The recession was less calamitous than many feared. Its aftermath will be more dangerous than many expect IT HAS become known as the “Great Recession”, the year in which the global economy suffered its deepest slump since the second world war. But an equally apt name would be the “Great Stabilisation”. For 2009 was extraordinary not just for how output fell, but for how a catastrophe was averted. Twelve months ago,...

Momentum suggests 9 per cent for the full year The overall Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which includes the three components of manufacturing, mining and electricity, grew at a pace of 10.3 per cent during October. This is lower than what was expected, but higher than the 9.1 per cent for September. With this, the April to October growth rose to 7.1 per cent, up from 6.5 per cent in the...

Paul A. Samuelson, the first American Nobel laureate in economics and the foremost academic economist of the 20th century, died Sunday at his home in Belmont, Mass. He was 94. His death was announced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which Samuelson helped build into one of the world’s great centres of graduate education in economics. In receiving the Nobel Prize in 1970, Samuelson was credited with transforming his discipline from...

Even as reports pour in of a softening of food price futures, the spectre of food price inflation haunts households across the country. But to imagine that the inflation genie can be put back into the bottle through legislative fiat is the height of parliamentary fantasy. The Estimates Committee of the Lok Sabha has recommended just that! It wants new legislation to check price rise of essential commodities by capping...

Recently there has been considerable media discussion about the issue of rise in prices of essential commodities and the problem of food inflation. In a country like India, where the cost of food forms major part of the monthly or daily expenditure incurred by an average family, this is a debate which acquires poignant significance. This is a government that came into power based on a concern for and commitment...