I must say I was surprised to read that Kaushik Basu, once my friend and neighbour, had been succeeded as chief economist of World Bank by Paul Romer, whom I admire as an inventive economist....
Manmohan Singh is a man of history today; but for a long time he was in the centre of economic policy making. When she was Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi had once told him to control...
The completion of two years in power by the current government has unleashed a plethora of assessments. It is not worth adding an umpteenth assessment; a critical assessment would be taken by the government’s supporters...
It cannot be said that the resignation of Raghuram Rajan was separation by mutual consent. He had implicitly indicated his willingness to serve another term; his change of mind indicates either that he was given...
“Events are moving faster than anyone can comprehend, and only one thing is certain – that seemingly no-one thought it might be a good idea to figure out what to do after a Brexit vote....
It is a quarter century since the reforms of 1991. I have written earlier about what difference the reforms made. First, there has been no payments crisis since the reforms, against one roughly every decade...
“If, for a while, the ruse of desire is calculable for the uses of discipline soon the repetition of guilt, justification, pseudo-scientific theories, superstition, spurious authorities, and classifications can be seen as the desperate effort...
Sir William Jones was a famous Calcuttan. Born in 1746, he went to Harrow and Oxford. While still an undergraduate, he earned repute as an orientalist; so the King of Denmark asked him to translate...
If Indian fiscal policy were to be summed up in one word, it would be anti-growth. Indian governments routinely borrow money to finance a substantial proportion of their expenditure; these borrowings add to their debt,...
“One must care about a world one will never see,” said Mahatma Gandhi according to prime minister Narendra Modi: that is how he began his speech to the general assembly of the United Nations. Well,...
George Fisher was partner in a firm of auctioneers. He was well enough off to send his son, Ronald, to Harrow in 1904. But he lost his wealth soon after. Ronald worked hard on his...
The goods and services tax has been long in coming. P Chidambaram promised it in his 2005 budget speech. He was preceded by the states, which began to change over to value added tax from...
