Archive for June, 2007
World Bank Offers $600 million to India
BBC News is reporting the World Bank has approved a USD 600 million loan to India, aimed at “helping millions of poor farmers across India” (original report at Reuters). The money will go to supplement a government sponsored program, worth USD 3.32 billion, to refinance India’s cooperative banks, which would then offer cheaper loans to farmers. [...]
The Case Against Development Aid: China, India, Africa
Greg Mankiw points to a piece by Robert Barro (Harvard economist) saying Bill Gates is never going to achieve as much with his philanthropy, as he did with Microsoft. Much of it advocates market oriented capitalism as the best known tool for development, but it also makes a more general case against charity. And hidden [...]
US Healthcare: Long Waits and High Spending
BusinessWeek reports that the widely held view that wait times in the US healthcare system are not necessarily lower than in the rest of the world:
One of the most repeated truisms about the U.S. health-care system is that, for all its other problems, American patients at least don’t have to endure the long waits for [...]
Income Inequality Growing in India
An updated version of this post now appears on the IEB, with additional references.
In the debate over growth and equality, and comparisons of India and China, proponents of India’s path to development make much of the fact that income inequality in India is relatively low. The UN Human Development Report 2006 estimates the Gini [...]
Preparatory Reading On Privatizing Education
A lot of ink has been spilt lately on privatizing education, particularly by Atanu Dey (on IEB, and Pragati-Issue 2). I myself have tentatively supported vouchers in the past (Evaluating Vouchers). But the excessive liberal free-market promotion of the concept has me wondering if things are indeed as they seem. Before committing to a position, however, [...]
Pharma Update: Analysis from BW & Economist
Mirrored from the THDBlog:
The Economist’s analysis of drug patents under attack in the developing world (from Thailand, to India and Brazil) is very illuminating:
At first sight, this row reflects an old dilemma that pits today’s patients against tomorrow’s. Compulsory licensing means that more Thais will get HIV drugs now, but it also means that drugs [...]
India’s Case for Climate Change Action: on IEB
For a month, I will be writing as a guest blogger on the Indian Economy Blog. My first post just went live - Climate Change, Why India Must Act.
I have been a long-time supporter of India’s policy of staying away from Kyoto’s binding targets. Recent research I’ve conducted over the past month, however, has shown [...]
The Dilemna of Privatizing Healthcare
The New York Times is carrying an article on American healthcare, that points out how privatization has led to soaring costs:
In a saner world, the place where you live wouldn’t have much effect on how doctors treated your back problems. In our world, it can make all the difference.
In Idaho Falls, Idaho, anyone suffering from the [...]
