Archive for September 19th, 2025

Gurgaon Shows Why Private City-Making Doesn’t Work

September 19, 2025

India’s crumbling cities are leading to all kinds of responses. Most say govt has failed.

This article by Ankita Karmakar citing Gurgaon says private sector has failed:

So, what went wrong in India’s forays into building a “global city”? Importantly, what lessons does it hold as turbo-charged urbanisation by private interests reshape land-use and development while governments and public authorities across the country take the backseat?

The story of Gurgaon is, at once, complex and simple: cities cannot be created by private capital alone and the state cannot merely acquire land, hand it over to private entities, and collect taxes. Cities are made collectively by the state, private interests, and all the people who occupy them.

 

Posted in Academic research & research papers, Indian Economy/Financial Markets | Leave a Comment »

Industrial Revolution in the United States: 1790-1870

September 19, 2025
In this new NBER paper, Joshua Rosenbloom discusses industrial revolution in US :  

This chapter explores the distinctive trajectory of American industrialization up to 1870, emphasizing how the United States adapted and transformed British technologies to suit its unique economic and resource conditions. Rather than a straightforward transfer of innovations, the chapter argues that American industrial development was shaped by path-dependent processes and historical contingencies—such as the Embargo Act of 1807 and government sponsorship of firearms production—that enabled the emergence of a domestic innovation ecosystem.

The chapter offers fresh insights into how high-pressure steam engines, vertically integrated textile mills, and precision manufacturing techniques evolved in response to labor scarcity, capital constraints, and abundant natural resources. A particularly novel contribution is the detailed analysis of how American manufacturers substituted mechanization and organizational innovation for skilled labor, leading to the development of technologies that were not only distinct from their British counterparts but also foundational for the Second Industrial Revolution.

The chapter also highlights the democratization of invention, showing how economic incentives and institutional support fostered widespread innovation among ordinary citizens. By integrating technological, economic, and institutional perspectives, this chapter provides a compelling explanation for why the United States developed a robust manufacturing sector despite seemingly unfavorable initial conditions.

Posted in Academic research & research papers, Economics - macro, micro etc, Financial Markets/ Finance, Growth and development | Leave a Comment »

Money Dialogues: Three friends consider the meaning of money, innovation, and stability

September 19, 2025

Interesting article by Tomasso Mancini-Graffoli who presents a discussion on new forms of money via a dialogue between theree friends:

Imagine three friends meeting in the Roman forum. One is optimistic about technology, one skeptical, and one is after the bigger picture. They start debating the role of money shaped by innovations such as stablecoins, tokenized deposits, central bank digital currency (CBDC), and digital financial infrastructure. In a world laced with uncertainty, dialogue is paramount. Let’s listen in.

Posted in Academic research & research papers, Central Banks / Monetary Policy, Economics - macro, micro etc, Financial Markets/ Finance | Leave a Comment »

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