Why are customs inspectors so corrupt? Because India’s high tariffs induce bribes. And India’s bewildering variety of tariff rates for different items (and even for the same item depending on its end use) encourages corruption by manipulating import classifications. The […]
Case For A Flat 20 Per Cent Import Duty Read More »
WASHINGTON DC: Despite much bonhomie, visiting home minister L K Advani failed to get any assurance from US secretary of state Colin Powell of a US crackdown on Pakistan’s support for terrorism. It appears the US wants to give President
Advani Gets Red Carpet But No Assurance Read More »
ARGENTINA’S economic collapse has brought the usual but bogus warnings about the ill-effects of free-market policies and the Washington Consensus. The same warnings were issued when Mexico went bust in 1995, and again when East Asia, Russia and Brazil went
How should we tax agricultural income? The Constitution allocates this function to state governments, which generally levy nothing on farmers, though many levy hefty rates of tax on plantations. There is a tax on land, called land revenue. But competition
How to revive land revenue Read More »
The year 2001 was one of many tribulations and disasters, ranging from economic recession to the Manhattan bombing of September 11. It is by now a cliche that the world changed on 9/11, yet many do not fully understand how
How 9/11 changed the Muslim World Read More »
Vulture funds are financial funds that look for pickings among dying or dead companies in a recession. Today, many global steel giants are in their death throes. In the US, 28 steel companies have filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11,
Vulture Time for Tatas? Read More »
MOST writing you see on the World Trade Organisation assumes that developing countries want to liberalise trade in agriculture and textiles. Formally, all developing countries criticise OECD countries for not liberalising these sectors. Murasoli Maran insists that top priority must
It’s a South-South Issue Read More »
A month ago, I was asked what I thought of Arundhati Roy and others demonstrating against American bombing of Afghanistan. I replied, “How very American of her”. This might sound paradoxical. After all, the demonstrations were aimed against the US.
How Dissent Constrains a Superpower like US Read More »
AGRICULTURE and industry are growing only slowly, but services are growing rapidly. That has been the secret of India’s success in the last decade. But is this sustainable? Many Indian economists think not. Shashank Bhide of the NCAER told this
The Rise & Rise of Services Read More »
Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran failed in his bid to prevent a new round of trade negotiations at the November meeting of the World Trade Organisation. A new round was launched at Doha. Yet Maran may have the last laugh, since
US may Scupper Doha Round of WTO Talks Read More »
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