governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
BOOK REVIEW Transforming the Steel Frame: Promise and Paradox of Civil Service Reform EDITED BY VINOD RAI Rupa 2023 pp. 233; Rs 595 Vinod Rai — the editor — retired as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, one among a handful of constitutional positions that senior civil servants aspire to, if the apex […]
Read More Indian Civil Services: Steel Frame or Steel CageThe Union Finance Secretary dismissed l’affair Adani as a storm in a teacup. He is right of course. The personal misfortunes of the Adani family are unlikely to shake the financial stability of India. But it is a rather large teacup, even post denouement, valued at US$60 billion. If the “teacups” of all of India’s […]
Read More The Downside of Systematically Important BillionairesFifty-one countries have legislated a publicly financed Independent Fiscal Institution (IFI) to provide unbiased analysis of public spending, forecast the economic outcomes thereof and review government performance versus fiscal rules (targets) to improve fiscal and financial stability. Supreme audit institutions (like the Comptroller and Auditor General in India) do this regularly ex post facto and […]
Read More A Fiscal Council for IndiaThe dissenting, minority judgement of Supreme Court Justice Nagarathna, in the Writ Petition Vivek Narayan Sharma versus Union of India—popularly known as the demonetisation case—has regurgitated the vexed issue of whether the RBI is sufficiently autonomous and resilient in discharging its mandate. India is new to autonomous regulation. Autonomous regulators were a rarity till the […]
Read More Supreme Court Demonetisation Verdit & rBI’s autonomy2020 was the year of fear as COVID-19 decimated the economy and killed people–both rich and poor– seemingly. 2021 was the year of hope. The bite of the pandemic dulled, thanks to the massive vaccination program, ramped-up emergency medical facilities and the roll-out of special social protection measures like free cereals for 800 million citizens. […]
Read More India vignettes from 2022 and beyondIndia is sparingly built. Satellite mapping of urban areas globally shows an average urban built-up area of 170 cubic meters per capita, with significant variation–600 cubic meters in the US versus 20 cubic meters in Bangladesh. The average for the Global South is 108 cubic meters, one-third of the average of 300 cubic meters in […]
Read More Plucking Carbon out of Built StructuresA World of Insecurity: Democratic Disenchantment in Rich and Poor Countries Author: Pranab Bardhan Publisher: Harvard University Press Pages: 240 Price: Rs 499 An abiding belief in the economic and cultural salience of the democratic principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity characterizes Pranab Bardhan’s work. Originally a native of India — an “unlikely democracy”— he […]
Read More A World of Insecurity- Book ReviewGovernments are the biggest spenders in national economies. Global expenditure per the IFPRI SPEED 2019 database, in agriculture, communications, education, defense, health, mining, social protection, fuel and energy, and transport for 110 countries in 2015 is estimated at US$ 19.3 trillion in current terms or 26 percent of global GDP. By 2022 the average spend […]
Read More Public Spending: Cut The Fat finance Growth EnablersCinema buffs know that the dream sequence ends when the lights come on. But politicians and economists can spin national dream sequences over long periods to captivate ordinary folk in a make-believe world. Two decades of post WWII peace The end of World War II in 1945, paradoxically, through a diabolical nuclear explosion at Hiroshima […]
Read More India’s choices amidst great power rivalryThe annual address from the ramparts of the Red Fort is Prime Minister Modi’s prime vehicle for mass outreach, other than via his Twitter handle. His style—discursive, evocative, and expansive—suits the occasion where substance must needs take a back seat to rhetoric. All these are good reasons for not looking too deeply into the substance […]
Read More Independence day 2022: Looking Ahead
Opinion India 