A new Plaza Accord; Market discipline and the role of finance in development; SEBI insider trading orders; episodes
A new Plaza Accord?
There is much talk about a new US policy initiative, echoing the Plaza Accord of 1985, to bring about big USD depreciation and change the role of the USD in world affairs. In an oped in the Business Standard on 14 April, Ila Patnaik and I show six reasons it’s hard, in today’s environment, to do something analogous to that episode.
Market discipline and the role of finance in development
When Trump blinked in the face of a nervous global financial system, everyone saw the power of market discipline. On 10 April, I wrote Be you ever so high, the markets are above you, on The Leap Blog, with the idea that there are two rings of containment around power: the checks and balances of the political system, and then the financial markets.
This has important implications for economic development. In poor countries, the political system works poorly, there is limited check-and-balance, and this creates harmful policy outcomes owing to concentrated power. This amplifies the case for financial sector development, in order to obtain the second ring of containment.
SEBI insider trading orders
A splendid new working paper, Balancing Power and Accountability: An Evaluation of SEBI's adjudication of Insider Trading evaluates SEBI's orders on insider trading cases over a 15-year period (2009 - 23) and how these orders fared in appeal at the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). This is by Natasha Aggarwal, Amol Kulkarni, Bhavin Patel, Sonam Patel and Renuka Sane. They develop an evaluation framework based on elements of the rule of law applicable to regulatory adjudication, with 56 indicators for SEBI orders, and 82 indicators for orders of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). They have an unveiling article on The Leap Blog.
Episodes
1 Apr: Is a weaker rupee good or bad for the Indian economy, Pronab Sen and I on the Business Standard youtube channel.
4 April: Episode 93 of Everything is Everything with Amit Varma, Good Gyan I
4 Apr: Should India reduce tariffs given the U.S. moves?, with Laveesh Bhandari and Prashanth Perumal J. on the Hindu Parley Podcast.
11 April: Episode 94 of Everything is Everything with Amit Varma, Good Gyan II