tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55125842024-03-14T05:31:17.522-07:00Zoo StationReuben Abraham's take on life, the universe and everything in between.Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comBlogger1733125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-19138679143136042802014-04-28T09:48:00.003-07:002014-04-28T09:48:43.424-07:00The Missing Economic Model<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.isb.edu/faculty-research/faculty/directory/kapoor-mudit" target="_blank">Mudit Kapoor</a> and I have an <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/XEF2uUhATTpUcp4wqv7J6I/The-missing-economic-model.html" target="_blank">op-ed in Mint tomorrow</a> about an economic model that is rarely/never discussed in the debates around poverty reduction in India. It is also a story of two extraordinary political entrepreneurs. Please follow the link to show some love to the finest newspaper in the country. </div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-15691400140739834932014-04-18T06:59:00.002-07:002014-04-18T06:59:09.877-07:00Jagdish Bhagwati in the FT<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
David Pilling has <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/f3a22bc8-c3db-11e3-a8e0-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2zEHezZcP" target="_blank">lunch with Jagdish Bhagwati</a>. This is JB at his charming best. Even the missing Nobel is discussed. </div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-68705776692563496332014-02-10T11:37:00.000-08:002014-02-10T11:37:43.379-08:00Are you part of the top 1%?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18px;">Fascinating factoids from World Bank economist, Branko Milanovic: You need an annual income of just $34,000 a year to be in the richest 1% of the world. To be in the top half of the globe you need to earn just $1,225 a year. For the top 20%, it's $5,000 per year. Enter the top 10% with $12,000 a year. To be included in the top 0.1% requires an annual income of $70,000. Something to ponder next time we rage about the top 1% :)</span></div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-42873024109323055622014-02-09T01:52:00.001-08:002014-02-09T01:52:17.907-08:00Ambedkar vs Gandhi on village empowerment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Swaminomics/entry/ambedkar-vs-gandhi-the-risks-of-village-empowerment" target="_blank">Swami Aiyar channels Ambedkar</a> in his criticism of well-meaning village empowerment, a subject made topical by the AAP party's moves towards decentralization to the mohalla level. </div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-88650753225255341402014-02-09T01:50:00.001-08:002014-02-09T01:50:15.970-08:00Arun Shourie's Wincott lecture from 2008<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Weekend long read 2: Arun Shourie delivers a <a href="http://www.wincott.co.uk/lectures/arunshourielecture.doc" target="_blank">masterclass on the political economy of reforms.</a> A must read for anyone interested in why it is so difficult to do the manifestly obvious. </div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-76102070960813555662014-02-09T01:48:00.001-08:002014-02-09T01:48:10.390-08:00Car dependency in the US vs Europe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/02/9-reasons-united-states-car-dependent-europe" target="_blank">Nine reasons</a> why the U.S. ended up more car dependant. </div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-44523563514120489292014-02-09T01:46:00.002-08:002014-02-09T01:47:02.221-08:00The consequences of equal marriages<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Weekend read 1: A very thoughtful <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/magazine/does-a-more-equal-marriage-mean-less-sex.html?_r=0" target="_blank">New York Times magazine story</a>. Long, but worth reading to the end. </div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-71182323171197821022014-01-25T10:25:00.000-08:002014-01-25T10:25:04.845-08:00Middle class revolutions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/vivek-dehejia-middle-class-revolutions-again-114012001177_1.html" target="_blank">Vivek Dehejia</a> on middle class revolutions in the context of the recent AAP party win in New Delhi and the confusion that followed. </div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-56551332003687448482014-01-25T10:23:00.002-08:002014-01-25T10:23:41.531-08:00Letters and more letters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
First Bill Gates wrote his <a href="http://annualletter.gatesfoundation.org/" target="_blank">2014 Gates Letter</a>. Bill Easterly responded in the <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/bd429b84-842b-11e3-9903-00144feab7de.html?siteedition=intl" target="_blank">Financial Times</a>. And Chris Blattman <a href="http://chrisblattman.com/2014/01/21/grading-bill-and-melinda-gates-on-poverty-and-aid-predictions/" target="_blank">graded the original letter</a>. </div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-86007527602953274812013-12-12T11:19:00.002-08:002013-12-12T11:19:25.432-08:00One Uber to rule them all?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
And another dimension of urbanization, <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/12/uber-might-be-more-valuable-than-facebook.html" target="_blank">and the role Uber may play in this</a>. An Amazon for urban transport and logistics?<br /></div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-42972651237179246922013-12-12T11:05:00.004-08:002013-12-12T11:05:55.267-08:00Policing and Cities<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><a href="http://www.city-journal.org/2013/eon1113wbpr.html" target="_blank">Paul Romer discusses with Bill Bratton</a> at perhaps the single most important issue in a fast urbanizing world, especially in the developing world.</span></div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-68767650358832459782013-11-03T05:06:00.002-08:002013-11-03T05:06:46.557-08:00A reason to visit Zwolle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is brilliant use of historical space; an <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2483432/Perfect-bibliophiles-15th-Century-cathedral-transformed-book-shop.html" target="_blank">old cathedral that's been converted into an amazing book shop</a>. I have been to Zwolle before, but clearly I need to visit again. </div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-10638760840219035302013-10-22T11:39:00.000-07:002013-10-22T11:39:29.691-07:00Why growth matters: A panel discussion at AEI<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Arvind Panagariya and Jagdish Bhagwati discuss why growth matters with Sadanand Dhume and Pravin Krishna. Arvind, as always, is compelling with the data.<br />
