Tag Archives: India

The Wisdom of Étienne Bonnot, Abbé de Condillac – Part II

We saw the brilliant insight of Condillac in my last article. In the second part of his book Condillac discusses the evil effects of many different kinds of government restrictions on the free trade. He brilliantly uses the economic principles developed in the first part to prove his points. His arguments are so lucid and […]

The Wisdom of Étienne Bonnot, Abbé de Condillac

In this article I am going to review French philosopher Étienne Bonnot, Abbé de Condillac’s monumental work, Commerce and Government considered in their Mutual Relationship. Condillac originally published this book in 1776, just few months before Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Today the book is published by the Liberty fund and is available in both […]

The Maternity Benefit Boondoggle

In March 2017, the Modi government amended the Maternity Benefit Act to increase paid maternity leave from 12 to 26 weeks for all women employees in establishments employing ten or more people. At that time we wrote that the end result of this scheme will be more unemployment for women employees. Instead of getting any […]

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 […]

Book Review: “The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East”

The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013 by Timur Kuran Middle East, the region that includes the old Ottoman Empire, Iran, Egypt, the Maghreb (Tunisia, Algeria, Libya etc., countries), is marred with economic backwardness and wars at least since last millennia. This cradle of civilization, where […]