The Destruction of Universities
When BJP rule in the country is dead and gone, a good deal of the damage it has caused to the Indian society, polity and economy will no doubt be reversed. But there are at least two areas where such…
Global Food Prices in “The Rest of the World”
The dramatic increase in global oil and food prices from the start of the Ukraine War did not reflect real global supply shortages or demand-supply imbalances. Rather, it reflected the impact of market concentration and financial activity in commodity futures…
The Stalled Decolonisation
Much of the ex-colonial world, having set up dirigiste regimes to wrest control over its natural resources from metropolitan capital and to build up industries behind protectionist walls, was sought to be re-assimilated into imperialist hegemony through the neo-liberal economic…
The IMF Bias: Signals from Pakistan
On July 14 this year, the shaky government of a debt-stressed Pakistan, won itself a surprising reprieve. The country had experienced a collapse in foreign reserves to less than one month worth of imports and was on the verge of…
The Recurring Crisis: Debt in the LICs
Severe external debt stress in several low- and medium-income countries (LMICs) has raised two questions. The first is whether we are on a trajectory that would result in a generalised debt crisis of the kind that preceded debt write-offs under…
The Problem with “Universal Basic Income”
Many economists have been advocating a universal basic income for India, an idea that was mooted even in the official Economic Survey for 2016-17. Of course the practical proposals towards this end have varied, some suggesting a common universal transfer…