US Elections (Part 1): Democrat vs. Republican

by Anisha Bhardwaj


The upcoming United States Elections in November 2012 will have the world watching as Democrat candidate and current President, Barack Obama and former Republican Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney race for the title of the President of the United States.

Before understanding the implications of either of them winning - for the United States or the rest of the world - it is important to understand the basic differences in their ideologies. One way to start is by learning about the two parties they represent.

Liberalizing the Indian Economy (Part 1)

by Sreevidya Raman


India is ushering in an age of reforms. The current developments on foreign direct investments (FDI) in multi-brand retail, diesel price hikes, and the cap on subsidised LPG are spurring passionate debates. While the country still does not seem to have moved past Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s uncharacteristically bold stance against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee¹, we should first understand its economic implications. We will discuss FDI in the retail and aviation sectors, then move on to diesel price hikes, and the cap on subsidised LPG.

Banks, the State and Stuff

by Deepthi Sai


The health of any economy is largely dependent on 3 main players:

• The central bank (e.g., the Federal Reserve System in the US, Reserve Bank of India);
• Financial institutions and commercial banks (e.g., Bank of America, Citibank); and
• The government.

Interaction between these players is what either saves or drowns an economy. And to understand the functioning of the economy, it is essential to understand how they interact.

Sub-prime Crisis

by Shweta Chopra


It’s very common to find people completely lost regarding very important economic occurrences that affect the entire global economy. The US sub-prime crisis of 2007 is one such example. Even students of economics don’t know exactly what happened, or how it may have added to or led to the recession that followed. This is an attempt to make sure everyone, including people who have never even heard of terms like GDP, can understand how exactly this crisis unfolded.

Depreciation of the Indian Rupee

by Deepthi Sai

The rupee has been depreciating consistently against the dollar over the last twelve months and it reached a historical low in June 2012. Depreciation implies a fall in the value of a currency. When the value of a currency falls, we need more of it to buy any good, which is the case with the rupee. One may recall the times when a dollar could be bought for an average of Rs. 46 as opposed to Rs. 56 today. This steep fall in the value of the rupee has made it the worst performing currency in Asia.

Making Sense of the SENSEX

by Shweta Chopra

How many people actually understand what the ticker at the bottom of news channels actually means? Not many. It’s not uncommon to hear whining when a husband switches the channel from a dramatic soap to the news, just to check on this bizarre ticker. So why does he do so? For all the kids out there who are clueless – here’s making sense out of all that.

LIBOR: London InterBank Offered Rates

by Anisha Bhardwaj


Recently terms like LIBOR and Barclays have been making the headlines. Though it may not seem to be of direct relevance to you, you’ll be surprised at how consequential it can be. Once again the global economy is highly integrated and a glitch in one part most definitely has an impact on every player in the economy. So what is all the jargon about?

Beginning of the European Economic Crisis

by Deepthi Sai


The Euro crisis has been talked about a lot lately. Before understanding the current scenario and how it is affecting the global economy let us back up a bit and understand what has happened and how it ballooned into a full blown crisis in the first place. The Euro came into existence in 1992 and was established as a part of the Maastricht treaty by the European Union (EU). Member states were evaluated based on certain economic parameters to qualify to join the currency. In the 1990s, a number of European countries decided to keep aside their respective currencies and were given an equal amount of Euros instead.

Birth of the Chinese Dragon

by Shweta Chopra


For most laymen, common examples of growing, developing economies are India and China. There are constant comparisons between the two countries on news channels and in newspapers. Despite being two very different countries in terms of the political structure and institutional factors, the two are similar in many ways: in terms of the population sizes they support, the high economic growth they are experiencing vis-à-vis the rest of the world, among others. We have some amount of knowledge about India’s economic growth story and how it began, but China’s unprecedented growth story is something most of us are unclear about.