<br />
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Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-7138164558579333422013-09-29T09:02:00.002-07:002013-09-29T09:02:51.855-07:00Ray Dalio on the Economic Machine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">Ray Dalio, founder of the world's largest hedge fund, presents an interesting and easy to understand lecture on the <a href="http://ray%20dalio%2C%20founder%20of%20the%20world%27s%20largest%20hedge%20fund%2C%20presents%20an%20interesting%20and%20easy%20to%20understand%20lecture%20on%20the%20economy%20as%20machine./" target="_blank">economy as machine</a>.</span></div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-2641315884191648262013-09-28T13:29:00.000-07:002013-09-28T13:29:14.407-07:00Weekend reading<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Excellent profile of <a href="http://caravanmagazine.in/reportage/line-credit" target="_blank">Raghuram Rajan</a> in Caravan Magazine. Strangely, no mention of the Fischer Black...</div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-61818401921686681652013-09-15T11:03:00.001-07:002013-09-15T11:03:15.863-07:00Hello again, Julian Simon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/14/opinion/overpopulation-is-not-the-problem.html?smid=fb-share" target="_blank">Overpopulation is not the problem</a>, says Erle Ellis.</div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-58129533049106929572013-09-09T02:53:00.001-07:002013-09-09T02:53:11.616-07:00Traveling Salesman, meet Algorithm<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Fantastic read. <a href="http://nautil.us/issue/3/in-transit/unhappy-truckers-and-other-algorithmic-problems" target="_blank">Unhappy Truckers and Other Algorithmic Problems</a>. (Via Marginal Revolution)</div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-69907193589778088782013-09-08T10:45:00.007-07:002013-09-08T10:45:37.438-07:00Book Review: The Idealist<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Seems like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Idealist-Jeffrey-Sachs-Quest-Poverty/dp/0385525818/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378662026&sr=1-1&keywords=nina+munk" target="_blank">The Idealist</a> is a must read book for anyone in the development business. The sub-title reads "Jeffrey Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty." And here is a review by <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323906804579036652590072672.html" target="_blank">James Traub</a>. </div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-47620092393025700912013-09-08T10:39:00.004-07:002013-09-08T10:39:55.775-07:00Nerds and Humour<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
These have to be among the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/how-many-surrealists-does-it-take-to-screw-in-a-light-bulb-a-fish-the-most-highbrow-jokes-in-the-world-8691191.html" target="_blank">most high-brow jokes</a> in the world.<br />
<br />
Sample 1: <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.454545021057129px;"> The barman says: “We don't serve faster-than-light particles here.” A tachyon enters a bar.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.454545021057129px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.454545021057129px;">Sample 2. How many surrealists does it take to screw in a light bulb? </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.454545021057129px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.454545021057129px;">A fish.</span><br /></div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-27978542680740891582013-09-06T12:31:00.002-07:002013-09-06T12:31:13.707-07:00Cynicism, thank god!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Dalibor Rohac makes an <a href="http://theumlaut.com/2013/07/03/in-defense-of-cynicism/" target="_blank">eloquent defence of cynicism</a>.</div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-21424155794812210692013-09-04T01:14:00.000-07:002013-09-04T01:14:06.123-07:00Sweden as a model of economic recovery<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2013/09/03/commentary/sweden-offers-a-model-for-economic-recovery/#.UiZZNGTSO5M" target="_blank">Fred Bergsten</a> on Sweden. Money quote: "The country’s guiding principle is that a successful social welfare society must be fiscally conservative and administratively efficient."</div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-10942343078143999652013-08-27T10:42:00.001-07:002013-08-27T10:42:51.642-07:00A documentary on Rush<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Blast from the past. Rush featured in an excellent documentary called <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAUtQhOFWFA" target="_blank">Rush: Beyond the Light</a>. </div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-46994556963256305802013-08-21T03:50:00.000-07:002013-08-21T03:50:05.198-07:00Private capital in public projects<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hyderabad-shows-the-way/1106678/0" target="_blank">Isher Ahluwalia</a> thinks Hyderabad shows the way. </div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-81452356577956454692013-08-20T07:23:00.004-07:002013-08-20T07:23:54.281-07:00What is public transit worth?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A lot more than you might think, according to A<a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/08/public-transit-worth-way-more-city-you-think/6532/" target="_blank">tlantic Cities</a>. The original paper is <a href="http://usj.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/08/01/0042098013494426.full" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512584.post-21812890644729622112013-07-21T06:01:00.001-07:002013-07-21T06:01:42.456-07:00Measuring Malnutrition<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My op-ed, defending Arvind Panagariya's EPW paper on malnutrition (<a href="http://bit.ly/12YzEwq" target="_blank">link</a>) appeared in <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/l5okUNYeewrk49iO5MStTM/Malnutrition-a-measuring-problem.html" target="_blank">Mint</a> last week. I am also reproducing the full text here.