Milton Friedman: A Joke and Some Serious Stuff
One day an economist looked up and saw a little girl being attacked by a vicious dog, just down the street. He rushed over and saved the girl by strangling the dog. A reporter interviews him and says,...
View ArticleOf Freedom, Markets, and the Future of India
Markets Work, Incentives Matter The two broadest generalizations one arrives at from a study of economics are that markets work and that incentives matter. People respond to incentives because that is...
View ArticleIncentives and Policies
Capturing Externalities It’s an economics truism that generally people respond to incentives. If you truly and deeply understand that, you know a fundamental truth about the world. If the reward of...
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Three Lessons of Development Economics, or Why Utsav Mitra is Mistaken
The first lesson of development economics is that economic policies matter. Even if a country has everything going for it, lack of good policies condemn it to poverty. So it is easy to believe that if...
View ArticleHappy 101st Birthday, Milton Friedman
Today is the 101st birthday of Prof Milton Friedman (1912 – 2006). His erudition, eloquence and dedicated struggle for human freedom and dignity have helped advance civilization. Here he is on Phil...
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Central Planners and Wooden Boards
In my favourite Bruce Lee movie Enter the Dragon (which I have watched at least a dozen times) there’s a very telling scene. Just before a particular fight, Bruce Lee’s opponent, to demonstrate how...
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