... We are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. Shakespeare's The Tempest Writing in the Dec 28th, 2003 edition of The Week, President Kalam says, "In the 21st century, knowledge is the primary production resource instead of capital or labour." I have been … Continue reading We are Made of Stuff
Month: December 2003
Panchayat Raj
The anniversary special of the newsmagazine The Week of Dec 28th, 2003 has lots of stories of the warm and fuzzy feeling variety. I went through the breathless prose of a large number of luminaries in it, including that of President Kalam's. What especially caught my eye was an article in the section BestofTheWeek2003 section … Continue reading Panchayat Raj
Dutch Disease Disturbing the Universe
Do I dare Disturb the universe? The Law of Unintended Consequences is pretty well known, I suppose. It is part of a more general law which I call the Zeroth Law of Ecology which says that you can never really do only one thing. That is, you want to do only A and instead you … Continue reading Dutch Disease Disturbing the Universe
ADLI: A Lesson from the Age of Industrialization
The transition from an agrarian to an industrial society was the great challenge that faced economies before. Much attention was paid on ways to make the transition. Of the various models of development (such as export-led growth, import-substitution industrialization, and others) used it is instructive to recall one called agricultural development led industrialization, or ADLI. … Continue reading ADLI: A Lesson from the Age of Industrialization
India’s Development Experience
India's rate of economic development has not been very impressive by most standards. But compared to what it was prior to independence, there is cause for celebration. At independence in 1947, India was an extremely poor country with an annual per capita income of only $50 for its 350 million people. Life expectancy was 32 … Continue reading India’s Development Experience
Cognitive Dissonance
So here is something that does not surprise me in the least: Vajpayee has called for a common currency for the Indian subcontinent. Actions recommended and taken on the basis of pious hopes are par for the course. Let's be nice and in turn they too will be nice, that is the pious hope. Let's … Continue reading Cognitive Dissonance
BPO and Kuznet’s Curves
These days one of the dangers of reading newspapers is that one is faced with yet another article on business process outsourcing (BPO) and how there is a backlash from specific sectors in the developed countries. It makes for breathless copy and many of these articles are mere regurgitation of rehashed articles on the same … Continue reading BPO and Kuznet’s Curves
