People Power and Profits-Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent --- Joseph E Stiglitz

 

Lucas Films made famous the phrase ‘the dark side of the force’ and ensured that in the films, the dark side ultimately lost. In real life, however, the dark side is not so easily vanquished.

In the book being talked about here, Nobel Laureate and Professor of Economics at Columbia University, Joseph E Stiglitz, takes a long, hard and clear-sighted look at the dark side of the ‘American Dream’-the land of opportunity, the two car garages, the barbeques in the backyard, the Ivy League colleges……

The book is simply written, with a wealth of reasoning, data and references, and needs to be worked through with a fair degree of effort. The effort is, however, amply rewarded.

One striking feature of this work is the categorical inclusion of politics in the analysis and the assertion that economics and politics are inextricably linked and need to be studied together. Most economists tend to shy away from leavening their studies with such uncomfortable realities and stick to pure, but sterile, models of ‘the economy’.

Prof. Stiglitz does not, however, take the safe and uncontroversial path. He brings to light the economic malaise that the USA has experienced since around the early 1980s and shows how the politics of the Right -- the Republican Party -- has been responsible, to a great extent, for this malaise.

One major issue that the author highlights in great detail is the enormous danger of relying on ‘unfettered markets’ alone, to bring about growth with equity and social justice. In fact, if one were challenged to try and summarize the book in one sentence, one would say that it is ‘A study of the real dangers and serious limitations of unregulated markets as illustrated by the experience of the contemporary US economy and society.’

Like all summaries, this is inadequate, but does serve to highlight the principal focus of the study. The gains from reading the book lie, of-course, in the details.

From the early 1980s, inequality in income, wealth, opportunity, education and health has increased significantly and continuously. The top 1% get the bulk of the benefits of growth and ‘trickle-down’ does not work. The three richest Americans are worth more than the bottom half of the US all put together! The US has 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s prisoners and these are disproportionately African-American. The list of illustrations goes on and on.

 Growing inequality is, however, not inevitable. It is the consequence of bad policy resulting from an ideology-and-vested- interest based unreasoning and incorrect belief in the infallibility of markets and the undesirability of state intervention in matters economic.

When unbridled greed and inadequate regulation led to the financial sector creating the humongous economic crisis of 2008, the ‘too big to fail’ banks got a near trillion-dollar government bailout, but those who suffered as a consequence of their duplicity and greed were left to their own devices. Market concentration increased in 75% of industries in recent years and the big boys have used various techniques to regulate competition, retain disproportionate power over customers and suppliers, and avoid taxation.

Markets need to be regulated by the state in public interest.

In addition, the state has to ensure that ‘public goods’ are adequately provided, the environment protected and basic research heavily funded. Active policies and legislation have to be formulated and implemented to ensure equality of opportunity, improvement in intergenerational economic mobility and job creation. Those who lose out due to the impact of globalization have to be supported and jobs created that can compensate for jobs lost.

A judicious mix of state and market functioning is essential if the American Dream is to be realized for the bulk of Americans and not just a miniscule minority of the very rich.

Prof Stiglitz doesn’t just rail against an unjust and iniquitous system; he identifies problem areas, digs out the primary causes and offers possible solutions.

The book is focused on the economics and politics of the USA, but offers a great deal of insight into the problems facing India today.

Happy reading.

Master of the Spy Thriller -- David Cornwell aka John Le Carre RIP

 

The King Emperor is dead, may his books live forever in readers hearts! He was a Brit spy once upon a time, then turned to writing and the world of entertainment was never the same again.

Le Carre’s best known principal protagonist, hero of a series of gripping novels, is George Smiley, who enters the Le Carre world after retirement. (This statement is mildly inaccurate, but I leave it to the reader to find out why that is so).

George is short, plump, nearsighted and a scholar of medieval German poetry. He is also married to the beautiful and glamourous Anne, who is serially unfaithful. A poor little dab of a loser, you would think; but you would be wrong, because he is also a brilliant spy and a ruthless spymaster.

In the beginning was A Murder of Quality. A posh boys-only boarding school in a quiet village is shaken by a murder. One of the students is found dead, evidently murdered. George, a friend of the Head Master, is asked to look into the matter and we have our first meeting with the unlikely hero who will dominate the world of spy thrillers for years to come.

