Interesting readings

A most interesting speech by P. Chidambaram: text, and a web page with an audio recording of the speech and the discussion.

The price of a tiger, an editorial in the Business Standard.

Adil Rustomjee on Firstpost on the elaborate racket that is Indian banking.

Clarifying RBI's role and purpose by Ila Patnaik in the Indian Express.

Remove restrictions on foreign investment in rupee denominated debt by Ila Patnaik in the Financial Express.

RBI gears up to try to do interest rate futures again by Ila Patnaik in the Financial Express.

Forcing managers of firms to gift away 2% of the money belonging to their shareholders is a bad idea. It is depressing, how comfortable the Indian State is in using its coercive powers to interfere in the right to property and right to contract of private citizens. In the Business Standard today, Shekhar Shah wonders how we can salvage some sense out of this.

Ullekh NP in the Economic Times tells a story of an extremely important new project: the Delhi-Bombay Industrial Corridor.

Response to SEBI's Discussion Paper: Review of policy for trade cancellation/annulment by Nidhi Aggarwal and Chirag Anand of IGIDR FRG.

Impact of restrictions on currency derivatives on market quality by Rajat Tayal of IGIDR FRG.

New research by Biggerstaff, Cicero, Puckett on unethical CEOs.

People who are steeped in Europe of the 20th Century know that social and political catastrophes are always possible. Accominotti and Eichengreen look back at the end of the First Globalisation, and find that the sudden stop that hit Austria, Germany and Hungary (1925-1932) was similar to what hit Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ireland (2006-2012).

Jon Krakauer in the New Yorker resolves a mystery involving the outdoors, rooted in plant biology and linking back to World War II.

A video with a discussion with Frank Dikotter on the early days of the Chinese revolution, which helps us better understand the notion of `land reform'.

A great story by Colin Dickey in the most excellent Lapham's Quarterly, about the early explorations of the seas and of the Arctic Circle, and the conquest of scurvy.

Why Microsoft Word must Die: a nice explanation of why people who know about computers have a problem with Microsoft Word, by Charlie Stross.

The Nazi Anatomists by Emily Bazelon on Slate.