Sudip Bandyopadhyay’s Blog

In the summer of 2008 when I landed in St. Petersberg, the first thing which struck me was the beauty of the lovely city,  erstwhile capital of Russia.  However once one starts looking beyond the majestic buildings , palaces and the gardens, one starts getting the distinct feel that though a modern city, the standard [...]

Athenian owls, Roman denarii, British sovereigns, US dollars.  There have been many pseudo reserve currencies down the ages.  Now the governor of the People’s Bank of China has called for a new global currency “disconnected from individual nations”.  Russia, too, wants to move away from a world dominated by the dollar. Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev [...]

It seems only yesterday that scarcity was the story. Energy and commodity prices were heading into the stratosphere. The oil was running out, food shortages loomed, Russia was resurgent and China was marching into Africa amid a scramble for dwindling resources.
Now? Prices everywhere are falling as recession bites. Investment banks have disappeared; and the global [...]