BUSINESS
Work sharing will make it politically feasible to reduce America’s debt
A politically feasible way to reduce spending on government wages is by work sharing based on six -month contracts. Rather than shut down or downsize some departments, what needs to be seriously considered is to reduce everybody’s work by half and wage income too
WORLD
Hundred day remedies for long standing maladies are invariably worse
Musk could have used the first hundred days to get his team to ask, absorb, assess and analyze information from various sources and only then decide how to cut spending. Instead, reckless and heartless reductions of spending, to rectify policies that started over close to a hundred years ago, have been very damaging
BUSINESS
Looking beyond Tesla versus BYD to tackle congestion
A steep, revenue neutral Vehicle Area ‘Tax’ will greatly reduce travel time in cities by reducing vehicular congestion. By reducing the demand for road area, it will reduce local heating in our vicinity by preserving trees, plants and soil that would otherwise get paved over to build roads
WORLD
America’s great already; trade wars won’t make it greater
Donald Trump will be sworn in as US President next week for the second time. In this context, an economist argues that despite deep underlying fractures in its soil, America does not need to be made great again. It is great in many ways. Instead of triggering futile tariff wars, the incoming policy team can look at another way to bring back manufacturing jobs
BUSINESS
Economics Nobel Prize: Reserved for ‘Ivy’ League?
There is a huge ‘Ivy’ League bias in the economics Nobel Prize, not an ideological bias. By comparison, in the sciences, there is a healthy diversity across all universities. The compelling case against awarding an economics Nobel is that recipients are bestowed with credibility that is sometimes at odds with the real word damage of their work
BUSINESS
Central banking is more than tinkering with interest rates
Central bank heavyweights are meeting now in Jackson Hole, US. One issue they should discuss, even if informally, is are their monetary policy meetings too frequent? The Fed’s eight a year forces over-allocation of resources towards monetary policy preparation. It comes at the expense of other critical functions. Four meetings a year are adequate
WORLD
When Donald Harris, father of Kamala Harris, contributed to India’s economic policy debates
From the 1950s to 1970s, India was a Mecca for the global economics profession in search of the best path to development. Harris who spent time at the Delhi School of Economics was part of this group, jousting and collaborating with Indian economists.
BUSINESS
Why the Economic Survey’s suggestion to target non-food inflation is misguided
When food inflation is high and non-food inflation is low, cutting interest rates will first raise food prices that respond faster to demand side increases. The political response to impose export bans will reduce incentives to produce, thereby raising farm prices in the long run, and then headline inflation too
