Counterfactuals are generally instructive and entertaining. But in some cases, it can be deeply distressing to consider them. Those leave us sadder although wiser. And at times they provoke us to anger and outrage because we finally understand what might have been. That outrage could motivate us to act and thus change what we can. As Omar Khayyam, the lovable old wino and polymath wrote about the sorry scheme of things, “Would we not shatter it to bits and remold it nearer to our hearts’ desire?”

There comes a time in every endeavour when it becomes imperative that one does a bit of arithmetic. As the late John McCarthy used to say, “Those who refuse to do arithmetic are doomed to speak nonsense.” Doing a bit of arithmetic is important not only to avoid nonsense but also to get a feel for what we normally would miss since our brains are not naturally attuned to figuring out the state of the world without the help of numbers. In this piece I lean upon a few sums …

Different parts of the world have different degrees of prosperity, as is clearly evident if you look around even cursorily. Indeed that fact is so obvious, persistent and ubiquitous that it is not the least surprising to us. It is almost as if it is an unalterable feature of nature and therefore there’s nothing we can do about it. But why is it so? Why do some groups of people do better than other groups? What are possible factors that determine the fate and fortunes of various groups?

Economic prosperity is neither impossible nor inevitable. There are scores of examples on either side of the prosperity divide. That should tell us a lot about what it takes to be economically successful. Prosperity eludes some countries not randomly but because of well-understood reasons. Our understanding of the causes of economic growth and development is not exactly like our understanding of the mysterious dark energy and dark matter. Economists know what works and why. Here I present some basic bits related to the subject from a personal perspective.

Why are some countries poor while others rich? That’s a more complex question than the question why is some particular person rich as opposed to another person who is poor. It is fairly easy to recognize that the difficulty arises because an individual is at the mercy of factors out of its control, while in the case of a collective, the collective determines its destiny through the choices it collectively makes. There’s the problem of endogeneity when one considers the collective: society determines the environment, which in turn determines how …

So if you have been wondering why I have not posted anything on this blog for so long, wonder no more. I’ve been busy thinking. Unlike most people, I cannot think and write at the same time. Now that the thinking is over, time to start writing. Expect deep thoughts expressed elegantly and at length. Like King Lear, “I shall do such things,–what they are, yet I know not; but they shall be the terror of the Earth.”

There is a distinction between information and knowledge, which is worth keeping in mind.
As had been reported, Wiki (English language version) has done dark. This is the landing page image.

End of 2011. It’s been a mixed year for me personally. I would give it a 7 out of 10. Today I am moving home. Not too far away, just moving from Santa Clara to San Jose. Nothing brings home the reality that we are material beings more than when you are moving — the stuff one accumulates! I will not have internet access for the next couple of days because of the move. New year resolution: deal with all emails within 24 hours of receipt. Best wishes for a …

The UPA has done quite a lot in the last seven years or so. Around 2004, India was at the take-off stage of a developing country. We could see a tiny light shining at what appeared to be the end of the tunnel. It looked like the country was finally out of the clutches of the Nehruvian socialist regime and had broken free of the 2-3% “Nehru rate of growth.” The NDA (led by the so-called “Hindu nationalist” BJP) had done a few things right and given India the 10% …

The Congress is the enemy. Their goal is to destroy the country to enrich themselves. They are true to their goal and cannot be faulted for it. Indians who support the Congress are traitors since treason lies in aiding the enemy. Some of the biggest names in the BJP have aided the Congress in the past, and continue to do so. They are traitors. Let’s distinguish between the enemy and the traitors. While I may grudgingly respect the enemy, I have nothing but contempt for traitors.

I am forced to put this one on my blog because Kapil Sibal would like to censor this kind of stuff. He wants to control what we see, hear, and read on the internet. Mr Sibal, up yours.

Who is Antonia Maino a.k.a. Sonia Gandhi? An average Italian woman who married some guy who ended up becoming the prime minister of India. She acquired the last name “Gandhi” that she currently uses through marriage. Many women traditionally take on the last name of their husbands. That is unexceptionable. What’s remarkable is how she — aided by her minions such as Manmohan Singh, Kapil Sibal, P Chidambaram — is wrecking the country. One can argue that she is responsible for India’s current decline (as if India was not …

When one is talking about anything that has to do with economics, I think it is best to use a bit of common sense and to stick to the basics. Recently, the government has moved to allow up to 51 percent foreign direct investment in “multi-brand” retail in India (and single brand retail is allowed 100 percent FDI.) Some people (and some parties such as the BJP) oppose FDI in retail. The question whether FDI in retail is good or not is being hotly debated. The debate is …

In India’s case, being ruled by foreigners has perhaps become something of a habit. What else can it be if something is so persistent that it lasts centuries. The most recent foreign rule was by the British, nominally ending around mid-20th century. I say “nominally” because what replaced it was really a continuation of the British raj under the brown sahibs (and now under a gora memsahib.)

Allow me to explain the context of my rhetorical question in my previous post in which I asked, “Is Advani merely senile is he really intent on destroying the only chance India has of getting rid of UPA/Congress raj?”

. . . is he really intent on destroying the only chance India has of getting rid of UPA/Congress raj? Inquiring minds would like to know.

If you like thinking about thinking, then Daniel Kahneman’s book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” will delight you. Here’s a bit from the introduction:

Allow me to share something personal with you: I cannot go to bed without brushing my teeth. I may be sick as a dog, or bone tired, or totally sozzled, or massively sleepy. It does not matter. I feel all yucky if I lie down without brushing. I am glad that I have that habit. I don’t have to think about it, I don’t have to struggle, I don’t have to force myself in any way. Almost as if on auto-pilot I end up brushing my teeth before bed. It …