What Iraq means for investors
After booming on hopes of a quick Iraq war, the stock markets have now slumped in the expectation of a long and messy war. The US wants to send and deploy an additional 100,000 soldiers in Iraq, and the logistics …
The Economic Times
War scenarios from the Gulf
Just one fortnight after presentation, the budget looks distant, almost forgotten. All eyes are now on Iraq. Without question, what Bush and Saddam Hussein do is infinitely more important for the economy than what Jaswant Singh does. What are the …
Can US do a Japan in Iraq?
Why is the US hell-bent on toppling Saddam Hussein? To install a democracy? Don\’t make me laugh, many will say. Yet all other explanations look equally laughable. Some say Bush Jr wants to finish the job his father started in …
Ratan Tata at 65
Ratan Tata has retired as executive chairman of the Tata group on reaching the age of 65. How good has he been for India’s largest industrial group? I have sometimes criticised him over the years, but my overall verdict has …
How to compete with China
Indian industrialists are terrified of competing with China. But fears are also evident in the once-miracle economies of south-east Asia. East Asian countries like Korea and Taiwan have long graduated out of labour-intensive goods into high-tech ones, and do not …
Politics versus technocracy
ONE reason why Vijay Kelkar’s reports on tax reform have encountered so much opposition from so many lobbies is that Kelkar has approached taxation as an economist, not a politician. Since he is an economist, I have no quarrel with …
Freedom & growth: No Siamese twins
HOW dependent is prosperity on economic freedom? The Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal compile annually an Economic Freedom Index. This is based on 50 different economic variables grouped into 10 categories — banking and finance, capital flows and foreign …
Interest rates: competitive at last ?
Have Indian interest rates finally become globally competitive? I have long held that real interest rates in India are too high for a sustainable investment boom. This is the predictable consequence of crowding out by huge fiscal deficits. The Bombay …
Bonanza for wheat exports
For the first time, India is well-placed to catch the current global boom in wheat prices. At a time when India’s granaries are full to bursting, bad weather has ravaged wheat crops across the world and sent prices soaring. In …
Case against a double-dip recession
Fears of a double-dip global recession have depressed bourses the world over, inducing a flight to treasury bonds. Economists (and indeed The Economist) are singing gloomy jeremiads. Double-dip recessions are rare. Why then are markets expecting it? Mainly because the …
