Monday, April 28, 2014
The Missing Economic Model
Mudit Kapoor and I have an op-ed in Mint tomorrow 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.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Jagdish Bhagwati in the FT
David Pilling has lunch with Jagdish Bhagwati. This is JB at his charming best. Even the missing Nobel is discussed.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Are you part of the top 1%?
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% :)
Sunday, February 09, 2014
Ambedkar vs Gandhi on village empowerment
Swami Aiyar channels Ambedkar in his criticism of well-meaning village empowerment, a subject made topical by the AAP party's moves towards decentralization to the mohalla level.
Arun Shourie's Wincott lecture from 2008
Weekend long read 2: Arun Shourie delivers a masterclass on the political economy of reforms. A must read for anyone interested in why it is so difficult to do the manifestly obvious.
Car dependency in the US vs Europe
Nine reasons why the U.S. ended up more car dependant.
The consequences of equal marriages
Weekend read 1: A very thoughtful New York Times magazine story. Long, but worth reading to the end.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Middle class revolutions
Vivek Dehejia on middle class revolutions in the context of the recent AAP party win in New Delhi and the confusion that followed.
Letters and more letters
First Bill Gates wrote his 2014 Gates Letter. Bill Easterly responded in the Financial Times. And Chris Blattman graded the original letter.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
One Uber to rule them all?
And another dimension of urbanization, and the role Uber may play in this. An Amazon for urban transport and logistics?
Policing and Cities
Paul Romer discusses with Bill Bratton at perhaps the single most important issue in a fast urbanizing world, especially in the developing world.
Sunday, November 03, 2013
A reason to visit Zwolle
This is brilliant use of historical space; an old cathedral that's been converted into an amazing book shop. I have been to Zwolle before, but clearly I need to visit again.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Why growth matters: A panel discussion at AEI
Arvind Panagariya and Jagdish Bhagwati discuss why growth matters with Sadanand Dhume and Pravin Krishna. Arvind, as always, is compelling with the data.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Ray Dalio on the Economic Machine
Ray Dalio, founder of the world's largest hedge fund, presents an interesting and easy to understand lecture on the economy as machine.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Weekend reading
Excellent profile of Raghuram Rajan in Caravan Magazine. Strangely, no mention of the Fischer Black...
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Hello again, Julian Simon
Overpopulation is not the problem, says Erle Ellis.
Monday, September 09, 2013
Traveling Salesman, meet Algorithm
Fantastic read. Unhappy Truckers and Other Algorithmic Problems. (Via Marginal Revolution)
Sunday, September 08, 2013
Book Review: The Idealist
Seems like The Idealist 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 James Traub.
Nerds and Humour
These have to be among the most high-brow jokes in the world.
Sample 1: The barman says: “We don't serve faster-than-light particles here.” A tachyon enters a bar.
Sample 2. How many surrealists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A fish.
Sample 1: The barman says: “We don't serve faster-than-light particles here.” A tachyon enters a bar.
Sample 2. How many surrealists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A fish.
Friday, September 06, 2013
Cynicism, thank god!
Dalibor Rohac makes an eloquent defence of cynicism.
Wednesday, September 04, 2013
Sweden as a model of economic recovery
Fred Bergsten on Sweden. Money quote: "The country’s guiding principle is that a successful social welfare society must be fiscally conservative and administratively efficient."
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
A documentary on Rush
Blast from the past. Rush featured in an excellent documentary called Rush: Beyond the Light.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Private capital in public projects
Isher Ahluwalia thinks Hyderabad shows the way.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
What is public transit worth?
A lot more than you might think, according to Atlantic Cities. The original paper is here.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Measuring Malnutrition
My op-ed, defending Arvind Panagariya's EPW paper on malnutrition (link) appeared in Mint last week. I am also reproducing the full text here.
Read more »
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Weekend Infotainment: George Soros FT Lectures
Mr Soros provides fantastic insight into global currencies, the renminbi peg, the great crisis, financial sector reform etc in these conversations with Chrystia Freeland, US managing editor of the Financial Times. You can find the lectures here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Henry Markram on building an artificial brain
One of my favourite talks at TED Global in Oxford just went live. Enjoy.
Monday, October 12, 2009
PJ du Jour
This is Jam Heaven
Thom Yorke. Flea. Live. Need I say more?
Monday, September 07, 2009
A Wayback Machine for Manhattan
(via Benku) I am a fan of the Wayback Machine. It should come as no surprise then that I am now addicted to the Mannahhatta Project (that's a pun, not a misspelling). The project explores Manhattan before it became Manhattan. What did the island look like? What sort of flora/fauna was native to the island?
It turns out that the concrete jungle of New York City was once a vast deciduous forest, home to bears, wolves, songbirds, and salamanders, with clear, clean waters jumping with fish. In fact, with over 55 different ecological communities, Mannahatta’s biodiversity per acre rivaled that of national parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Great Smoky Mountains!The project uses detailed maps of the island created by British Army cartographers in 1782 together with a knowledge of the ecology and species around at the time to create computer-generated 3D images of Manhattan in the 1780's. There is a full 3-D topography of the island complete with vegetation going back to 1609. Heck, you can even look up specific addresses and see what it looked like way back when. Incredibly fascinating, and not just if you're addicted to Manhattan.
