governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
The normally low-profile Tata group high-rolled their way into London earlier this week, signing letters of intent to purchase 470 commercial aircraft from Boeing and Airbus. Both manufacturers together booked only 1,622 orders for commercial aircraft last year. The Air India order is 29 per cent of last year’s booking — an outsize investment given […]
Read More Air India- The “maharaja” turns high rollerThe 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 BillionairesOur garden is full of goodies come and get what you need. This is what Finance Minister Sitharaman conveyed to the people (and voters) of India in her 2023-24 budget speech. Adding to the ever deepening gift bag that the Modi administration has held out to voters since 2015, the budget not only slashed income […]
Read More Budget Bounties 2023-24Fifty-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 IndiaBook Review The Connections World: The future of Asian Capitalism Author: Simon Commander & Saul Estrin Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pages: 253 Price: £74.99 The “Asia” that this book addresses spreads northwards across the Pacific Ocean from Indonesia till the borders of China, North Korea and Japan and westwards to Pakistan on the Indian Ocean, […]
Read More Saving Asia from Stalling GrowthIf you get your news and views from Twitter or Google search, you correspond via Gmail or Slack, your files are stored on a cloud, your friends and associates are on LinkedIn, Facebook, Snapchat or Tumblr, your music on Spotify, iTunes or YouTube, your entertainment is from Amazon or Netflix, your date is from Tinder, […]
Read More Social Media savior Or dystopiaIndia 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 ReviewMcKinsey, the storied global management consulting firm, will be celebrating its centenary in 2026. Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe, both journalists with the New York Times, use their considerable investigative skills, to craft an evidenced, albeit selectively curated, assault to expose the rot behind McKinsey’s public image. It makes for a riveting read but fails […]
Read More When McKinsey Comes To Town- Book ReviewCinema 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 rivalry
Opinion India 