Mostly Economics

Book Review: Ecosocialism Michael Lowy. 2023. Ecosocialism: A Radical Alternative to Capitalist Catastrophe. Aakar Books for South Asia. Annavajhula J C Bose, PhD Former (Economics) Professor, SRCC, DU Given that there is no Comparative Economic Systems paper in almost all educational institutions,  economics students are denied the classroom access to arguments underlying the claims made [&#8230…

Roger Svensson of Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) in this new esearch traces history of international currencies: This chapter traces the historical emergence and competition of international currencies from antiquity to the present. It introduces a theoretical framework for understanding the conditions required for a currency to become internationally dominant: large volume, sta…

SEBI Research Department released earlier studies on profits and losses (mostly losses) of retail traders in derivatives markets in 2023 and 2024. Both showed 90 percent of traders made losses leading to lots of discussions. SEBI took some measures to slowen trading activity in derivatives. The 2026 study shows though losses have declined but investors […]

SEBI research team has released a study on trading behaviour of derivatives traders: 1. The study indicates that equity derivatives trading by individual investors is characterized by high trading intensity,particularly in short- duration options contracts, with a large proportion of trading concentrated in contracts nearing expiry. 2. Trading activity is predominantly concentrated among relative…

Jonathan Hall, Jason Hicks, Morris M. Kleiner & Yun taek Oh analyse the impact of licencing in this NBER paper: We examine whether occupational licensing improves service quality and safety using trip-level Uber data that include driver ratings and telematics-based measures of driving behavior. Exploiting quasi-random assignment from proximity-based dispatch, we compare trips served by [&#823…

A Teacher Writes to Students Series (76): Mahatma Gandhi’s Economist and Environmentalist| Annavajhula J C Bose, PhD Former Professor, Department of Economics, SRCC, DU Mahatma Gandhi deserves a sincere salute for having said thus in December 1928: “God forbid that India should ever take to industrialization after the manner of the West. The economic imperialism […]

A team of ECB economists (Malin Andersson, Johannes Breckenfelder, Stefano Corradin, Kalin Nikolov and Maria Antonietta Viola) write on the ECB Blog : Valuations on the US stock market, as measured by the CAPE ratio, are currently close to their historical peak.[1] Euro area equity valuations have also risen, albeit to a lesser extent (Chart […]

RBI Deputy Governor Shirish Chandra Murmu reviews RBI and role of cash going forward in this speech: Currency management is a core function of nearly every central bank represented in this room. In the previous decade, adoption of digital payments in India has been revolutionary to say the least, yet cash in circulation has not […]

As per RBI Act, RBI Central Baord should comprise 21 members. The  current status of the Board as per RBI website is 11 members with 1 member nominated recently. Central Board of Director appointed/nominated under RBI Act, 1934 Section of RBI Act Sr. No. Name 8 (1) (a) 1. Shri Sanjay Malhotra Governor 2. Shri […]

I had posted about how nighttime lights data has emerged as a useful indicator to track economic activity. Irakli Barbakadze, Jan Fidrmuc, Martin Hulényi and Ketevani Kapanadze in this voxeu article argue how Russian nighttime lights data tells you the real picture of Russian economy: Official Russian statistics report a mild recession in 2022 following […]

Maurice Obstfeld on Argentina’s economy: Once one of the world’s 10 wealthiest nations, Argentina has never fully recovered from its post-World War I decline. Now, as Washington renews its focus on Latin America, libertarian president Javier Milei is betting on close ties with the Trump administration to secure lasting economic stability in Argentina, but sustained […]

Tim Philips of voxeu speaks to Alberto Martin on how superpowers dictate trade: Recorded at the PSE-CEPR Policy Forum, Paris School of Economics. Tariffs move trade around, but so does economic power. When one economy dominates, other countries fall into step with it. They trade with the dominant economy, and also with each other. Alberto […]

European Central Bank conducted a contest seeking proposals for future banknotes. The report of the contest is here The 10 shortlisted proposals are here. Really fascinating to read how artists/designers think through what should feature on the currency notes. A very interesting case of arts meeting money.

Sarah Hunter, Assistant Governor (Economic) of RBA discusses supply shocks and their impact on monetary policy in this speech: In short, supply or relative price shocks can create a trade-off for monetary policymakers if they are likely to have a persistent impact on inflation and the broader economy. All else equal, a persistently higher outlook […]

Matthew Wells writes about history of Bank of North America: Hamilton is credited as the architect of the postrevolutionary U.S. financial system that allowed the country to not just survive but grow and prosper. In 1790 and 1791, he led the effort to charter the First Bank of the United States, the country’s first national […]

A Teacher Writes to Students Series (73): Hating Politics Annavajhula J C Bose, PhD Former Professor, Department of Economics, SRCC, DU Suppose you are afflicted with political disaffection and you are wondering why there is expanded social reproduction of bad politicians indulging in nonsense and how good politicians can come into existence to take up […]