Lies, damned lies, and economics
Anil:
Here is a very interesting article by Rajeev Srinivasan about economics and other related issues,I think it is even a bit humorous.
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Excerpts from Rediff.
By Rajeev Srinivansa
In the past few weeks, there has been a flurry of activity in the dismal science of global economics. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank got together in Washington, DC for their annual meeting: a typical conclave of Armani and Ferragamo-clad bankers. They quarrelled vigorously, blaming each other for the Asian meltdown.
Across the Pacific, speaking from Tokyo, the Grameen Bank's Mohammed Yunus, perhaps the most successful banker of our times, chided them both for their preoccupation with stale economic orthodoxies that paid no attention to the real needs of real people. While Yunus, with his microcredit scheme, has improved the lives of millions of Bangaldeshis, the IMF-World Bank have brought misery to all of southeast and east Asia through their doleful prescriptions.
Browsing idly through reports of the IMF-World Bank caucus, I found that they said something quite astonishing, and I quote the Economic Times: "For the first time in recorded history, South Asia is the fastest-growing sector of the world." They also predicted this state of affairs would remain for the next couple of years.
I had several reactions to all this. First, there is the patronising disbelief in the bit about 'recorded history' that South Asia, and India in particular, could possibly be doing so well economically. This part is irritating, but par for the course -- these international bankers continue to think India is a basket case. They are unaware that India was one of the world's largest industrial nations, accounting for 25% of global industrial output up into the 18th century CE.,,
rediff.com |
