Lazy bureaucrat, or just prejudiced?

Sometime in the late 1800's a British Raj file-pusher took the easy option of branding an entire people, rather than doing some leg work to find cause and effect. Fallout of that is, there's way too many wrongs done against these people. Instead of trying to get into villages, they really should be going elsewhere, and I can't help but think their only redemption lies in the anonymity of the city.

Who'll watch the watchers?

This is a fine example to persuade those who'd have greater government oversight in our everyday lives. The notion of a benevolent government looking after our best interests and protecting us from profit seeking locusts may well be a worthwhile one; but the reality is the government man doing the job is just another fallible human being.

Delegation gone wrong

Something a wise man told me once, you can delegate the work not the responsibility. This case of the Chinese Godfather is a case in point, and also a reminder to recruit carefully.

Not for a minute am I glorifying their lifestyles or modus operandi, but a lesson / parable is almost anywhere.

Economics: Sexiest Trade Alive

"We'd like to say it's because economics is so interesting and because economists are so handsome and intelligent,"


Oh yea! :)
This makes all those hours in libraries worth it.

This is why i gave up on development economics

“Microcredit should be seen as an opportunity to help people get out of poverty in a business way, but not as an opportunity to make money out of poor people.”

I can't believe they gave this 'intellectual giant' a Nobel, but then again these guys also gave Al Gore and Barack Obama one of these medallions each, so its in keeping with trend.

The best motivation is the profit incentive, if the big banks make money out of these projects its more than likely they'll keep at it and lend more. If this was a charity project, i wouldn't count on it lasting too long. I can understand the counter-intuitiveness of this concept being beyond the lay folk, but apparently its out of bounds for Nobel winners too.

Free the slaves

I had trouble accepting the fact that slavery exists in the 21st century. It always seemed like a topic for a history text, not contemporary debate. Its a point made even by Dr. Kevin Bales in his TED talk here. After listening to Siddharth Kara i'd gotten curious about this economic system and realised that there's a whole world out there that most people aren't aware of.

What a waste of life!

The headline on this article is actually quite sensationalist and misleading.


These politically motivated suicides aren't for a separatist cause, they just want their own administrative region within the Indian nation. However, the article does highlight the idiocy of some of these 'martyrs'. The most annoying bit was about Mr. Sunil Kumar, whose family lost their biggest breadwinner. And this after they sacrificed so much to get him in that position. 

When will they ever learn?

I really like Rule # 2 (though i'd have made it rule #1)

Wannabe regime changers should really have an advisor on historical perspective, since everyone of these guys seem to make the same mistake of raising a beast that turns around and bites the hand that feeds.

Though i'd suppose it to be common sense to not get into a fight you don't need to. A fight that leads to a pyrrhic victory and a blood-letting situation you can't get out of should really be left alone.

Looking at how Af-Pak is turning out, am beginning to appreciate the Indian (lack of) response to terror attacks. Much better to be picking up the pieces and carrying on with your life, than stuck in some wild land for so long your forces/public don't recall the reasons they're putting their lives on the line. Especially when your ostensible allies feel more confident running you down in public.

Replace the names and places, it could be urban India

Police brutality, civic harassment of street vendors, mysterious (custodial) deaths, citizenry scuffling with the cops, also the occasional riot. When even the official government propaganda machines sides with the long suffering, the authorities should realise they went a tad too far.

I've never understood this bit about getting civic authorities and cops hassling vendors, who provide a service that urban dwellers value. I'm from Bombay, i understand encroachment better than most, but there has to be a better solution. One that doesn't involve greasing palms, would be spot on.

Happy to have a job; and they're happy to have you

The recovery is very likely going to be slow and long; while employment figures will probably take even longer to adjust to anything we've grown to accept as an acceptable level. So if this recession does one good thing, it'll be making good talent available to smaller businesses. The pre-recession attitude that most well qualified and experienced employees had of having to work only at marquee brand firms has definitely been surrendered to the pragmatism of making ends meet. This will most likely lead to a more competitive economy as talent that's previously trained at the top-tier firms percolate through the small and medium sized business space.

"They just get chill"

California appears to be considering legalising marijuana. The issue has its pros and cons, however i'd be inclined to support the agenda considering they're making a case based on economics / finances. This is one state that could really use the taxes that sales would bring in, especially since it absolutely cannot afford the 'war on drugs'.

You learn something new everyday

I've had my share of being stuck behind slow people at checkout lines, especially older people. I'm not proud of my initial reactions at such times.

The saving grace is it took an economist to help me look at these instances from a whole new perspective. Everyone does add some value of their own to the world.

Thank you Tim Harford.

The hidden histories that shape the way we live now

"history is not the only thing that matters. But matter it does"

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/126dee4c-2599-11df-9bd3-00144feab49a.html

Acrostic ECONOMICS!!

Good work by Gordon Boronow, Assistant Professor, Nyack College

(HT: Greg Mankiw)

Ten Key Principles in Economics

Everything has a cost. There is no free lunch. There is always a trade-off.

Cost is what you give up to get something. In particular, opportunity cost is cost of the tradeoff.

One More. Rational people make decisions on the basis of the cost of one more unit (of consumption, of investment, of labor hour, etc.).

iNcentives work. People respond to incentives.

Open for trade. Trade can make all parties better off.

Markets Rock! Usually, markets are the best way to allocate scarce resources between producers and consumers.

Intervention in free markets is sometimes needed. (But watch out for the law of unintended effects!)

Concentrate on productivity. A country’s standard of living depends on how productive its economy is.

Sloshing in money leads to higher prices. Inflation is caused by excessive money supply.

!! Caution: In the short run, falling prices may lead to unemployment, and rising employment may lead to inflation.

Fighting corruption in India

Personally, i'm sceptical that schemes like these would work in fighting corruption but a honest attempt nonetheless. Corruption exists because of a lack of sufficient transparency and accountability, hence in order to get rid of petty corruption we'd have to figure out how to revise the incentives.

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15393714

3rd grade economics quiz

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/a-third-grade-economics-quiz/

this would have been difficult for some MBA grads i know :)

and i particularly love the fact that the kid believes 'air-conditioning' is a Need

you want fries with that?

I for one can't wait for this technology to become as ubiquitous as the cellphone. And it will happen, if only because all the nerds designing this just want to go one up on the jocks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/books/review/Saletan-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3

Neuroscientists teaching math

Makes one wonder, doesn't it about all the potential squandered away. If only enough of us got this kind of focus.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/health/research/21brain.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th

Anti-China communism

This is mostly about the Vietnamese reaction to cheap Chinese labour being imported by Chinese contractors. Honestly, i was very surprised myself when the Indian govt announced that it was limiting work visas for Chinese nationals. My first reaction was 'why would a Chinaman want to come to India'? Other than to read in ancient libraries, i.e.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/world/asia/21china.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

Hans Rosling playing to the galleries

As if 2048 is good enough