After this debut, George figures in a number of absolutely outstanding books, involved in an unrelenting battle of wits, blood and tears with his Soviet nemesis, the spymaster known by his workname, Karla. The Karla saga ends with Smiley’s People and George then disappears, presumably to his Bayswater flat to read his favourite German poets.

Le Carre’s best books, in this committed fan’s humble opinion, were about the Cold War and the list of Best Ever ended with Smiley’s People. But in between the Smiley stories, Le Carre wrote two unforgettable novels with other ‘heroes’. The most famous of these is The Spy Who Came in From the Cold featuring Alec Leamas, a hard man of deep commitments and a remarkable tragic hero. (George plays a bit role in the story, too). I have often felt that in the garb of a superb spy novel -- dark and treacherous -- Le Carre was actually crafting a delicate and touching love story. It is, of course, both, and that is a difficult act to pull off, but not for someone with Le Carre’s creative skills.

And finally, we have A Small Town in Germany, eclipsed by the fame of the other novels. This, too, remains one of Le Carre’s outstanding creations, a must read.

After Smiley’s People, Le Carre wrote several other thrillers -- I am disregarding the aberration called The Naïve and Sentimental Lover, whatever that was supposed to be -- but none that have gripped my entire being the way the early ones did.

For those who have yet to discover Le Carre’s writings I would wholeheartedly recommend that you get the whole lot -- from A Murder of Quality, Call for the Dead, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honorable Schoolboy, Smiley’s People, The Spy who came in from the Cold and A Small Town in Germany.

Having read this lot, you put them away and when you have a quiet weekend or a long journey ahead and no new book at hand, pick out any one of these and read it again!

Enjoy!

Baburnama -- Memoirs of Zahiru’d-din Muhammad Translated by Annette S Beveridge

 

History, as I remember it being taught in school, was always a soporific affair, a dull presentation of events in time. In the immortal words of the playwright Alan Bennett, ‘..just one f…g thing after another’.

The reality, of course, was very different and not particularly pleasant in the 15^th and 16^th centuries, the period of the Memoirs under consideration. Life was uncertain, brutal and frequently short, with the violence and horror of war ever-present. This was especially true for members and leaders of war-bands involved in constant bids for territorial acquisitions, raids and plunder.

 Zahiru’d-din Muhammad Babur, one such leader, became ruler of Farghana -- a ‘small country abounding in grain and fruits’ with ‘seven separate townships’ -- at the tender age of twelve. In more familiar terms, one could perhaps call him a big zamindar or minor Raja whose principal occupation during his rather short life of approximately forty- eight years was the waging of war for plunder and finding a kingdom to rule. He lost Farghana, conquered Samarkand and lost it, took Kabul and finally, towards the end of his life and on his fifth raid beyond the Indus, won the throne of Hind by defeating Ibrahim Lodhi at Panipat in 1526. Babur died in 1530

The first Mughal combined a strong sword arm with persistent drive and ambition.

“As there was in me ambition for rule and desire of conquest, I did not sit at gaze when once or twice an affair had made no progress.”

But Babur was more than just a tough warlord on the lookout for loot. And it is those other dimensions of the man that add an intriguing and piquant touch to his terse matter-of-fact prose.

He begins his memoirs with a couple of pages about the Farghana landscape: the flowing waters, the fruit – nashpati of Andijan, almonds of Kand-e-badam, apricots and pomegranates of Marghinan, and the pretty little baghchas (gardens) of Asfara.

 

One thing that strikes a reader on starting the book is the way in which language -- or rather words -- migrate with people. Any Hindi speaker will recognize nashpati, badam, bagcha(bagicha), subz (subzi), darakht, quasba, tariqa, hamesha (always) and many more Turki words that have a regular place in Hindi. Languages grow and are enriched by foreign borrowings and Hindustani is no exception. An occasionally vocalized insistence on ‘purity’ of Hindi -- whatever that may mean -- is retrogression. Still waters stagnate.

In addition to being a war-band leader, Babur wrote poetry, drank alcohol for much of his life, was strongly influenced by his grandmother and built gardens with flowing water-courses. The few revealing passages about his emotional life are short but deserve to be quoted .

