I always thought it is better to have high-speed trains given the scale of activity in that domain. It was deemed as energy-efficient, low pollution and a better way for mass transit.
However, this interview of one of the best urban economists Edward Glaesar made me sit up. He says:
Paul Krugman and Robin Wells review this book by Jeff Madrick – Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present
The book details how key financial firms kept getting bailed out and pushed for more and more deregulation.
This history of Citibank is really interesting:
How China performs in upcoming years is hugely dependent on change in Chinese leadership in 2012. A lot of people are watching and guessing what is likely to come.
Jacques deLisle of University of Pennsylvania discusses these issues in this interview. Barring Chinese leadership, she discusses China’s relation with Hong Kong, Taiwan and of course US.
In particular this mention of how current combo of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao has been different from other leaders. They have focused on inclusive growth whereas others focused on just growth.
I had earlier posted about nature of RBI’s Technical Advisory Committee which is an informal committee formed by RBI GOvernor to help him in monetary policy. It was based on RBI Governor’s speech who detailed the framework. I had analysed in that post on what Alan Blinder would say on TAC design. It showed:
TAC design is like autocratic collegial committee where Governor has the final say on the decisions. However, from the minutes one gets a feel of a genuinely collegial committee where members agree to reach a group decision.
Now, RBI has made some changes which makes TAC look like FOMC of Fed. So you have Chairman of TAC (RBI Governor) and Vice Chairman (Deputy Governor) just like you see at Fed. Then there are other members as well.
Overall it looks like this:
https://www.intelligenteconomist.com/economics-blogs/
Mostly Economics 