There’s been a large amount of commentary on the huge surge in Indian gold imports, the damage it is doing to the current account deficit, with much weighing of the pros and cons of the government’s feeble attempts to stem the yellow tide. Read more

There are many arguments made in favour of subsidies, especailly energy subsidies. In a country like India, the most obvious argument is that they give a leg up to a huge mass of poor people who would otherwise find cooking, transportation and whatnot cripplingly expensive. Read more

One of the most popular theories of the past decade has been “peak oil.” Namely, that the world’s supply of cheap oil was running out and, eventually, oil supplies themselves would start to run down. Read more

What ails the world economy? Please take a look at the Economist’s debt clock to understand what’s the problem. The world governments’ debt is $ 40 trillion and, as the clock ticks away before your eyes, is increasing rapidly. Read more

In the Zone

In the capital of Western Australia for my second stint at the local university’s In the Zone conference, I’m reminded again how much the country’s only Indian Ocean facing state is determined to seek a worldview distinct from that of the more populous bits of Australia that face the Pacific. Read more

Indian finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, presented a budget for fiscal 2011-12 that carried an embedded message: it’s inflation, stupid. Rising prices are India’s number one economic and political problem. Read more

The evidence continues to come in of not merely a continuing rise in inflation, but a rise that will go on till the cows come home. Read more

Emerging economies are all fretting. All that money being printed by the US Fed and its ilk is pouring into their economies, causing speculation, inflation and financial indigestion. Read more

The United States is under fire for its central bank’s decision to print 600 billion dollars and release it into the world economy. I think what is remarkable is how everyone seems to be doing the same thing. And the slightly scary consequences of such an action. Read more

Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, has called on the other G-20 countries to support a financial transaction tax to be imposed. This, she says, will help bring stability to the world’s financial volatility. Read more