The question why some nations are rich while others are poor is not new. It has been the focus of economists for centuries. The great Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith dealt with that in his famous book, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, published in 1776 (that miraculous year[1].) That question can be particularized for India as “Why is India poor when it could have been rich?” It can be restated as “Why has India failed?” if by failing one means not being able to emerge out of poverty. Unfortunately, that question is avoided studiously by not just the general educated population but also by most economists who study India. Why is that?
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India is Poor by Choice
Economic growth, development, progress—whatever you call it—is neither inevitable nor impossible. There are lots of examples of economies that continue to struggle with economic growth. And there are many examples of economies that have made rapid progress. What distinguishes the ones that that succeed from the ones that fail is economic policies. Again an operational definition of “good economic policies” will have to do: those that work. Economic policies that most efficiently harness the available resources are those that work. Economists usually categorize resources used in production -– into land, labor, and capital. Of these, human resources is the most critical. It follows then that policies that value human resources are the ones that work.
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Ideas dictate the destiny of economies
What is poverty? Who’s a poor person? What’s a rich economy? These questions have engaged some of the brightest people for centuries — and no doubt it will continue to fascinate some for centuries. My answer to what is poverty is simple: poverty is a lack of stuff. A poor person is one who does not have enough stuff. It is a technical word. You may not see it used very extensively elsewhere but stuff is a very important word.
What is Economics?
On twitter, I got into a bit of back and forth with two people about economics. In 140 characters, one cannot have a real argument. Instead it is just a series of assertions. One gentleman came down heavily against the idea that economics studies human behavior. It’s all about money, he seems to think. Another person got angry at the claim that “markets work” because, as he pointed out, they fail. I responded, tongue in cheek, “Planes don’t fly. They crash. They kill people and are worthless for transportation.” That set him off a bit more. C’est la vie.
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Don’t they like freedom?
Everybody likes to be free. That’s evident not only from introspection (which only humans, as far as we can tell, are capable of) but from just looking around we can be certain that all other humans also want to be free. Not just humans, all sentient beings prefer being free. Even lower animals — dolphins, dogs, elephants, tigers, cats, birds, and what have you — have a definite preference for not being constrained. It must be genetically hard-coded in living beings since freedom is good for life. That much is clear. The question is why then is there so much lack of freedom.
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The 2012 Transit of Venus
These few weeks have been exciting for celestial phenomena. First there was the annular solar eclipse of May 20th a couple of week ago. I took some pictures of that one. I will post those as soon as I download them from the trusty old camera. Second, yesterday there was a partial eclipse of “the strawberry moon” — so called because during June they harvest strawberries. I missed it (not the harvest but the moon) because it has been cloudy and raining around here. In any case, here’s a video explaining the strawberry moon eclipse.
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What I Learned from the Survey of Political Sentiments
The “Survey of Popular Political Sentiments” was interesting in it gave support to what I suspected. In this post, I attempt to summarize the main findings. But first, a great big thank you to all who retweeted the announcement of the survey and those who took the time to respond to the survey. I appreciate your help sincerely.
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Is the UPA Government a Criminal Enterprise?
Whether Congress, and by extension the UPA, is a criminal enterprise could be a matter of detail. But evidently the UPA rewards criminal behavior. Among scores of instances, let’s just talk about a recent one related to Teesta Setalvad. She gained notoriety by becoming, as Sandeep puts it, “both the CEO and Chief Legal Officer of the Gujarat Riots Cottage Industry Inc,” in his blog post “The Wages of Teesta’s Sins“. Her sins include, but are not limited to, perjury in the Supreme Court. Check out the blog “Evidence Against Teesta Setalvad” for details. Now Teesta is being rewarded by the UPA for her tireless efforts at subverting the rule of law, etc. Congress has a history of rewarding criminals as long as it profits the Congress. Here’s a bit of history that the Indian school textbooks will not highlight.
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Intermediate Results of the Survey
Here are the intermediate results of “A Survey of Popular Political Sentiments” which I posted yesterday. The number of respondents was limited to 100 by the free version of SurveyMonkey. The survey continues on “Google Forms.” I am learning how to consolidate the results from the Forms, and will update the results from it later. Below you will find the results of the first 100 responses.
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A Survey of Popular Political Sentiments
Public sentiments determine social welfare, especially in a democracy. Perceptions are based on beliefs and what we believe to be true. This is a small, unpretentious, unscientific survey of popular political sentiments to find out how some people feel about what’s going on in India. It is a sample survey but is definitely biased: only those who read this blog (and other associated social media) are possible respondents. So this sample selection bias ensures that this cannot be generalized for the whole population. But I am interested in precisely that sample: those who read/write blogs and tweets. I need your help: please spread the word around.
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Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw 