Which factors determine country’s economic development? Development scholars have looked into this question for more than a century and they came up with different explanations like the theory of colonial victimization, dependency theory, geography and climate, institutions, culture etc. Out of these explanations the cultural explanation is fundamental. I strongly think that culture is the […]
Author Archives: Madhusudan Raj
30
Dec
Dec
India has border disputes with Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar. Are India’s neighbours particularly unfriendly? Is India necessarily so honest that we must trust the map that the Indian government provides us? In reality, any line on the world-map—depending on the scale of the map and the kind of the pen used—represents a […]
22
Dec
Dec
So after a decade the verdict of the CBI court for the very famous 2G scam, which was in a way responsible for the demise of the UPA government, came out yesterday. And it was a dud! The court acquitted all the accused, including two main ones D Raja and Kanimozhi, saying there is no […]
20
Dec
Dec
Recently the government of India raised import duty on electronic items including cellphones and TVs to allegedly boost its Swadeshi campaign of Make in India as well as government revenues (sic). Let us analyze this protectionist policy of government using sound economic laws and see if it is capable of achieving its stated goals. […]
17
Dec
Dec
Until a couple of decades back, Indian politicians were restricted to using only Indian cars, the now extinct Ambassador or Premier Padmini. The cars of the President and the Prime Minister, however, except for the facade, contained engines and other mechanisms imported from Germany, etc. Both companies have since gone the way of the […]