cafeconomics

In the age of consumerism, people have a right to choose from different products and services that are available to them. People can compare and contrast between different options that are available to them and make informed decisions.When all other sectors are positively responding to technology, why should not electoral politics move to the next level ? The big idea, here is to identify and disseminate economic indicators at all administrative and geographical jurisdictions. Sophistry is for the weak and wicked. It is important to not bombard people with numbers and indices. So why not devise or identify easy to understand economic metrics (5 to 10 of them at the most) and make them available to people even in all vernacular languages. As smart phone and internet penetration keep improving people get access to data and information. Using existing (independent !!) institutions, resources and without significant additional cost burden, it is possible to set up such a system where peopl...

Identity politics and symbolism have long been part of politics everywhere in the world. Good economics cannot be bad politics. Except for subsidies on basic items like food, water, housing etc, economic considerations should guide political decision making. But unfortunately, the current situation is the exactly opposite of this. Poll strategies across parties involve fielding public representatives not based on their ability or commitment but based on their community or religion or net worth. By now everyone must understand that if you have a President or a Prime Minister or for that matter any public representative belonging to some backward class, the plight of all the people of backward classes in that country does not improve. In all classes, castes, creeds, religions etc there is a layer at the top beyond which growth and development may not reach. Any form of discrimination by governments positive or negative depending on an individual's caste, religion, creed, language etc...

When large sections of people are devoid of growth and development over long periods of time, their dissatisfaction results in change of guard at the highest levels of governance. Different political leaders reach out to people on different grounds including religion, region, language,race, caste etc. Some of these leaders are born out of the miseries of the people. Others are demagogues who take advantage of people's frustration. The reason for people's dissatisfaction is more economic in nature rather than any thing else - it may take a different form but the underlying cause is mostly economic in nature. Over a period of time, it is important to develop and disseminate economic indicators at all administrative levels. One for the government itself, to understand whether they are on the right track and for people at large, to be able to assess the performance of their public representatives.  Every now and then we come across charismatic leaders who can garner people's su...

It is important to assure that good quality higher education is available to all students irrespective of their economic background. In the current scenario, only the top layer of students get admissions into top notch colleges and all other students are forced to join lower rung institutions. As a result, we are left with degree holders who may not be fully ready to join the corporate world. To be fair to students, they have to go through some very high pressure coaching and entrance examinations. One has to remember that students have to perform in a limited time frame. All educational institutions offering higher education need to maintain the requisite 'infrastructure' and have to be monitored by the concerned educational authorities. Among all other areas, education is the most critical and its impact on the economy in the longer run is probably the differentiating factor. It is fine if some students do not find admissions, they can try next year or pursue some other vocat...

As of June 2018, 90% of Indians have been issued with aadhaar card. If we can link aadhaar, pan and bank accounts (accounting for all forms of income) of all individuals, it is possible to set up a data base which contains details of incomes of every citizen of the country. If there is also a one time property and wealth declaration exercise where all kinds of properties will be linked to their property holders, a huge database would be created with income and wealth details of every citizen. Using this data base people can be segregated based on their income and wealth levels. At least, we can have a system where most if not all of of the 'white' money and property transactions are accounted for. All forms of benefits to the citizens can be streamlined in the most efficient and transparent manner. Any forms of inefficiencies and duplications can be removed. It is possible to create a system where benefits kick in and kick out depending on income levels. Once beneficiaries'...

In the field of finance, there is one teacher who has millions of students and many more fans, Across all the news and kabuki dance, he filters with a lens and finds every nuance, Many data points and a lot of numbers, he sifts through them all like grains of sands, Small and young firms or mature giants, he values them all, even if they are start-ups, Numbers and stories, using spread sheets he ties them together in knots of inseparable bonds, Not just in words, he backs his models and takes market positions in a number of stocks, Forget all the fuss, he chants, growth, risk and cashflows are the main pillars, whatever be the case, Makes rational assumptions, grounds them in realities and ties them to fundamentals, Cashflows for micros and discount rates for macros, he unravels all corporate finance puzzles, Mergers or synergies, may be real options, backs them with numbers, no fancy buzz words, In a world full of imperfections, shares his toils through his writings and books, Blogs o...

At the outset, we need to remember that by robbing the rich and giving the poor the economic value added as a whole is zero and the society as a whole is not going to get any better. (the same problems are going to persist!) We need to understand and appreciate the fact that redistribution of income generating ability is much more important than redistribution of income itself. The poor have a higher marginal propensity to consume than the rich. So any cash transfers they receive, they spend immediately on their basic needs and it is back to ground zero again. So at least in the longer run the objective of governments should be to augment the income generating ability of the depleted sections of the society. And the objective of the recipient public must be to give up short term benefits in the longer run interests of everyone. An ideal society would be the one where the people's dependence on government benefits and subsidies is reduced to zero and people voluntarily refuse subsid...