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On November 8, with minimal warning, PM Modi’s government announced that Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes ceased to be legal tender in order to wage a war against black money. The move has been thought of facilitating a crackdown on fake currency, corruption and unaccounted black money. Whether this sudden decision will be a success or failure, only time will tell but it is bound to have some social ramifications along with the economic ones...

"This paper, then, is a serious analysis of a ridiculous subject, which is of course the opposite of what is usual in economics" read the last lines of the introduction and immediately you know that you are in for a treat. The above line is from Paul Krugman’s Theory of Interstellar trade. This paper, as he claims, was written when he was ‘an oppressed assistant professor caught up in the academic rat race’ to amuse himself...

When Kerala introduced a “fat” tax of 14.5%, it was applauded by many. It was seen as a responsible move by the government to curb rising rates of obesity and related ailments such as diabetes, cholesterol and cardiac diseases among others. The policy makers had hoped that taxing people heavily on processed junk food would prompt people to move away from calorie-laden, unhealthy food choices. But here’s the catch....

Closing off months of speculation, the government on Saturday, 20th August 2016 finally announced Dr Urjit R Patel as the 24th governor of the Reserved Bank of India...

The Economics Association will be doing a series of comprehensive all-you-need-to-know articles on current topics. Here is a glimpse of what was discussed during the Brexit panel discussion with Mr. Shamuel Tharu on August 26th...

Ralph Seger once said, “One way to end up with $1 million is to start with $2 million and use technical analysis.” For a very long time, this statement seemed like a nebulous, dark chasm to me, all shrouded in mystery...

We've all had those moments of uttermost confusion when we couldn't decide what we'd do in a tricky situation, haven't we? When we've had to weigh out all the possibilities carefully, because we simply couldn't tell what the consequences would be? Well, the Economists do this in a more refined fashion and they call it the 'Game Theory'...

When I came to know recently that my grandfather was a big bond purchaser in our village, I became very curious and started to probe and understand the whole thing. I learnt that he would give loans apart from the regular wages to the laborers working on his farm to retain the labor force and also to some extent to meet their immediate finance concerns. Of course this he did in the exchange of promissory notes (bonds) from them...

These days, eating out has become an expensive affair. The total bill amounts to much more than what was expected while ordering the food. This magnification of the bill is due to an increase in the taxes and charges. These taxes and charges added in the bill are...

India is not only the world’s second most populated country but also one of the most culturally diverse ones. The first question that arises is how this population affects the country’s economic growth. India’s population has been steadily increasing, from 450 million in 1960, it now stands at 1.28 billion...

A habit can be developed if we do something for a long time. For doing something consistently, we need to assure the following: either we love doing that OR the perks of doing that should keep us going. Well, I am not sure I can make you love The Economic Times (ET), but I surely can tell you some of its perks which may get you interested in reading it...

Many of us have wrong notions about FDI, it’s like letting someone steal our money. But there are some details that are conveniently ignored...

Economics is defined as a social science that studies how individuals, governments, firms and nations make choices on allocating scarce resources to satisfy their unlimited wants. This may sound complicated, yet the truth is that this discipline surrounds us all...

The term tax haven usually conjures up images of exotic destinations with shady criminals sitting pool-side sipping tropical fruit cocktails. (Kudos Hollywood!) However, the main impetus of the existence of tax havens is not to facilitate illegal international activity, but to attract business to otherwise over-looked developing economies....

The currency which we use today is made of paper. But a long time ago, it was in the form precious metals like gold and silver and also as stones. Do you know that there is an Island called Yap that even today uses stone as its major currency? Economists love it because it helps answer this really basic question: What is money? Read on to find more about this interesting place...

I started out wanting to review the documentary titled “Too Big to Fail” which is based on a book of the same name by Andrew Ross Sorkin. It basically covers the 2008 financial crisis from the point of view of the then Secretary of Treasury, Henry M Paulson...

Why Start up culture? It is very clear from the current scenario of the world that the smart start up culture is emerging like a rising tide in the global market. Gone are the days when students hoped and worked for a “dream job”, that would fetch them a safe pay and status. But the changing attitude of students, for precisely learning work and experiencing the hardships of a working industry is more in drive...

Oil is the most important natural resource and its price has been one of the most watched trends in economics during the 21st century...

From the Stone Age to urbanization, human race has developed to a great extent. Gone are the days when pigeons carried messages. Technology has paved its way from anything to everything. From households to the corporate world, technology is a part of our system. The marketplace itself has seen a lot of ways in which it works...

India has an ambivalent relationship with gold. For consumers, gold is a prized asset, cherished as both an adornment and an investment. For the government, gold is a major contributor to the current account deficit, a challenge that needs to be addressed...