Swaminomics

Dear Arun Jaitley, As you prepare to present your first budget, you will be struggling to make ends meet. Your predecessor did some financial jugglery (like not paying overdue bills) to bring down the fiscal deficit, but that’s unsustainable. You also face an infrastructure crisis: the public-private partnership model has broken down, since private players More >

You have become Prime Minister by promising strong, decisive governance. To prove you are serious, you must veto the demand of your ally, Seemandhra chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, for Rs 54,000 crore to fulfil his crazy election promises. Your election campaign promised a dynamic economy enabling people to prosper on their own, not depend on More >

I was among those warning that a Modi government could not transform the economy quickly. It faced deep structural constraints, both economic and political. However, both are lifting faster than seemed possible till now. Last week I wrote about how economic constraints were easing, thanks to soaring animal spirits. Foreign investors have brought in $11 More >

When expectations are strong enough, they become self-fulfilling. If enough people think land and stock prices are going to rise and all of them start buying, the price of land and stocks will indeed shoot up. If all businessmen fear a recession and stop investing that itself will cause a recession. I argued in these More >

I have long been allergic to mainline political parties. On election day, I typically go to the polling booth, look at the photos of candidates, and vote for the bestlooking independent. I did not vote this time because I was abroad. But I made a donation to the AAP. It often makes me tear my More >

A key reason why India’s economic growth has halved from 9% to 4.5% per year is that, in search of inclusive growth, the courts and legislatures have increasingly made legitimate business difficult. It now takes 12 years to open a new coal mine. This is not inclusive growth but paralysis and stagnation. The new land More >