Talking about his first marriage when he was about 17 years of age, he says, “Though I was not ill disposed towards her, yet this being my first marriage, out of modesty and bashfulness I used to see her once in 10, 15 or 20 days. Later on when even my first inclination did not last my bashfulness increased. Then my mother Khanim used to send me once a month or every 40 days, with driving and driving, dunnings and worryings.”

A more modern translation would perhaps be more effective but the point is adequately conveyed. A rather inhibited and repressed young man, the first of the Great Mughals!

He also records an infatuation with a pretty boy from the bazaar!

“I discovered in myself a strange inclination, nay! As the verse says ‘I maddened and afflicted myself for a boy in the camp bazaar…Until then I had had no inclination for anyone, indeed of love and desire either by hearsay or experience. I had not heard I had not talked….”

There is no record of how the matter ended.

Life moved on -- another day, another intrigue, another battle.

Once established in Hind, Babur writes in detail about this new land he finds himself in. It’s a brief and quite revealing study of North India -- zoological, biological and sociological. He regards the mango as the best fruit of Hindustan and regrets the absence of ‘flowing waters’ despite the existence of many big rivers and thus builds several gardens with ‘flowing waters’ in, it appears, Agra, Dholpur and Gwalior and possibly elsewhere too.

As Badshah too, Babur spent a great deal of time battling opposition, mostly Afghan residues of the Sultanate, and then died prematurely, aged about 48 years.

Reading the Baburnama can occasionally be a trifle wearisome --details of early raids, intrigues and political maneuvering get a little tiresome since one is not familiar with the people, places and events. The effort to continue , with some judicious skipping, is, however, well worth the while. The man behind the Badshah’s robes is fascinating, as is the nature of life in those desperate times.

Happy reading.
 

Masters of Thriller Writing --- Jonathan Kellerman

 

Tales of crime fighting duos do not end with the adventures of Spencer and Hawk (See earlier blog post) or with those of Pike and Cole (see even earlier post). We also have Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis solving murders in and around LA in a remarkable series of murder mysteries, the first of which was published in 1985 and the most recent in Feb.2020.

Alex is a psychologist -- specializing in child psychology -- who has taken early retirement from regular work and spends his time consulting occasionally, feeding his koi fish (a species of Japanese carp) in the pond in his Japanese garden and solving murders with his best friend Milo of the LAPD. Alex has a long-term relationship with his girlfriend, Robin, who makes – yes, with her hands – high-end guitars while Milo is openly gay and lives with his doctor partner, Rick. The police department looks askance at Milo’s sexual orientation and despite his stellar record in solving homicide cases, treats him badly in general.

None of this, however, gets in the way of Alex and Milo working together and catching murderers. The plots are often dark, but always compelling, and the pace relentless. Once you read one you more or less need to read them all -- they are that good.

The story does not end here. The author, Jonathan Kellerman has a  PhD in psychology, specializing in child psychology, and is a Professor at a medical college in, yes, California! Born in 1949, he published his first crime novel in 1985, having published medical stuff earlier. With the runaway success of his novels -- awards and all -- Dr Kellerman gave up his private practice but remains a Prof. at the med school.

Talk about art imitating life, multitasking and what have you!

The psychology, as expected, is serious and often disturbing and the characters convincingly drawn. The books have been major hits and deservedly so. For all murder-mystery aficionados, Kellerman’s novels featuring Alex and Milo are a must read; and the great thing is that there are a lot of them!

Happy reading.

Thrillers in real life_ the life and times of Warren Hastings

 

Sometimes life imitates art (consider a certain type of Indian wedding and those in Bollywood movies) while at other times art imitates life (consider War and Peace and the paintings of Vincent Van Gough.) It happens occasionally, however, that a life is so dramatic, so full of adventure, romance, violence , war and  intrigue that few writers would dare create a thriller in its image for fear of being laughed at for writing childish fantasy.

One such life of high drama was that of Warren Hastings. Orphaned at an early age and poor to boot, Warren was packed off at age seventeen  to serve the East India Company as a Writer (accounts clerk) in India instead of being sent up to Oxbridge where his scholarly and athletic prowess may have given his life a very different turn from the one it took.

