[GJM] [MacroScan] What's new on Macroscan (March 1, 2007 to March 31, 2007)

[robert searle]

May be of interest. The Macroscan site itself is worth
a visit.


Robert Searle

--- ERF <erf at vsnl.com> wrote:

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> What's New on Macroscan (March 1, 2007 to March 31,
> 2007) www.macroscan.org or www.macroscan.net 
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> CURRENT ISSUES
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> Ashok Mitra
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> Mar 26th 2007
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> This review of a book of memoirs by Ashok Mitra
> points out that all his endearing and contradictory
> personal attributes, combined with his indisputable
> literary flair and prodigious memory, are what make
> the book so absorbing and so much fun to read. The
> final sections of the book though do carry perhaps
> too much of the perception that everything - even
> progressive politics and literature - was better in
> the past.
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> Is the Central Government Serious About Schooling?
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> Mar 12th 2007
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> It seems that in education as in so many other
> areas, the UPA government has now gone almost
> completely off track. The distortion of the promised
> Right to Education Bill, involving the proposal to
> suggest a model bill to be enacted by state
> governments without any additional financial
> commitment by the centre, is one example of this
> callous and cynical attitude. The reduction of the
> proposed outlay on elementary education in the
> coming years is another. 
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> The Farce of ''School Choice''
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> Mar 6th 2007
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> The basic thrust of government education spending
> today must surely be to ensure that all children
> have access to government schools, and to raise the
> quality of these schools. A voucher system would not
> only divert much-needed resources, it would also
> divert our attention from addressing the real issues
> involved in improving quality in school education.
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> FEATURES 
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> Self-employment as Opportunity or Challenge 
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> Mar 30th 2007 
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> The enormous increase in the proportion and number
> of self-employed workers in India in recent years is
> still not adequately analysed. This paper looks at
> the conditions of self-employment in terms of
> perceptions of remuneration and work intensity. It
> is shown that the rising trend of self-employment
> reflects the precarious conditions of labour markets
> in India, where paid employment is simply not
> increasing fast enough to meet the needs of the
> growing labour force.
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> The Potential Fall-out of Basel II 
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> Mar 17th 2007 
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> Continuing with the discussion on Basel II and
> India's banking structure, the authors argue that
> using external ratings to decide the appropriate
> risk-weights to assess capital adequacy inevitably
> leads banks to decide their lending patterns based
> on pure profit considerations. This makes it
> difficult to simultaneously implement a banking
> policy that seeks to direct a proportion of lending
> to specified sectors for meeting growth and equity
> objectives.
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> Basel II and India's Banking Structure 
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> Mar 3rd 2007 
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> Despite the postponement of the target dates for
> banks to implement the Basel II guidelines,
> adjustments aimed at realizing that goal are
> underway. In this and the following article, the
> authors examine what the guidelines involve, their
> effects on banking structure and behaviour and some
> likely outcomes of implementing them.
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> POLICY WATCH 
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> Budgetary Policy in the Context of Inflation 
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> Mar 30th 2007, Prabhat Patnaik 
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> Negating the impact of the current inflationary
> episode in India on the poor requires both the
> ensuring of appropriate supplies through imports,
> and a transfer of purchasing power from the profit
> earners to the workers. Hence, even if augmentation
> of supplies through resorting to imports, as the
> government is doing now in the case of foodgrains,
> succeeds in ending inflation, there is still the
> need to put additional purchasing power in the hands
> of the poor so that they regain their earlier real
> income. The author argues that the basic problem
> with the 2007-08 budget is that it is oblivious of
> these social demands of a situation of profit
> inflation.
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> 
> MacroScan is a website managed by professional
> economists seeking to provide an alternative to
> conservative and mainstream positions in economics.
> The site is maintained by the Economic Research
> Foundation, New Delhi.
>  
> Website :  www.macroscan.org or www.macroscan.net 
> 



	
	
		
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