Clusters, not champions
Recently, Nokia decided to shut its factory in Sriperumbudur, following a tax dispute with the Indian government and the loss of orders from Microsoft, who took over most of Nokia’s cellphone business...
View ArticleSelection bias in Catalunya?
Catalunya, where I spent two weeks last month, votes today in an “informal referendum” on whether to secede from Spain. This vote is non-binding after the Spanish Supreme Court declared an earlier...
View ArticleThe Catalan Referendum
The results of the Catalan “informal referendum” are in, and show that over 80% of the respondents in the referendum have indicated a “Yes, Yes”, which means they want an independent Catalunyan nation....
View ArticleRegulation in capital cities
David Henderson notes that taxicab fares in Washington DC are much lower than anywhere else in the US, and for this he mentions the fact that Congressmen are frequent taxicab consumers in DC, and thus...
View ArticleFrom STD Booths to Information Kiosks
An IT Action plan submitted to the first NDA government in 1998 had envisaged a plan to “turn STD/ISD booths to information kiosks”. Considering that this was at a time when most of India did not have...
View ArticleMob courts and social media
The withdrawal of the invitation to former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal from the Times of India Lit Fest (to be held later this week) has been held up as a stellar example of “victory of social media...
View ArticleImplementation and rule of law
Draconian laws coupled with lax implementation deliver too much power to regulators. This makes the business environment unpredictable and makes it harder to do business. Following the arrest for rape...
View ArticleWhy app based taxi services should not be banned
The move towards banning Uber and other app-based taxi services is devoid of logic on several counts Writing during the Takshashila Hudson conference on India’s growth I had argued that an easy way to...
View ArticleUber, Meru and Service Taxes
The use of arbitrary barriers in regulation, like the Rs. 10 lakh limit on Service Taxes is counterproductive and can lead to a non-level playing field. More importantly such barriers encourage...
View ArticleOther airlines to bail out Spice Jet?
In a rather bizarre move, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has directed airlines to not charge “exorbitant fares” for passengers stood up upon cancellation of Spice Jet flights. This is...
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