Ninan: “Bear in mind that India would be far from unique if it did achieve “developed country” status by 2047. More than 80 countries (including territories) are already classified by the World Bank as being high-income, whereas India is still lower-middle income. More than 65 countries are ranked by the UN Development Programme as having attained “very high” levels of human development; India is still in the “medium” category, and well short of even the “high” category. The country also remains some distance away from eliminating what is called multi-dimensional poverty. So, even as India strives to climb the development mountain, the fact is that the mountaintop is already crowded. If it got there in 2047, India would be very much a late-comer. These realities should encourage the country to abandon premature hubris about having arrived already. While the record of the past three decades is well above average, much stiffer tasks await and India has to raise its game — unless we are just dealing with another chimera.”
NYTimes: “Hiking offers all the cardiovascular benefits of walking, but the uneven terrain does more to strengthen the leg and core muscles, which in turn boosts balance and stability, said Alicia Filley, a physical therapist outside Houston who helps train clients for outdoor excursions. It also generally burns more calories than walking. These benefits multiply when trails increase in elevation. If you want to build upper-body strength, Ms. Filley said, you can wear a weighted backpack and use trekking poles. Spending time in nature and having experiences that inspire awe can also lower stress and anxiety.”
WSJ: “The ability to move around on two legs, known as bipedalism, is a defining feature of modern humans. Yes, various other things make us human—a big brain, dexterous hands, language, material culture—but bipedalism is a turning point in human evolution. Just why it came about is debated, but experts generally agree that it gave our ancestors an evolutionary edge, helping them survive in a primitive world. Yet becoming bipeds also doomed humans to a pair of knees that is one of the weakest links in our bodies. Anatomically speaking, the human knee “suffers from a rather precarious design,” anthropologist Owen Lovejoy has written. The knee is a hinge joint, working on the same principle as the hinges that attach a door to its frame while allowing it to swing forward or backward…Knee joints enable humans to walk upright on two legs, but the way they evolved makes them fundamentally unstable.”
The Road to Socialism and Back: An Economic History of Poland, 1939-2019: “For four decades during the latter half of the 20th century, Poland and its people were the subjects of a grand socio-economic experiment. Under the watchful eye of its Soviet masters, the Polish United Workers’ Party transformed the mixed economy of this nation of 35 million into a centrally planned, socialist state (albeit one with an irrepressible black market). Then, in the closing decade of the 20th century, under the leadership of Polish minister of finance Leszek Balcerowicz, the nation was transformed back into a mixed economy…The road to socialism and back also teaches us something about the intellectual development of economic thinking. As we will see, the debate surrounding economic calculation in a socialist economy highlighted not only a fundamental flaw in socialist planning, but also a critical feature that allows markets to work. Markets work because they permit economic decision-makers to engage in rational economic calculation. This calculation depends on the constellation of relative prices and the accounting of profits and losses that emerge from the free choices of individuals trading property rights. It allows us to sort out the economically viable projects from the technologically feasible ones. Without such a price system, these calculations are impossible, and this sorting does not occur. Resources are systematically wasted and inefficiencies in production and exchange abound.”