School history books do, I seem to remember, mention Hastings briefly and in a very boring manner, as one of the many monsters who came East to trade and stayed to rule. The trick, however, as I  discovered by accident, is to read the life of Hastings as a thriller, presented by another imperialist, racist Sahib, who nonetheless had a remarkable command of the English language and a powerful, compelling style of writing --Thomas Babington Macaulay.

Macaulay’s essay on Hastings is more than 40000 words long and so qualifies as a book of sorts, for the purposes of this blog. It also, by the sheer quantum, intensity and variety of its dramatic content, qualifies as a remarkable thriller.

I could attempt to summarize the story, but summaries are dull things, while both, the events of Hastings life and their presentation by Macaulay, sparkle with energy, excitement and power. Hastings was no knight in shining armour and Macaulay’s attempts to both condemn and defend him are intriguing. One must remember that Macaulay was trained as a lawyer.

(A couplet of Akbar Allahabadi comes to mind here

Paida hua vakil to shaitan ne kaha

Lo aaj hum bhi sahib-e-aulad ho gaye

The poet was a sessions judge, by the way)

A few examples to illustrate Macaulay’s skill and power as commentator and essayist would not be out of order here.

 In setting the context for Hasting’s early life in India, TBM says,

“But at first English power came among them (Indians/Bengalis) unaccompanied by English morality. There was an interval between the time at which they became our subjects, and the time at which we began to reflect that we were bound to discharge towards them the duties of rulers. During that interval the business of a servant of the Company was simply to wring out of the natives a hundred or two hundred thousand pounds as speedily as possible, that he might return home before his constitution had suffered from the heat, to marry a peer's daughter, to buy rotten boroughs in Cornwall, and to give balls in St. James's Square.”

Historians may debate the ‘English morality’ that Macaulay talks about, but the greed is beautifully described!

The descriptions of Hasting’s measures to raise money -- ‘the shamefully bloody, mercenary, and lucrative subjugation of Rohilcund, paid for by Oude’, the unjust but brutally successful effort to ‘wring extra money out of the Rajah of Benares’ and the  equally successful steps to ‘terrorize, torment, and despoil the wealthy Begums of Oude’ is explained as follows:

‘The finances of his government were in an embarrassed state, and this embarrassment he was determined to relieve by some means, fair or foul. The principle which directed all his dealings with his neighbours is fully expressed by the old motto of one of the great predatory families of Teviotdale, "Thou shalt want ere I want." He seems to have laid it down, as a fundamental proposition which could not be disputed, that, when he had not as many lacs of rupees as the public service required, he was to take them from anybody who had. One thing, indeed, is to be said in excuse for him. The pressure applied to him by his employers at home, was such as only the highest virtue could have withstood, such as left him no choice except to commit great wrongs, or to resign his high post, and with that post all his hopes of fortune and distinction. The Directors, it is true, never enjoined or applauded any crime. Far from it. Whoever examines their letters written at that time, will find there many just and humane sentiments, many excellent precepts, in short, an admirable code of political ethics. But every exhortation is modified or nullified by a demand for money. "Govern leniently, and send more money; practise strict justice and moderation towards neighbouring powers, and send more money"-- this is, in truth, the sum of almost all the instructions that Hastings ever received from home. Now these instructions, being interpreted, mean simply, "Be the father and the oppressor of the people; be just and unjust, moderate and rapacious." The Directors dealt with India, as the Church, in the good old times, dealt with a heretic. They delivered the victim over to the executioners, with an earnest request that all possible tenderness might be shown.’

Hasting’s effective efforts to raise finance calls forth the following comment from the Essayist:

‘Whatever we may think of the morality of Hastings, it cannot be denied that the financial results of his policy did honour to his talents.’

 Macaulay’s concluding take on Hastings is a remarkable effort at having your cake and eating it too:

‘… in the two great elements of all social virtue, in respect for the rights of others, and in sympathy for the sufferings of others, he was deficient. His principles were somewhat lax. His heart was somewhat hard. But though we cannot with truth describe him either as a righteous or as a merciful ruler, we cannot regard without admiration the amplitude and fertility of his intellect, his rare talents for command, for administration, and for controversy,………’

Much has been said about Warren Hastings, but one dimension of his life is usually ignored -- the story of his courtship and marriage to the Baroness Imhoff, the wife of the impecunious Baron Imhoff, whom he met on his second voyage to India. It is a love story par excellence and Macaulay’s brief description of it is brilliant and heart-warming.

