With income inequality rising both across and within nations for the last several decades, the message of this year’s prize should not be lost on policymakers Nobel Prize in economics, was awarded to Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson of MIT and James Robinson of the University of Chicago. (AP) By Chandan K Jha and Sudipta Sarangi The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2024, aka the Nobel Prize in economics, was awarded to Daron Acemoglu

Why adding “caste” as a form of discrimination in the US anti-discrimination laws is a good idea despite caste discrimination not being widespread in the country. Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi On February 21, Seattle became the first city outside South Asia to officially recognize “caste” as a form of discrimination. The ordinance approved by the Seattle City Council adds “caste” as an anti-discrimination category along with race, religion and gender. Just as with the latte

The program forgives $10,000 for individuals (households) making less than $125,000 ($250,000), and $20000 for those on need-based Pell grants (to target the neediest). We believe India can learn some valuable lessons from this, especially given the current debate in India about “freebies.” By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi On Wednesday, Oct. 3, US President Joe Biden created history by announcing debt forgiveness for student loans. The program forgives $10,000 for individua

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., center, and her son Adam, left, attend a rally to urge President Joe Biden to cancel student debt near the White House in Washington, Wednesday, July 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) AP ```html By Chandan K. Jha & Sudipta Sarangi The beauty of President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan is its simplicity — $10,000 forgiven for those who make less than $125,000 or $250,000 for the household, and $20,000 for those who received Pell grants.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks to lawmakers during a House Committee on Financial Services hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades) By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi Chandan K. Jha is an associate professor of finance at Le Moyne College, in Syracuse. Sudipta Sarangi is a professor of economics at Virginia Tech and author of “The Economics of Small Things.” In her Nov. 16 letter to the leaders of the Congress,

Such a heartwarming decision can also be explained by the risk perceptions and mutually-linked dreams of rival contestants By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi ```html On 1 August 2021, an incredible event took place at the Tokyo Olympics—Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy shared the gold medal for men’s high jump. Both Barshim and Tamberi had cleared 2.37 metres and were unable to clear the 2.39-metres bar even after three attempts. When the Olympic off

By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi It is a time of palpable desperation—filled with scary stories and disturbing images. Social-media feeds are predominantly queries about hospital beds, oxygen, medication and even medical advice. In the international press, India has become synonymous with funeral pyres. Prayers are as much in play as the quest for medical treatment. A particularly difficult part of today’s situation in India is not just the grief and despair caused by death

Their contributions to the theory of auctions got Milgrom and Wilson the Economic Nobel. The duo's methods in everyday auction practices, especially the telecom sector, is invaluable. By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi It was the middle of the night when the phone rang. He answered the phone, and then walked across the street and knocked on his neighbour’s door to congratulate him. Meet Robert Wilson and Paul Milgrom – winners of the 2020 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic S

Yes, urban Indians are cooking much more during the coronavirus pandemic. But only that doesn’t explain why we By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi Why do we see so many food pictures on social media platforms? If food pictures, or ‘food porn’ as it is called on social media, were already exploding on Instagram, Facebook and even TikTok, the coronavirus pandemic has clearly seen it increase manifold. With life going online, and us being restricted to four walls in reality, it w

Gender stereotyping and sexism sets in early, particularly in the absence of co-ed schooling. It disrupts lives and careers By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi It is well known that behind every successful man there is a woman. Sometimes one also hears that behind every failed man there are many women. Our goal today then is to take these pearls of wisdom to a preceding stage — the age of boys and girls and see what we know about performance in schools vis-à-vis these statemen

Destructive as they may be, natural disasters offer nations a window of opportunity to rebuild themselves Class angle: Natural disasters affect the poor the most. | Photo Credit: AHMAD MASOOD By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi A little over a month ago, an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale struck Nepal, causing immense loss of life and property. Aftershocks continued for quite a few days. Although it will not be the same again for many people and places, Nepal

