Interesting Reads

In India, Black Money Makes for Bad Policy;

Tackling corruption also goes beyond currency, cash or even banking. It requires changing institutions and mind-sets, and carefully crafting policies that acknowledge the complexity of economic and social life. The government could start by increasing penalties for tax evasion and amending India’s outdated anti-graft laws.

In a country like India, where the illegal economy is so intimately intertwined with the mainstream economy, one inept government intervention against shadow activities can do a lot of harm to the vast majority, who are just trying to make a legitimate living.

A society can’t be served by intention alone;

Which brings one to the third and final lesson: No idea is worth the paper it is written on unless it can be executed well. That the demonetisation measure needed utmost secrecy because of its stated objective is a given. However, a prior study of execution capacity would have been vital.

 How to make digital payments work

Basics of International Trade

International Trade course at Marginal Revolution University

International Economics

Recommended texts; International Economics: Theory and Policy, Krugman and Obstfeld

For Discussion- Is Rogoff or Kaushik right?

GST was good economics; the demonetization is not. Its economics is complex & the collateral damage is likely to far outstrip the benefits.

-Kaushik Basu

  Fighting cash use in #BlackMoney and #CORRUPTION makes sense for India. So does #FinancialInclusion. But going totally #cashless wouldn't.

-Kenneth Rogoff


Related:
 

India Surprises with a Wealth Tax on the Black Market

Key purposes of the IMF

The government of Tuvalu has notified the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it has accepted the obligations of Article VIII, Sections 2(a), 3, and 4 of the IMF Articles of Agreement, with effect from October 7, 2016.

One of the key purposes of the IMF, as stated in the Article I (iv) of the Articles of Agreement, is to “assist in the establishment of a multilateral system of payments in respect of current transactions between members and in the elimination of foreign exchange restrictions, which hamper the growth of world trade.”

To promote this purpose, Sections 2(a), 3 and 4 of Article VIII establish certain obligations to refrain from imposing restrictions on the making of payments and transfers for current international transactions or from engaging in discriminatory currency arrangements or multiple currency practices without IMF approval.

By accepting the Article VIII obligations, Tuvalu signals to the international community that it will continue to pursue economic policies that contribute to a multilateral payments system free of restrictions. This in turn can facilitate its international trade and improve the economy's attractiveness to foreign investors.

- Tuvalu Accepts Article VIII Obligations

Macroeconomics after the Great Recession

IMF's Annual Research Conference

Macroeconomics after the Great Recession;

 The conference will honor Olivier Blanchard’s contributions to economic research and policy. Blanchard, a citizen of France, spent most of his professional life in Cambridge, MA. After obtaining his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1977, he taught at Harvard University, and returned to MIT in 1982. He was chair of the economics department from 1998 to 2003. In 2008, he became the economic counselor and director of the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund. Blanchard retired from the International Monetary Fund in September 2015 and joined the Peterson Institute for International Economics as the first C. Fred Bergsten Senior Fellow in October 2015.