Whatever else he was -- brutal imperialist, 'murderer' of Nandkumar, knower of Persian and Arabic et al -- he was also a man capable of love.

Macaulay’s Essays are available for download at www.gutenberg.org and the essay on Hastings is in Critical and Historical essays Volume 1.

Happy reading

Masters of Thriller Writing--- Robert Parker

 

Sir Lancelot and others of his ilk, it is said, travelled on their prancing steeds and in their glittering armour all alone in search of evil dragons to slay and fair maidens to rescue. It came to pass, however, that over time brave knights seeking adventure, and of course fair maidens, felt the need of a travelling companion, assistant and lackey to do the hard work and while away the time between dragon-slaughter-and-maiden-rescue missions. Thus, were conjured up the Sancho Panzas’ to the itinerant Don Quixotes’ in the world of derring- do and high adventure.

Lackeys, however, tend to get boring; and so, creative writers like Alexander Dumas put together a group of pals who would adventure together -- drinking, wenching and politicking -- with both morals and armour (if they wore any) a trifle tarnished. The dragons became powerful, greedy men and if the fair maidens were not quite maidenly any more, they were nonetheless beautiful and often grateful for services rendered.

In modern times, some superb thriller writers have elaborated on this ‘pals paradigm’ and written some wholly absorbing accounts of principal protagonist and pal sallying out into the bad, bad world, righting wrongs and bashing the bad guys.

One such thriller writer was Robert Parker (1932-2010)

If a writer can create a character or two whom every reader ‘likes’ -- is impressed by and half in love with -- then she has got it made; success and a large readership is assured.

Parker has succeeded in doing so in forty odd novels featuring a private dick named Spencer and his pal, Hawk.

Spencer is big and tough -- which is more than just being strong -- and white, while Hawk is big and very tough and black. And, together, they are the scourge of bad guys in and around Boston. They do, of course, go out of town occasionally, sometimes all the way to California too, when crime calls, but they are Boston based.

The two met when they were young and trying to make a living as professional boxers. Spencer then became a cop, got fired for insubordination and moved into the private eye business. He does not have a college degree but reads serious books about culture and sociology and other such stuff and finds a long-term monogamous partner in Susan, a psychiatrist with a Harvard PhD. Hawk, on the other hand is a shadowy ‘enforcer’ in the underworld -- details not given -- plays the field and also reads serious books on Race and stuff. We, however, see him only when he and Spencer are working together on some case. The nature of the cases they deal with varies significantly, and the storytelling is always gripping and great fun. Even the occasional ‘love-relationship-commitment’ sermons, thankfully always brief, are executed skillfully and with finesse.

In addition to the Spencer series, Parker wrote a few other novels and one reads them more out of a sense of loyalty than interest, but one still reads them.

If you are just starting on Robert Parker, pick up a Spencer and you are guaranteed paisa-vasool and a hugely entertaining time.

Happy reading.

 

Verse and Worse-A private collection By Arnold Silcock

 

On popular demand from friends I’m posting a few more gems from Verse and Worse. The more one explores this magical collection the more great stuff one finds, so here goes. Enjoy!

 

Kicking Away the Ladder-- Development Strategy in Historical Perspective By Ha-Joon Chang

 

 

Down the ages, the wise have insisted that we learn the lessons of history, as ignoring them is risky business. In order to make sense of the present and plan effectively for the future, it is essential to study and understand the past. For this, however, we have to get history right, separate the myths from the realities, and check what was done right and what wrong.   

In ‘Kicking Away the Ladder’ Ha-Joon Chang, who teaches Political Economy of Development at Cambridge University, has argued that the policies the developed countries of the West used to climb the ladder of economic prosperity are not those they recommend to the developing nations of today. What they advise as ‘correct’ and ‘good’ and insist on as preconditions for any assistance from them and the international institutions they control, are not, in fact, what they themselves used to grow. They are, in effect, kicking away the ladder they used to climb up and thereby are adversely impacting the developing world’s efforts to follow in their footsteps.

