One of the most important ingredient of a civilized society is the recognition of responsible rebellion. I stopped writing about the Maoists, positive or negative, when they started acting irresponsibly by killing non-political civilians because it is dangerous to publicize irresponsibility even while condemning it, for all publicity is good publicity. But, in the changed circumstances, they indeed deserve publicity; so at least I am writing about them for whatever…

Elections are a tool of reaching a compromise between the sparring members of a group. The best deliberation is obviously the one which genuinely ends into a unanimous decision because a single wise vote is any time better than a stupid majority. However, unanimity is seldom a possibility; the bigger the group the lesser the chances of reaching a unanimous decision. Therefore, the elections become important from the reason of…

Anyone who believes that all economists are dull never met Joan Robinson (1903 – 1983), who, along with Edward Chamberlin, developed the theory of imperfect competition in the 1930s. Called ‘the magnificent Joan’ by some, and less printable names by others, Robinson – a professor at Cambridge, England – was justly renowned for taking controversial positions. She made her first mark in 1933 with the publication of ‘The Economics of…

Entrepreneurship is claimed to be the most important positive ramification of capitalism. Well, business entrepreneurship is indeed a very important ramification of capitalism, but entrepreneurship is not just about business entrepreneurship; in fact, capitalism subdues the other forms of entrepreneurship for the benefit of business entrepreneurship. Moreover, entrepreneurship is a painful and risky calling, and not everybody is interested in taking it up; furthermore, the growth of big business entrepreneurship…

Mankind lives in illusions. Deprived of illusions, human mind is too weak to make the human body survive. “God” is the biggest illusion of all, “Money” is another, “Democracy”, yet another, etc. No healthy sane human being can live without at least some of these illusions. These illusions are contextually benevolent or malevolent. In India, “God” is a malevolent illusion, and, in the USA, “Money” (the power of money) is…