The principle that exposure to economics should convey is that of the spontaneous coordination which the market achieves. — James M. Buchanan
The last time I was out having lunch with my economics guru, I pondered the question that is foremost in the minds of most Indians. “What,” I asked the great guru, “explains the shoddy quality of goods and services that one finds in India generally?”
“That I can tell you in one word: competition.”
“How so?” I said. “Isn’t competition supposed to ensure lowest prices, and highest quality instead?”
“Certainly. But you …

… Professional publicists know there is always a good living to be
made by catering to the public’s craving for optimistic reports. Such
behaviour finds no justification in the attitude of the Buddha,
expressed five centuries before Christ: “I teach only two things: the
cause of human sorrow and the way to become free of it.” The present
work, though written by a non-Buddhist, proceeds along the Buddhist
path — first to reveal the causes of human sorrow in population
matters and then to uncover promising ways to free ourselves of the
sorrow.

Hearing the Buddha’s statement today …