G Sreekumar, Author at Tiger and Palm Tree

Apologies…

My apologies to the few who knew about and have been closely following this blog. In view of the lockdown, there should be no excuse for not updating the blog regularly. But, for the past two months, my priorities changed to doing numerous online courses, other writing, and researching for the same. As per my new schedule, starting from 1 August 2020, I will try and update with new posts at least twice a week, every Tuesday and Friday, the other days being reserved for my other blogs.

© G. Sreekumar 2021.

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Labour Reforms

One of the contentious issues that is going to come up in the coming months is labour reforms. Many wonder why the present government did not bring this in the first year of its first term. Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, in Mint a few days back (27 May 2020) outlined nine measures required to reform the labour laws in the country. Briefly, these are as follows: Continue reading “Labour Reforms”

Are we Goodhart-ed? Some questions for pandemic times

In monetary theory, Goodhart’s Law states that “when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” That is because people, and even governments and other organizations start gaming the target. Known after Charles Goodhart, Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics, and a former Chief Adviser and External Member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England, who had propounded it, Goodhart’s Law was originally formulated in the context of monetary policy during the Thatcher years. But its utility goes beyond monetary policy in explaining various phenomena where targets are met, but underlying performance is poor. Continue reading “Are we Goodhart-ed? Some questions for pandemic times”

Srinivasa Ramanujan with C.D. Deshmukh and P.C. Mahalanobis

The death centenary of Srinivasa Ramanujan, which fell on 26 April 2020. Sadly, went largely unnoticed in India. Even Google did not know, or did not find any need to doodle.

To mark the occasion, I had written a rather long essay for the OPEN magazine which published it online on the same day (see here). I had given it to them only the previous night. Those interested in a slightly different version, with more pictures, please see here. Continue reading “Srinivasa Ramanujan with C.D. Deshmukh and P.C. Mahalanobis”

Book Review: Backstage by Montek Singh Ahluwalia

I have two versions of a review of this recent book by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Backstage: The Story Behind India’s High Growth Years. When I first wrote it, it was too long, at over 3000 words. I had to trim it down considerable and make it 700 words, for The Open Magazine. I will post a link to that review here as and when it is published in that shorter form. Those who might be interested in the longer form, please read on. Continue reading “Book Review: Backstage by Montek Singh Ahluwalia”

My first lessons in central banking

Though I joined University College, Trivandrum, in 1978, for my BA (Economics), I shifted to the Government Arts College, Thycaud, Trivandrum, within a few months. This was for two reasons. First, Arts College offered Mathematics as a subsidiary as against History in University College. Second, Banking System was one of the optional papers at the Arts College, as against some other subject in University College. Continue reading “My first lessons in central banking”

Reforming Deposit Insurance

This is the last of three articles from my younger days that I am posting here on this site. All because they continue to be relevant, and are not available in the public domain. This article on deposit insurance goes back to July 2000. It is a critique of some of the key recommendations of the Working Group on Reform of Deposit Insurance in India (Chairman: Jagdish Capoor). Continue reading “Reforming Deposit Insurance”

Should banking supervision be separated

This also is an old article, going back to 1998, like my earlier post. I am re-posting it here as the issue continues to have relevance, is not available in the public domain, and of course, it gives me an i-told-you-so moment. Continue reading “Should banking supervision be separated”

Narrow banking

This is an old article, going back to 1998, which I thought became relevant with some suggestions for narrow banking coming up here and there. Continue reading “Narrow banking”

Tiger and Palm Tree: The Title

Today is the 85th anniversary of the inauguration of the Reserve Bank of India. It was about one year back that I decided to start a blog covering issues relating to Indian banking and central banking. Continue reading “Tiger and Palm Tree: The Title”