Meghnad Desai

Reforms are overdue

A bonfire of state ownership will raise money to retire public debt, reduce corruption and enhance efficiency.
What India needs to do now after four years of Modi government

Much remains to be done: India needs labour market reform, reduction of agriculture dependence, and creation of productive jobs
Making sense of Donald Trump

The most surprising fact is that while Trump came complaining about the state of the American economy, it is booming like it has not done in more than ten years.
Cash crunch: Why an urgent reform in India’s monetary and financial regulatory institutions is necessary

Current cash crunch underlines the need for a deeper look at the adequacy of India’s monetary and financial regulatory institutions
How Donald Trump is challenging conventional wisdom with devious ways to achieve goals

US President Donald Trump’s tweets and policy moves continue to confound the media as well as the markets. Even Indian stock markets were spooked by his latest moves, which threaten a tariff war with China.
Artificial Intelligence and the future of work

There are scenarios being painted where no human being may be needed for any paid work and robots will do everything. Of course, a few people will be needed to produce robots and improve their quality.
Donald Trump’s infrastructure plan

The bold plan offers $200 billion as ‘pump priming’ to incentivise states and municipalities to raise the additional funds that would add up to a $1.5-trillion spending programme.
Cryptocurrencies: The new frontier

The Financial Services Commission of Mauritius has decided instead to take the bull by the horn. It has decided that it would like to develop a market in these exotic assets and have appointed a committee to set up regulatory structures.
Budget 2018 is astonishing, says Meghnad Desai, explains why

The creation of a health care system in this ambitious but manageable way opens the way to a much more comprehensive welfare system over the future. It is usual in this sort of schemes that a ratchet effect sets in.
Budget 2018: Meghnad Desai explains what is on cards

Budget 2018: A Budget is like fast-food. You can discuss it in anticipation, listing the ingredients you would like it to have. Once it is presented, it gets stale very quickly. You can talk about it on the day it is presented, but by the next day, it is a cold snack not worth chewing.
People will stay ahead of AI, says Meghnad Desai, explains why

As the year ended, I was invited to an opening of Imaginarium/Aligunjan, a research and blue-skies thinking facility set up by Nishith Desai Associates in Alibag.
2G scam: Centre must spell out whether sale of public assets is maximisiation of revenue or welfare, says Meghnad Desai

In the sale of public assets or goods, the govt must spell out whether the principle underlying is maximisation of revenue or welfare
India, China rising even as West slows down; Meghnad Desai explains why this great transformation happened

India has not reached its Lewis moment yet (thanks to bad labour legislation). It can absorb capital looking for higher yield
Western economies to soon have mass unemployment; Meghnad Desai explains looming crisis

Western economies are expected to have slow growth, but stagnant real wages and, very soon, mass unemployment
World power order will be China-US duopoly; in this G2 world, here is what India must do

Xi and Trump understand that for the foreseeable future, the world power order will be a Sino-American duopoly.
How Mao Zedong dream has been realised in China without using his methods; Meghnad Desai explains

What China’s Communist Party Congress, which just finished in Beijing, showed was that China has managed an impossible project.
Indian Digital Service? Meghnad Desai says time to think more innovatively about bureaucracy

The Economic Advisory Council which was chaired by Dr Rangarajan during the UPA days was quietly abolished. The finance ministry was entrusted to Arun Jaitley but then he was burdened with the defence ministry, corporate affairs and information and broadcasting, to begin with.
What is the solution to getting GDP growth up; Meghnad Desai explains

Politicians have finally woken up to the growth slowdown. I wrote about these matters in my last column, but revisit the subject as it is now being debated. Yashwant Sinha, as a former finance minister and a senior BJP MP, carries a lot of clout in the BJP and in the country.
Economy is an urgent problem; Meghnad Desai highlights jobs creation-labour reforms link

India’s jobs problem is tied to its manufacturing stagnation—which in turn is tied to the lack of labour reforms.
What is the ideal voting system? Meghnad Desai explains

While FPTP offers the possibility of a strong government, proportional representation is more fair in terms of voting share.
Future outlook: We may have to look for earning opportunities, rather than ideas; what you must know

With the changing nature of employment itself, we may have to look for earning opportunities rather than jobs.
Should India ban Bitcoin? Or the fear of crypto currencies is just hot air?

An ideal libertarian ‘money’ would allow free entry by any producer who can issue . These tokens would compete with other tokens to command trust.
The roots of corruption in India, elsewhere; Meghnad Desai explains

The larger the state and the more power concentrated at the top, the higher the chances of Big Graft
Global financial markets: West is recovering, but central banks must take markets along when they taper

The global financial markets are in a very peculiar state. The volatility index, VIX, is at its quietest. Inflation is low, and below the target value of 2%. Growth is low as well by historical standards, but it is higher than it was five years ago.
Global Economy: Recovery has not brought a boom, but there is a bright side too, says Meghnad Desai

The recovery, from the turning point on the cycle nine years ago, has not brought a boom—but there’s no repeat of the decline either.
UK elections brought to surface reality most commentators missed, says Meghnad Desai

Over the last couple of years, elections have taken place where the unexpected , unforecast outcome has come about. Donald Trump won in the US, setting off a debate about the shock to the Liberal Order.
China’s imperial folly

Its One Belt, One Road initiative is nothing short of this, as it is a low-yield, resource-intensive project.

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