By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi Discrimination, whether in India or the US, is motivated by different factors and contexts. It helps to separate the strands Some weeks ago, a shocking video showing a South Carolina policeman shooting down an unarmed man as he was running away came to light; needless to say it created a furore all over the US. It reminded people of a similar incident that occurred last August in which an 18-year-old boy, again unarmed, was shot dead by a po

Parties field fewer women because voters lack faith in women leaders’ abilities — a vicious cycle we need to break Male preserve That's what Indian elections are all about NISSAR AHMAD | Photo Credit: NISSAR AHMAD By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi Political parties and voters are equally to blame for the low representation of women in Parliament. Throughout history, women have fought all kinds of odds to achieve success in a male-dominated political world. From Cleopatra to

By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi Differentiating what you are selling from the crowd matters in the marketplace, whether for products or jobs. When the going gets tough, even the tough find it hard to land good jobs. It’s even harder for those not made of sterner stuff. In a slowdown scenario with all the attendant uncertainty, finding employment requires that extra bit — of skills, luck, connections or a combination of these (ideally all three). Complicating matters is the

Telegrams, the ultimate in brevity. — Sushil Kumar Verma By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi Recently, while we were discussing a problem involving communication and precision of signals in economics, over lunch, the fact that one wouldn’t any longer be able to send telegrams in India somehow cropped up. One of us representing the younger generation (Chandan) confessed, somewhat embarrassedly though, that he had no clue what a telegram was even while he had heard the term. No

By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi Spring is over and peak summer is approaching. The Arab Spring that began in December 2010 also seems to be over, but more than in a narrow meteorological sense. Folks in West Asia, North Africa and elsewhere are now talking of the gruelling path ahead — the so-called Arab Summer. The Arab Spring really shook the world — a tumultuous event that saw ordinary people take to the streets to fight against oppressive regimes on the strength of mer

By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi The recently elected 16th Lok Sabha of India will have a record number of 61 women parliamentarians. This column assesses whether women in the labour force or positions of power can have an impact on corruption. Analysing data from over 125 countries, it finds that women can reduce corruption but only in policymaking positions. They can do so via policies and not because they are necessarily less corrupt. Several studies in social and behavi

By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi A possible and necessary change Marie Curie  and her husband received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903.  She was the first woman to win this award. She was considered a collaborator of Pierre Curie, her husband, and was not paid. She obtained her first paid position after the Nobel Prize. She won the Chemistry Prize eight years later, becoming the only person to win both in these sciences. Marie Curie was discriminated against for many yea

By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi The extensive use of social media was a key factor in the success of the anti-corruption movement in India in 2011. This column uses cross-country data to explore the role of social media and internet in reducing corruption and promoting transparency in government. It finds that the use of social media and internet is associated with lower levels of corruption across countries. In August 2010, a non-profit organisation called Janaagraha  lau

By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi About six million women are ‘missing’ each year from the world, of which 2 million are from India alone. This article finds that there are proportionately more missing women in regions with poorer ancestral ecological endowments, both across countries and in Indian districts. It suggests that there was greater gender inequality in terms of command of resources in prehistory in less endowed regions, and the underlying behaviours have been cul

With Chandan K Jha The proliferating number of rape incidents in India is chilling. This column discusses the various perspectives on the causes of rape, and the economic, social and legal factors that play a role in the high incidence of this crime in the country. It suggests taking steps to increase the cost of rapes for the perpetrators. On 26 October 2013, a 16-year old girl was gang raped in West Bengal. Two months later, the culprits set her on fire to get rid of the ‘e

By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi Although women are disadvantaged in different walks of life everywhere, they enjoy much better status in some societies than others. Perception regarding women’s rights and abilities vary starkly across countries. For instance, while only 1.8% and 5.2% of respondents of the  World Values Survey [1]  agree with the statements that “men make better political leaders than women do” and “men should have more right to a job than women in times of