial goods and service barriers in the developing world.
India and Brazil blamed the US and Europe for not lowering their […]
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 […]
Two news articles have touched upon the Africa story recently; one by Princeton N. Lyman and Patricia Dorff in The Washington Post reasons out the basis of a new US policy in Africa while the other in Taipei Times by Alex Vines and Gareth Price harps on India’s growing economic links with Africa.
Lyman and […]
This week’s issue of The Economist has a report on how (and why) Japanese investment into China is declining.
But the appeal of China as a manufacturing hub and a huge new market is not universally shared among Japanese businesses. Some companies are moving operations to other countries instead, and others are keeping business back home. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]