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I teach economics, but it’s not my first love. History is. The daughter of a master storyteller and social studies teacher, I spent my summers in history-rich upstate New York listening to my father unfurl the mysteries of our beloved nation. I continued studying history at Hamilton College. But I chose to get my graduate education in economics. The reason? I am much stronger at math than at reading. Full article …

Here is pdf of this study. Excerpt: “Our previous research showed that immigrants were CEOs or lead technologists in one of every four tech and engineering companies started in the United States from 1995 to 2005 and in 52 percent of Silicon Valley startups. These immigrant-founded companies employed 450,000 workers and generated $52 billion in revenue in 2006.” and “Returnees cited career and quality of life as the main 63.2 percent of Indian respondents said that the emotional growth of children was better in their home country.” U.S. public schools (and private schools) are a key problem for high-skills immigrants from India…

New York Times post that discusses this study.

A Service to the Economy: Removing Barriers to “Invisible Trade”
by Sallie James, Feb 4, 2009.

Restricting international trade in services would hurt the U.S. more than most economies. Excerpt: “Although they are part of a large and growing segment of world trade—and a prominent feature in healthy, vibrant economies—services are often overlooked in trade negotiations in favor of higher-profile trade in agriculture and manufactured goods. Yet countries with more open services markets benefit from higher growth rates and living standards. Because services are an input to most other sectors of the economy, the benefits from open and competitive markets are pervasive. Indeed, the gains from lowering remaining trade barriers in services would eclipse the gains from trade liberalization in agriculture and manufacturing. The recently derailed Doha round of global trade talks seem to have put globally coordinated efforts towards liberalizing services trade on the back burner for the foreseeable future.”

Slumdog Thousandaire video on Reason.tv

Page also includes discussion of economic ideas. Excerpt: “Indians were enthusiastic about self-rule, but “the problem was that the Indian political leaders had this very Fabian Socialist idea,” says Shikha Dalmia, a senior analyst at Reason Foundation and native of India. “And that completely thwarted the entrepreneurship of the country.” and, “Since the early 1990s, India has cut its poverty rate in half. About 300 million Indians-equivalent to the population of the entire United States-escaped the hunger and deprivation of extreme poverty thanks to pro-market reforms that increased economic activity.”

“Why do U.S. multinational companies establish affiliates abroad and hire foreign workers? What kind of tax breaks are they receiving? And should the new Congress and new president change U.S. law to make it more difficult for U.S. multinational corporations to produce goods and services in foreign countries?” Full study here.

“Contrary to popular myth, U.S. multinational companies do not use their foreign operations as an “export platform” back to the United States. Close to 90 percent of the goods and services produced by U.S.-owned affiliates abroad are sold to customers either in the host country or exported to consumers in third countries outside the United States. Even in Mexico and China, where low-wage workers are supposedly too poor to buy American products, more than half of the products of new and existing U.S. affiliates are sold in their domestic markets, whereas customers in the United States account for only 17 percent of sales.” Full study here.

2009 Index of Economic Freedom: “India’s economic freedom score is 54.4, making its economy the 123rd freest in the 2009 Index. Its score is only 0.3 point higher than last year because improvements in financial freedom, government size, and business freedom were offset by significant decreases in investment freedom and labor freedom. India is ranked 25th out of 41 countries in the Asia’Pacific region, and its overall score is below the world average.”

December 3, 2008 study by Swaminathan Aiyar: “In contrast to the rest of India, where it is the government that predominantly owns and manages ports, the Indian state of Gujarat has implemented various forms of port liberalization since the 1990s….Gujarat has broken new ground with different forms of privatization, ranging from private provision of port services to completely private ownership of new ports.” U.S. policy should encourage private infrastructure development in India. Full text of study here.

“Sustaining India’s Growth Miracle is a valuable resource for practitioners, policymakers, students, and scholars. It tackles issues from political, economic, and academic perspectives, and the concluding chapter, a talk given by the commerce and industry minister of India, discusses the country’s position as a world power, outlining several reasons for its success and exploring the difficulties that lie ahead.” Notes on this Columbia Univ. Press. here (published Jan. 2008)

John Stossel in the Classroom

John Stossel investigates claims about “sweatshops.” Click here for the video (WMV). Go to the Stossel in the Classroom website for more videos. See also the The Virtue of Sweatshops by Stefan Spath from The Freeman.

At FreeTrade.org, a Book Forum for Razeen Sally’s New Frontiers in Free Trade.

Heritage Foundation

Promoting U.S. and Indian Prosperity Through Freer Trade and Economic Liberalization (Heritage Foundation).

India Poised

India Poised video page

AOL video

The American

“India is a center for drug counterfeiting—a profitable and deadly business that is spreading to the United States and Europe.” The American, May/June 2008.

SiliconIndia

“Indians are smart and creative people. They have also proven to be hard working and thrifty. India is a well-endowed land, with a good climate and plenty of natural resources. It has a vibrant, enduring democracy and the rule of law prevails. So why does India continue to be dirt poor after 53 years of independence?” (Full article at Centre for Civil Society) (Full article at SiliconIndia)

Cato Institute

India Lets Success Happen by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar. This article appeared in the American Spectator (Online) on July 1, 2008.

New Delhi’s Food Failure by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar. This article appeared in the Wall Street Journal Asia on April 28, 2008.

India: The Emerging Giant (Oxford University Press, 2008). Book Forum at Cato Institute with author Arvind Panagariya, with comments from Swaminathan Alyar.

Deepak Lal (Cato, UCLA)

Reviving the Invisible Hand: The Case for Classical Liberalism in the Twenty-first Century

Amazon look inside here.

Sample chapter for this Princeton University Press book here.

Review of book in The Independent Review here.

An Indian Economic Miracle? (pdf) (Cato Journal, Winter, 2008)

The Threat to Economic Liberty from International Organizations (pdf). (Cato Journal article, 2005)

Foreign Policy: “The Status Quo in Kashmir?” From: R.N. Rosecrane & A. A. Stein (eds): No More States? Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD, 2006 (scanned pdf of chapter)

Peter Bauer: Blazing the Trail of Development by Ian Vasquez (pdf). Students researching India should be familiar with P.T. Bauer’s early research on the damaging consequences of foreign aid (to India and other countries).

Index of Economic Freedom, India at 104. . . .