Sudip Bandyopadhyay’s Blog

The economic paradigm developed during the boom years was based on the idea of flexibility. The economically successful countries were those that allowed flexibility in goods and labour markets. Rapid growth lay ahead of them if they permitted companies to hire and fire without restrictions; if wage contracts made it possible for companies [...]

Thirty years ago, retailers would be quite content to source the shoes they wanted to sell as cheaply as possible. The working conditions of those who produced them was not their concern. Then headlines and protests developed. Society started to hold them responsible for previously invisible working conditions. Companies like Nike [...]

Thirty years ago, retailers would be quite content to source the shoes they wanted to sell as cheaply as possible. The working conditions of those who produced them was not their concern. Then headlines and protests developed. Society started to hold them responsible for previously invisible working conditions. Companies like Nike went through a transformation. [...]

The Greenspan idea that monetary and regulatory policy cannot prick asset price bubbles but should deal with the consequences when the bubble has burst – now looks dangerously quaint.  The intellectual justification for the Greenspan idea – was that identifying equilibrium levels of asset prices is difficult; and policy tools to prick or limit bubbles [...]

Is leverage a problem for the world economy? Is the global “savings glut” at the root of the current credit crisis? In my  view, the answer is no. Saving is good - provided it is well directed - and leverage per se is not a hindrance to economic growth. If capital can be efficiently allocated [...]