G7: Promising more from less
In early June Finance Ministers and central bank governors of the G7 met over two days in London, as a prequel to the meeting of heads of states of the grouping a week later. The meet was of special significance.…
A Crumb from the G-7 Table
The G-7 meeting that has just concluded has promised to donate one billion doses of anti-Covid vaccine to the rest of the world, consisting primarily of the so-called “developing” countries. The US has promised 500 million doses, Britain 100 million…
Property Rights and Pandemic Deaths
A spade must be called a spade. The biggest ally of the coronavirus today as it decimates mankind is the institution of capitalist property rights. The Economist estimates that the actual death-toll across the world from the virus so far…
The Case of the Missing Vaccines
India is facing an acute vaccine shortage. The impression that generally prevails is that this shortage is because while production capacity is slow to increase there has been a sudden spurt in vaccine demand since vaccination is now open for…
The Proposal for a Minimum Global Corporate Tax Rate
Following its $1.9 trillion Covid-relief package, the Biden administration has further announced an infrastructure package of $2.3 trillion. But in contrast to the former which is to be spent within months, the latter is to be spent over an eight-year…
Destitution, Hunger and the Lockdown
On March 24, 2020, Narendra Modi had announced that the country would go into a lockdown after four hours! This nation-wide lockdown was to last till the end of May, after which there were local lockdowns but not a general…
Patents versus the People
On October 2, 2020, even before any vaccines against Covid-19 had been approved, India and South Africa had proposed to the WTO that a temporary patent waiver should be granted on all such innovations. In the following months, 100 countries…
Financial Fragility in ‘Mature’ Markets
With rising non-financial corporate debt and evidence of elevated borrowing levels among non-bank financial companies, the fragility resulting from excess leverage has returned to haunt developed country financial markets. The fact that the collapse of a little-known family office firm…
Down the Rabbit Hole: Asset reconstruction companies and the bad debt of Indian banks
The finance minister’s Budget speech 2021 revealed the government’s plans to establish an Asset Reconstruction Company to take over bad debt from the books of public sector banks for eventual disposal. That suggests that the ARC route rather than recapitalisation would in…
For Free Universal Vaccination Against Covid-19
Of all the decisions taken by the Modi government the most mindless has been the so-called “liberalization” of vaccine distribution. Originally, the central government was the sole buyer from the two producing firms at a fixed price of Rs.150 per…