NYTimes: “Kota is a reflection of the culture of inequality that persists across Indian society. This past year, 2.74 million Indians sat for engineering and medical entrance exams, competing for 64,610 spots. More than 2.6 million failed. Of the students who arrive in Kota every year, only a small percentage are accepted to elite colleges. Known as “toppers,” they are seen as symbols of how grit and dedication can pay off. Everywhere you turn in Kota, the faces of toppers look down on you from billboards advertising the coaching center that tutored them. The many who fail repeat prep courses and retake tests multiple times until they can’t afford to keep trying. Some drop out and return to their villages to find temp work. Some get into lesser-known colleges, graduates of which often earn a fraction of what elite-college graduates can make. Some, mostly women, drop out of the work force altogether.”
Martin Wolf: “The marriage of liberal economics and democracy has brought immense benefits to the world, but faces its toughest test in decades. What needs to be done?…We must recognise the fragility of democratic capitalism even in its heartlands. But we must no less recognise its enduring value. We have inherited it from the struggles of our predecessors. We must reform and protect it for our descendants. In large part, success depends on the probity and wisdom of their elites. Only if trust is revived will the legitimacy of the system be protected against its predators, who are not only without, but also, alas, within.”
NYTimes: “Almost every cell in the body functions on a daily rhythm that lasts approximately 24 hours. This cycle determines not just when we fall asleep and wake up, but also our body temperature, our hunger pangs, our hormones and more. To wake up earlier and start a morning exercise routine, “what we’re trying to do is not just shift your bedtime, but actually shift your entire circadian clock to be earlier,” said Kimberly Fenn, a cognitive neuroscientist who studies sleep and learning at Michigan State University. “That’s the ultimate goal.” In the morning, we get a flood of the hormone cortisol, which is thought to help wake us up, among other things, Dr. Fenn said. But if you suddenly switch your alarm clock from 8 a.m. to 6 a.m., your cortisol levels won’t be high enough when it rings and you may struggle more than usual to get out of bed. Instead, she recommended gradually going to sleep at an earlier time.”
Art Carden: “Free markets…have multiple layers of accountability…First, a firm is accountable to its owners. A corporation’s employees are fiduciaries of shareholders who entrusted workers with the fruits of their labor because they expect the well-sown, well-tended fruits of those labors to generate even more fruit. Maybe they have wholly wretched motives and seek only to indulge their appetites. Maybe they want to retire comfortably. Perhaps they want to use the income to fund a hospital or a university. Their reasons are their own, and the people who run and work for corporations are already legally accountable to them. A firm is also accountable to its customers. If a business stops providing value for its customers, the customers stop coming. In Albert Hirschman’s framework, customers exercise exit regularly, and significantly, they don’t have to justify themselves to anyone.”
Ashoka Mody: “The problem with the elite commentary on India is that instead of examining the lived reality of Indians, it focuses on this animal called GDP growth, and more recently on some magical GDP targets of several trillions. This is juvenile economics. I am a former IMF economist who believes in the Marxian focus on power relations as key determinants of economic outcomes. In my IMF incarnation, I see so-called experts extrapolating from the growth rate this year to the next century, and I want to hold my head in my hand and sob uncontrollably. Because this is madness.”
Arnold King: “Books are not Information dense. Substack is much better…For several months now, I have found Substack to be more information dense than books. For 2022, I could not even come up with a list of best nonfiction books of the year. But I subscribed to a few dozen Substacks. I am reading fewer books that I did before Substack came along… speculate that nonfiction books are headed down the path of academic journals. They will be useful for academics positioning themselves for tenure, but they will be too slow and ponderous for communicating ideas. People who really care about ideas will turn to reading and writing substacks instead of books and journals.”