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>A recent article by economist Arvind Panagariya of Columbia University, titled <span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Does India Really Suffer from Worse Child Malnutrition than Sub-Saharan Africa</span>, in the <span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Economic and Political Weekly</span> (18 May) has led to a lively debate on child malnutrition.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Panagariya’s thesis is that World Health Organization (WHO) sanctioned, one-size-fits-all approach to measuring child malnutrition is based on assumptions unsupported by evidence. It assumes that identical nourishment leads to identical average heights and weights in different populations, regardless of differences in race, culture, geography and physical environments between them. In other words, the WHO approach is premised on the assumption that given proper nutrition, on average, a five-year-old Keralite girl reared in Kerala will soon attain the same height and weight as a five-year-old Dutch girl reared in Holland. Panagariya argues that this is a false premise and leads to overestimation of stunted (low height for age) children in India relative to, say, sub-Saharan Africa.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Several commentators have criticized the politically sensitive argument by Panagariya, including in this newspaper. Here is a sample of criticisms offered:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>• Panagariya says that Indian children are simply genetically short and, therefore, their heights are nothing to worry about.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>• Malnutrition in India is less bad than we think, but so what?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>• Malnutrition can be explained by factors such as the social status of women, rather than genetics.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>• Diseases such as HIV/AIDS explain the differences between India and sub-Saharan Africa when it comes to non-nutritional health indicators.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>I am puzzled by some of these criticisms. Even a casual reader of the Panagariya paper will notice that he is not advocating that we quit worrying about stunting among children. Here is what Panagariya explicitly says: “It is important to point out at the outset that it is not my intention to downplay the seriousness of the child malnutrition problem in India. Just like vital health statistics such as life expectancy, infant and child mortality rates, and maternal mortality ratio, which need continued improvement, child malnutrition must be brought down and eliminated.” He goes on to state that his beef instead is with the use of the globally uniform height and weight standards regardless of race, culture, geography and environment.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Regarding the second point, a proper count of the malnourished population does matter. In a country with 1.2 billion people, whether malnutrition strikes 50% children or 30% is a huge difference. India is still a poor country and it must allocate scarce resources judiciously across many social and economic ills it needs to combat and, therefore, diagnosing a problem correctly is critical.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>The third point made by critics both misrepresents what Panagariya has argued and obfuscates his central point. Panagariya explicitly allows for improvements in height and weight through improved diet, reduced incidence of disease, female education and other factors that can be humanly controlled. Indeed, he goes a step further and cites evidence of progress India has made in raising average heights and weights of Indian children since the late 1970s. His contention instead is that these factors fall short of explaining the large incidence of stunting and underweight implied by WHO standards. He questions critics who reject genetics as a possible explanation as to why Kerala exhibits greater incidence of stunting than countries such as Senegal and Mauritania despite being light years ahead of the latter on every other human development metric.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>More importantly, the critics have been unable to explain the persistent height difference of 12.5 centimetre (cm) between a Japanese male and a Dutch one (the two countries that have both been rich and free of malnourishment for decades), or a 9.5cm difference between a Portuguese male and a Dutch male. For that matter, the critics haven’t explained the persistent height difference between children of Moroccan extraction born in Holland and native-born Dutch children of 6cm among men and 7.9cm among women. As for social status of women, can we seriously make the case that women in Mauritania have a higher social status than women in Kerala?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Regarding the last criticism, we must note that Senegal, for instance, has a HIV/AIDS incidence of less than 1%. Therefore, HIV/AIDS cannot explain why Senegal does so much worse than Kerala on every human development indicator except for malnutrition.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Combating malnutrition is very important, so I read with interest Dean Spears’ article (Coming up short in India, Mint, 5 July) suggesting that the lack of toilets and open defecation explain much of the gap in stunting between India and sub-Saharan Africa. But here again Kerala has near universal coverage of toilets and minuscule open defecation and yet it shows a greater incidence of stunting than Senegal and Mauritania. Could it be there is something more to malnutrition than open defecation?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Just like the exclusive focus of the national food security Bill on carbohydrates, the focus of malnutrition measures on height and weight is excessively narrow. Malnutrition is a multi-dimensional problem, involving both protein energy malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency and can only be diagnosed with a proper medical examination. Given the importance of combating malnutrition, a reassessment of the current metric, and development of a new national or regional metric is called for.</i></span></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Reuben Abraham is the executive director of the Centre for Emerging Markets Solutions at the Indian School of Business, and a non-resident scholar at New York University.</span></i></div>
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Reubenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07077777884359136056noreply@blogger.com