Stop-start in currency flexibility; Resolving culture conflicts ; episodes

Stop-start in currency flexibility harms economic growth

RBI does not have a currency objective. The Parliamentary law that sets RBI into motion mandates an inflation target. But there is the temptation of sometimes catering to currency objectives when they are not too far from the inflation objective. This gives a stop-start pattern in currency flexibility where periods of calm are followed by periods of turbulence. Could you argue that currency objectives are a nice-to-have, that it’s good to cater to currency objectives on the side, for the periods where it’s no too expensive in terms of violating the inflation target? In my column in the Business Standard on 6 January, I argue that such a pattern of Stop-start in currency flexibility harms economic growth.

Resolving culture conflicts without involving leviathan

When one group wields the coercive power of the state against another, this inflames the society and creates an environment of conflict. In the article Markets in everything: using Coasean bargains to resolve culture conflicts, published on 3 January on The Leap Blog, Samrudha Surana and Bhargavi Zaveri-Shah wonder whether the intuition of Coasean bargaining can carry forward into some unusual new settings, such as Jains buying goats to not have them be slaughtered, or private persons paying the people blaring loudspeakers to buy the public good of silence.

Episodes

26 December: A conversation on the wealth tax, with Rahul Menon and Samreen Wani, on Parley by The Hindu.

27 December: Episode 79 of Everything is Everything with Amit Varma, More stories that should be films.

3 January: Episode 80 of Everything is Everything with Amit Varma, Going bankrupt in India. There’s a nice reading list in the show notes.

10 January: Episode 81 of Everything is Everything with Amit Varma, Life lessons from chess in 2024.