Author: Atanu Dey

Economist.

Advantages of Being a Village Idiot

My favorite village idiot joke goes – please stop me if you have heard this one – this way. Once upon a time, in a particular village, when offered a choice between a dime and a nickel, the village idiot would invariably grin and pick up the nickel and everyone would have a hearty laugh at the stupidity of the village idiot.

One day, a kind-hearted guy says to the village idiot, “You know, although a nickel is larger than a dime, it is only worth half a dime. You should pick up the dime.” The idiot says, “I know that. But if I pick up the dime, people would stop offering me the choice between taking a nickel or a dime, wouldn’t they? Who would be that stupid?”
Continue reading “Advantages of Being a Village Idiot”

Interested in Transforming Education? (Part 2)

Thanks to all of you who have written to me in response to my post “Interested in Transforming Education?”

First, it is very gratifying to note the volume of emails I received. I will, time permitting, respond to all of them. For now, I think it would be proper to answer some frequently raised questions. Continue reading “Interested in Transforming Education? (Part 2)”

Interested in Transforming Education?

Want to transform education? Want to re-engineer the whole system of education so that it is effective, efficient, and relevant to the world of today?

I have the business plan and the funding. I need committed smart people who want to accomplish an important task, have fun while doing it, and make a lot of money (exactly in that order.)

Email me for details.

{Go to part 2 of this post.}

Abhorrent Discrimination

A Letter to Dr Manhoman Singh

If there is one thing that makes me see red, it is senseless discrimination in general and unfair treatment of people. But when it comes to discrimination based on a person’s religion, I abhor it with every fiber of my being. It disgusts me and I feel nothing but contempt for people who discriminate based on religion (or lack of religion, in some cases.) One of the distinguishing features of a civilized society is that it does not treat people differently based on their belief systems. Those societies that do discriminate based on belief systems are retrograde, regressive, backward, ignorant, bigoted, intellectually bankrupt, and generally deserve the derogatory label “third world country.”
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RISC and PURA

Recently I got an email from a researcher in Delhi who wrote, “I have been attempting to do an extensive survey of the PURA/Growth Pole concepts. I came across your RISC concept again while searching for related literature. . . What fascinated me the most was that this was the first piece written on such issues in India that is explicitly (and rightly) seeing this as a coordination failure problem, and talking about both infrastructure and accompanying services.”

He then went on to ask in what way RISC differs from PURA. My response, for the record:
Continue reading “RISC and PURA”

Found on the web – 2

Illusions of the senses tell us the truth about perception.

That is a quote from the website 67 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena. To me the site is treasure chest.

Take for instance the Motion Induced Blindness. Pretty amazing. Or how about the Freezing Rotation Illusion?

Channeling Tommy

This blog is a big fan of Thomas Friedman (Friedman has his own category with six posts). So I would like to share a bit from this article by Norman Solomon which attempts to synthesize Friedman’s brain waves [hat tip: Ashok Bardhan]: Continue reading “Channeling Tommy”

Demographic Cognitive Dissonance

People who don’t practise what they preach are not necessarily hypocritical. Perhaps they are merely not sufficiently intelligent to realize that what they do is inconsistent with the logical implications of what they preach. This gap between what they insist to be true while doing something which reveals their words to be false can be attributed to what is politely called cognitive dissonance but more accurately should be termed as stupidity.
Continue reading “Demographic Cognitive Dissonance”

Seeking funding?

If you are an entrepreneur seeking funding for your brilliant idea, it pays to understand how VCs and angels think. Sramana Mitra over at Sramana Mitra on Strategy has a series of interviews with VCs and angels. Feel free to contact her if you need advice on any specific ideas you have which requires funding. If she likes your idea, she would provide you access to her extensive investor network, as well as help with business development and customer acquisition.

[Remember: If you get funding, you owe this blog big time. Don’t forget to send in a large check. 🙂 ]