Poor Economics

Bad news for poverty-wallahs: India is less hungry now

An NSS survey shows that almost all people are now reporting eating two square meals a day. So why then do we need a universal Food Security Bill?

UPA-nomics: How to hoard grain and let food prices soar

The government is hoarding Rs 60,000 crore worth of excess rice and wheat stocks. But it is also letting food inflation soar. How daft can policy get?

Caveats on cash transfers: Don't over-commit, don't screw up

Direct cash transfers will work if they are designed well. But it is important not to over-commit resources, says Abhijit Banerjee of MIT.

Sonia Gandhi's pals turn critics on the Food Security Bill

The votaries of food security find the UPA's Food Security Bill seriously flawed. They want universalisation without centralisation.

Economist Abhijit Banerjee in UN development panel

Indian economist Abhijit Banerjee is among the 26 people who have been named by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as members of a high-level panel to advise the world body on the global development agenda beyond 2015.