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There's a pretty obvious benefit which I'm surprised no one is talking about, given that Pakistan has rising external debt. Future user fees (toll, port charges/taxes etc.) from CPEC can be securitised and used to generate funds domestically today. These sorts of securities backed with a...

Yes, but he'll stay only until after the UP election.

It's going to be Jaitley to Defence, Parrikar to Home, Rajnath to BJP President, Amit Shah to Gujarat CM , Goyal to Finance, Smriti Irani to Water Resources and Ganga Cleaning, Vinay Sahasrabudhe to MHRD and Uma Bharti to BJP General Secretary. They will wait till end 2016 to finish the process.

@BDforever My family comes from Chittagong and Comilla. I have never been to Bangladesh, are these nice places to visit? My grandfather always told me how beautiful Chittagong was. I know that their houses are still there and would love to go and see them.

Here's a link to today's interview. Overall, I am quite impressed with him. He was far more forthright than most other politicians from either country would be, and seemed to have both courage and a vision. It would be great to hear some Pakistani thoughts on what he said. Imran Khan...

Talat Masood has always held moderate opinions. In Carlotta Gaul's 'The Wrong Enemy', she describes a conversation between Masood and Musharraf (which was never denied by either party) , where Masood tries to convince Musharraf to stop patronage to terrorist groups used as proxies against India...

I'm sorry but all that Putin is, is a megalomaniac addicted to power. He's creating diversions from Russia's internal problems to protect himself. He wants Russians to get caught up in a wave of nationalism so his failings don't come to the surface. Look at what is happening to Russia's...

Despite being a Modi supporter overall, I think the Indian response is immature and unnecessarily belligerent. All India needed to say was: 1. We reject Pakistan's stand on 'Occupied Kashmir'. 2. We welcome the call for ceasefire on the LOC, but reject the call for expanding UNMOGIP. 3. We...

I'm not supporting his claim to be JNU vice-chancellor. I'm merely saying he's a smart chap. I have no idea whether he'll be a good administrator. In fact, if the government is keen on making him JNU vice-chancellor just to prove a political point (which seems to be the case), then I would...

Agreed. While I disagree with him on many things too, he is a really smart chap. He got his PhD from Harvard at 26. He got into Harvard in the first place because he proved that PC Mahalanobis's (Nehru's favourite economist and the author of India's second five year plan) growth model was...

If you really are depressed, in the clinical sense, please ignore all the advice here. It's not shyness, loneliness, lack of a girlfriend etc. It's a disease. I have had regular bouts of mental illness (not depression but various kinds of psychosis) for the last 11 years. Only 3 things help at...

My grandparents who were from Chittagong speak Chatgaiya amongst themselves. It's not too hard to understand for a Bengali speaker. I can usually get the gist of what they are saying without too much difficulty.

As far as I know, Pakistan has a reserved quota for Afghan students in colleges and universities as well. Whatever their political differences may be, Pakistan has been very magnanimous in providing for Afghan refugees. I know there are some complaints about the treatment of Afghan refugees, but...

I not against or in favour of Iran going CPEC. It's entirely their business. But where does this article say that they have agreed to join (other than the headline)? Form what I understand a proposal has been conveyed which will be taken back to Iran and considered. So this thread is a bit...

His histrionics are not limited to matters concerning Pakistan. His is just as over-the-top, if not worse, when it comes to local issues. Unfortunately, he has started believing his own myth. The success has gone to his head and he sees himself as a guardian of the public's interest. He has room...

In the modern world the most important determinant of a currency's value is financial flows. Since the size of financial transactions dwarfs trade in goods and services, currency fluctuations can be explained entirely in terms of financial flows. Therefore, you're right— risk adjusted asset...

I'll look up the methodological objections China has. As a concept, PPP is sound. Therefore I'd imagine that the differences are purely methodological and not conceptual. I think the political dimension is exaggerated. The idea behind PPP, particularly its conceptual predecessor, 'the law of...

I agree with you as far as currency matters in terms of a nation's influence or power (not the nominal value of the currency, but it's stability and therefore it's use in denominating transactions and reserves— and you could argue, reversing causality, that the use of a currency in denominating...

Actually, every economist in the world uses PPP for international comparisons. By definition, the whole idea of PPP is to facilitate international comparisons. I work as an economist in an international organisation and you would be laughed out of the room if you insisted that nominal GDP was a...