Will foreign institutional investors (FIIs) finance Indian government programmes on education, health and employment? Not a chance, you might think. Yet something of the sort is in the works. Chidambaram faces the classic dilemma (or trilemma) of finance ministers. He […]
Made for each other Read More »
The world\’s biggest capitalist get-together, the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, has started this week. Change is in the air. This is what the inaugural speech in 2035 will sound like. Ladies, gentlemen and transvestites
Get ready for Davos, 2035 Read More »
When Chou En-Lai, Mao\’s foreign minister, was asked what he thought of the French Revolution, he replied: \”It is too early to say.\” The French Revolution soon led to the Reign of Terror, in which the revolutionary Robespierre guillotined scores
Bush and Robespierre Read More »
The new year 2005 has opened on a note of high optimism. The Sensex has hit a record 6680, and the CSO has estimated GDP growth in the July-September quarter at 6.6%, following 7.4% in the preceding quarter. The latest
Boom or recession? Fifty-fifty Read More »
Every year, the Wall Street Journal and Heritage Foundation bring out a book called The Index of Economic Freedom, the centerpiece of which is an index ranking countries by the extent of freedom in 10 economic dimensions. Not all will
The many different paths to prosperity Read More »
On Wednesday, RBI governor YV Reddy spoke of capping or taxing purchases by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) on our stock markets. Finance Minister Chidambaram quickly denied any such policy change, and forced Reddy to retract. Some people fear that Reddy
It isn\’t hot money Read More »
On Wednesday, RBI governor YV Reddy spoke of capping or taxing purchases by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) on our stock markets. Finance Minister Chidambaram quickly denied any such policy change, and forced Reddy to retract. Some people fear that Reddy
It isn\’t hot money Read More »
I am a market-friendly liberal. Yet I found somewhat obscene the boom in stock markets after the December 26 tsunami. Anticipating a reconstruction boom, markets drove up the prices of companies engaged in construction, steel and cement. In Indonesia, which
Why prices rise after a disaster Read More »
Historically, growth in developing economies has been led by industry, minerals or agriculture. The only exceptions have been small island economies that are tourism-led. India is the first major developing economy to become services-led, with services outpacing industry and agriculture.
From service-led to manufacturing-led economy? Read More »
As the death toll keeps rising, it seems certain that the tsunami on December 26 killed more than the 140,000 who died at Hiroshima. A search for culprits has begun, but is misdirected. The real culprit is nature. Ecologists have
Tsunami: the road to extinction Read More »
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