Big numbers boggle the mind
Monday, August 31st, 2009Large numbers boggle the imagination and the first reaction is to reject it. (more…)
The Indian Market
Your guide to the Indian Economy and Consumer Markets
Your guide to the Indian Economy and Consumer Markets
Archive for August, 2009
Research feeding into policy
Thursday, August 27th, 2009The other day in a conversation at office, my colleague made a passing comment that policy research is all useless as the policymaker knows what to do but does not want to do it. I was almost in agreement with him but then there are many paths through which research can influence policy and affecting the policy regime is only one of them. (more…)
Energy and risk
Thursday, August 27th, 2009Got a mail yesterday from Suyodh about an article in NYT debunking the Peak Oil theory. As a risk analyst looking at Economy, Ecology and Energy, his comments below are enlightening to get a perspective on how humans perceive risk. (more…)
Any defence for the dismal science?
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009Questioning the dismal science has so many interesting posts from economists..here is Mark Thoma on asking the right questions, which reiterates my view on the need for pluralism in economics
We need to take a close look at how the sociology of our profession led to an outcome where people were made to feel embarrassed for even asking certain types of questions. People will always be passionate in defense of their life’s work, so it’s not the rhetoric itself that is of concern, the problem comes when factors such as ideology or control of journals and other outlets for the dissemination of research stand in the way of promising alternative lines of inquiry.
Follow the full debate here
Education and growth
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009A recent paper by Hanushek and Woessmann titled ‘Poor student learning explains the Latin American growth puzzle’ looks at why Latin America has performed badly, despite good educational levels. They have put up an interesting graph linking skills to growth and not surprisingly Asia come out at the top, with Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa at the bottom of the line. The answer lies in the quality of schooling and improvement in cognitive skills. (more…)