Diwali Greetings

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Diwali, or Deepavali, is the festival of lights. It is also the festival of wealth. Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth is worshiped on Diwali. Among Bengalis, Mother Kali is worshiped during Diwali. The tradition is attributed to a number of occasions. Continue reading “Diwali Greetings”

Eating the Seed Corn

One way to ensure impoverishment in the future is to recklessly eat the seed corn. Practically everything that is good about the US comes from its awesome higher education system. It is arguably the world’s best. One indicator is the number of Nobel prizes it gets each year. Just this year, of the 12 people who shared the five (I am ignoring the peace prize joke) prizes, 10 are Americans. But how long will this last? Continue reading “Eating the Seed Corn”

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2009 Announced

Two people — Elinor Ostrom, Indiana University, and Oliver Willamson, UC Berkeley — win the The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2009.

Go Berkeley!

A Digression on Corruption in Six Acts

ACT 1: A Course on Development

This summer for teaching an undergraduate course on economic development (Econ171) at Berkeley, I naturally considered the major factors that affect — and effect — economic growth and development of an economy. The major headings included growth models, energy, infrastructure, urbanization, education, agriculture, and one other topic which I will come to presently. It should come as no surprise that the government of India — being one that professes a sincere commitment to economic growth and development — actively intervenes in all of those areas. There are government departments and ministries at the central and state levels. Continue reading “A Digression on Corruption in Six Acts”

Nobel Peace Prize Committee Wins the Ig Nobel Prize

This morning the Nobel Peace Prize committee were woken up by a call from the Ig Nobel Prize committee saying, “Congratulations! you have won!” (The Ig Noble prize people have just gone out of business — they cannot parody the Nobel Prize any more.)