Author Archives: Madhusudan Raj

Pollution and Property Rights

The capital of India New Delhi is once again engulfed in toxic smog. The usual blame games by politicians have begun about the cause of this pollution. The Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is blaming the burning of crops in the adjacent states of Haryana and Punjab for this pollution. Other major causes cited by […]

Societies without the State

No State

Can we humans organize our societies without the help of the State aka government? is the question people ask me whenever I talk about free markets or a free society without a presence of the State. Few go as far as saying that without the State life itself will become impossible! Some of the questions […]

(BOOK REVIEW) GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History

GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History by Diane Coyle (Revised and Updated Edition 2014, Princeton University Press, pp. 167 ) Diane Coyle’s little book GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History tells a very mainstream history of the statistics of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in brief 145 pages. The book is divided into six chapters not […]

2.11 lakh crore for PSU Banks to Boost Lending

The finance minister of India Mr. Arun Jaitley announced a bailout package of 2.11 lakh crore (US$ 2.11 Trillion) for the public sector banks of India yesterday saying that this will boost their lending activities, which is right now under pressure because of their huge non-performing assets (default loans). The logic behind boosting lending of […]

Is Sex with an underage wife Rape?

The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday ruled that a man is committing rape if he engages in sexual intercourse with his wife who is aged between 15 and 18. How logically sound this Supreme Court ruling is? To know the answer of this question we must first understand what ‘rape’ is. An online dictionary […]