Stephane Wolton, Samira Gasimova, Ricardo Paccioretti and Giuseppe Palladino in this voxeu research discusses interlinkages between commercial spaces and politics: Independent shops and services lining high streets across the UK serve more than a commercial function. This column studies how different types of commercial spaces – from garages and convenience stores to pubs and bookshops ..read more

N. Krishnaji, was a faculty in Statistics area at IIM Calcutta from 1965-73. He wrote a memoir of his life as an academic. TheIndiaForum carries an excerpt from the memoir: I joined IIMC in February 1965 as a research fellow, equivalent in rank to a university lecturer and was promoted within two years to the ..read more

RBI’s Bulletin (Mar-25 edition) has an article on changing nature of remittances to India.  It is written by Dhirendra Gajbhiye, Sujata Kundu, Alisha George, Omkar Vinherkar, Yusra Anees and Jithin Baby. It is interesting to note that now share of remittances is higher from advanced economics (US. UK, Canada) replacing Gulf countries: This article analyses ..read more

A Teacher Writes to Students Series (41):   Autistic Economics Annavajhula J C Bose, PhD Department of Economics (Retd.), SRCC, DU As pointed out by the World Economics Association, much of the economics profession has since long been afflicted, figuratively speaking, with a most stubborn Autism Spectrum Disorder—”a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by repetitive, restricted, and inflexible ..read more

Raguram Rajan and Luigi Zingales wrote this book titled Saving Capitalism from Capitalists which was published in 2003. In the Capitalism and Freedom podcast with John Hartley, Rajan discusses the book twenty years later: I want to talk just a little bit about an old book, actually, that you wrote a book in 2003. Titled ..read more

Alexander Popov of ECB in this research looks at impact of Pope John Paul II visits to different countries on interenational trade: During his reign from 1979 to 2005, Pope John Paul II visited 129 countries, more than the 263 Popes before him combined. I document a significant increase in exports to trading partners with ..read more

Mark Carney was elected as Prime Minister of Canada. He joins this really rare list of individuals who first head central banks and then go onto become Prime Ministers/Presidents of their respective countries. My article in Moneycontrol where I look at individuals that became heads of governments. The article also looks at individuals that occupied ..read more

Oren Cass in IMF F&D (March 2025) edition reiterates what has been said multiple times but yet not understood: Adam Smith’s invisible hand is not what economists have made it out to be. The academic economist’s dry prose usually benefits from an evocative metaphor. But we would all be better off if Adam Smith had ..read more

Ruchir Agarwal and Patrick Gaule in this IMF F&D article discusses why finding talent at a young age is important for economic development. They cite Ramanujan as a case of indentifying talent: Before he became one of the greatest mathematicians in history, Srinivasa Ramanujan was a young clerk in India’s southern port city of Madras ..read more

Picking up from my post yesterday on how Manipur cries in every Parliament session but we all turn deaf to it. The Finance Minister even said that PM Narasimha Rao did not visit Manipur in 1993 riots defending current PM not going to the State. But do two wrongs make a right?  Moreover, the same ..read more