The IMF prescribed severe austerity and economic shrinkage. You chaps have been living beyond your means for years, it said, and have severe structural problems that cannot be reflated away. So, you need bitter monetary medicine (sky-high interest rates) and […]
Is IMF austerity only for the poor? Read More »
TNN I was taught in college that market failure is so common that governments must intervene with regulations to protect the public. Actually, regulations are required even when there is no market failure. Competition needs to take place within a
Regulate the regulators to ensure higher standards Read More »
The IMF prescribed severe austerity and economic shrinkThey loved Indira Gandhi\’s garibi hatao socialism in the 1970s, which raised the peak income tax rate to 97.75%, along with a stiff wealth tax. At one post-budget press conference, I asked what
Paying record taxes is bliss Read More »
What is the best way of reducing poverty? The UPA government has highlighted its rural employment guarantee scheme (NERGA). It has allotted huge sums to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (education for all) and irrigation. It has increased spending on rural electrification
Roads will lead to rural prosperity Read More »
NEW DELHI: It should be an election budget. So, expect higher exemption limits for income tax, cuts in corporate tax and customs duty, selective cuts in excise duty, and big spending on welfare and social schemes in the coming budget.
Expect more: This year it is an Election Budget Read More »
Does the crash of stock markets in India and other emerging markets mean that the “decoupling” thesis — the notion that emerging-market economies can continue soaring even if the US economy dips — has been proved wrong? Not exactly. What
Emerging markets: Future safe havens Read More »
For 60 years, the International Monetary Fund has bailed out distressed economies, imposing onerous conditions aimed at ensuring that the loans are repaid. The borrowers have often complained that loan conditions violate their sovereignty. The IMF is dominated by rich
Strange rise of Eastern neo-colonialism Read More »
What is the best way of reducing poverty? The UPA government has highlighted its rural employment guarantee scheme (NERGA). It has allotted huge sums to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (education for all) and irrigation. It has increased spending on rural electrification
Democracy depends on the unelected Read More »
RK Pachauri, head of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, is getting nightmares because of the Nano, Tata\’s Rs 1 lakh car. Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) says that it isn\’t the Nano by itself
Attack polluting policies, not the Nano Read More »
Some analysts want to explain away Narendra Modi’s victory in Gujarat by saying Gujaratis are a special breed different from the rest of us Indians: that they have been especially communal since the Muslim destructions of the Somnath Temple; that
My murders are better than yours Read More »
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