The Economic Times

If people are totally free, the most talented (and lucky) will get far richer than the dullest and unluckiest. So, freedom will create inequality. Communist countries aimed for equality of outcome through totalitarian controls, but this was hypocrisy: there was […]

If people are totally free, the most talented (and lucky) will get far richer than the dullest and unluckiest. So, freedom will create inequality. Communist countries aimed for equality of outcome through totalitarian controls, but this was hypocrisy: there was

There is no contradiction between accelerating economic growth, being fiscally prudent and showering welfarist handouts to woo voters. An excellent example is documented in The Economic Freedom of the States of India 2011, brought out last month by the Friedrich

How do we measure economic freedom, and how relevant is it for economic growth? Some answers come from Economic Freedom of the States of India 2011, a report just brought out by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Cato Institute and Indicus

In response, the Sensex initially jumped nearly 600 points, but handed back much of the gains after investors realised some of the Budget’s projections were based on statistical revisions and future optimism rather than fiscal stringency. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s

Excitement over the revolution in Egypt is tempered with worries that old autocrats will be replaced by new ones. The Middle East has no tradition of democratic institutions. Why so? There are many reasons, but we will focus on the

Excitement over the revolution in Egypt is tempered with worries that old autocrats will be replaced by new ones. The Middle East has no tradition of democratic institutions. Why so? There are many reasons, but we will focus on the

Most budgets are dominated by tax rates and high finance. But Budget 2011 will be dominated by inflation and corruption, the current two political hot potatoes. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will have to announce tax and administrative changes to curb

Foxconn , the world’s biggest manufacturer of electronic components, runs an entire city of 4,50,000 workers in China, Foxconn city. This summer, 14 workers committed suicide. The media blamed this on low wages and bad working conditions. One Chinese professor

I rarely cross swords with Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser and one of the savviest observers of the Indian scene. But I must do so on the exchange rate. Contrary to what he and some other analysts claim, the