Author Archives: Madhusudan Raj

The Economics of Boom and Bust Cycle

Stock markets around the world are collapsing off late. The Indian stock market lost some 5000 points in one month time. The US stock market NASDAQ and S&P 500 erased all their 2018 gains. News headline in Reuters says the world markets are captured by the bears now. The so-called emerging market economies are slowing […]

Despotism of Democracy

Elections are the major rituals of the modern day secular religion of Democracy. Elections in four states and the grand 2019 Loksabha election, were the fate of the Modi government will be decided, are coming up again. Now round the clock people will be bombarded, by the mainstream media, with the message of how important […]

Are the Prices of Petrol and Diesel Determined by the Market Forces In India?

The Indian government has supposedly deregulated the determination of prices of petroleum products like petrol and diesel in India. Every time prices of these two products go up, the government plays this card of deregulation to answer the critiques e.g., recently the Modi government reduced the excise duty on petrol and diesel by 1.5 rupees […]

The IL&FS Insolvency: A Canary in the Coal Mine

IL&FS insolvency is rocking the Indian stock markets right now. The situation is so grim that the Modi government has now “nationalized” the company! They have bailed out a private limited company by using public money. The news is coming out that, as usual, LIC and state bank of India (SBI) are being coerced by […]

Rafale Deal and Corruption

The Modi government is embroiled in an alleged corruption case of  Rafale Jet deal with the French government. Opposition parties are now gunning for the resignation of prime minster Narendra Modi. They have accused him of personally influencing and altering the deal, which was originally put in place by the former UPA government, to benefit […]