Before you conclude that these are the rants of a nutty conspiracy theorist, it is essential to read the book. It is a slim volume, just 140 pages of argument, and with hard data the author dispels a number of myths and brings surprising and disturbing facts to light.

Consider the case of Great Britain, where the Industrial Revolution started in the 18^th century and established the nation’s economic supremacy for a time. Active intervention to encourage domestic manufacturing and discourage manufacturing imports through tariffs and subsidies characterized the British state’s economic policies till overwhelming technical superiority was achieved by the mid 19^th century and British manufacturing became confident enough to ask for ‘free’ trade. Free trade then became the instrument for growth in a world where British manufactures held a dominant position. Besides, British liberalization was also very state controlled, not a free operation of the famous ‘invisible hand’, not laisse faire. And when Britain lost its technical lead around the early 20^th century, tariffs came back!

The USA, too, grew to economic dominance under the umbrella of ‘infant industry’ protection that included not just tariff measures but also other active state interventions. From the late 18^th century till the mid-20^th century (World War II), high tariff walls protected US industry. Liberalization began only later, when dominance had been achieved and ‘free’ trade became necessary for growth. In addition to tariff protection, direct state action to promote agricultural research, public education and transport infrastructure also contributed significantly to growth. Laisse Faire, minimal government and the ‘invisible hand’ were not the driving forces behind the USA’s rise to world economic dominance. And even after the War, defence procurement and R&D financing remain very significant drivers of US growth. For example, a critical chunk of Research and Development in pharmaceuticals is funded by the US government. The lesson is, that despite what the Washington Consensus says -- liberalize, liberalize, liberalize -- development requires considerable protection and assistance from a proactive state!

The history of Intellectual Property Rights is also revealing! Everyone was ‘borrowing’ and nobody was protecting IPR till they had, by generally dubious means, established technical dominance. Then, of course, it became imperative -- in their national i.e. commercial interest -- to insist on protection for Intellectual Property. As illustration consider the following:

·       In the US, before 1836, patents were granted without any proof of originality; thus enabling patenting of imported technologies. Till 1891 the US did not acknowledge foreigners’ copyrights!

·       Switzerland did not have a patent system till 1907 and in the late 19^th century Germany was complaining of theft, by the Swiss, of IPR in the chemical industry, while the British were complaining of IPR theft by the Germans!

 

The author then discusses the issue of institutions and development. Extant economic wisdom insists that ‘good’ institutions -- liberal democracy, efficient bureaucracies, transparent and market oriented corporate governance and financial institutions, amongst others -- are necessary conditions for growth. History, however, teaches that so called ‘good’ institutions were more a consequence of sustained growth over a long period of time in the developed nations of the world. They were not growth drivers. It may be contended that some of these are ‘good’ in themselves -- of absolute value -- but the point is that they are not necessary conditions for growth. At least, they have not appeared to be so in the history of the advanced countries of today.

The above is just indicative of the food for thought that the book provides.  It is, in addition, simply and convincingly written and short, to boot.

Like all ‘good’ books, Kicking Away the Ladder makes one question preconceived notions and established wisdom. It is both educative and thought provoking. It teaches us some lessons from history that are hard to forget.

Happy reading.

 

Masters of thriller writing-Robert Crais

 

 

 

 

Robert Crais hit the thriller space with a bang in 1987, with the publication of his first novel The Monkey’s Raincoat featuring Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. And he hasn’t looked back since!

The thriller landscape is littered with wanna-be tough guys and private eyes but distressingly few can hold one’s interest even through the course of one complete book. Crais however, belongs to the select club of authors who convert a curious reader into a dedicated fan at their first encounter and retain that loyalty over more than thirty years and twenty  plus books.

Elvis Cole has a sense of humour and a smart mouth to go with it, but behind all the laid- back cleverness is a former US Ranger who lives in LA in “..a little A frame house perched on the side of a mountain just off Woodrow Wilson drive in Laurel Canyon”. He does Surya Namaskar and practices Taekwondo on his deck and runs a private detective agency with his friend Joe Pike.

Joe is a perfect foil to his friend and partner and more overtly lethal. He speaks little and smiles less; is a vegetarian, sleeps on the floor in a very bare condo,meditates, runs long distances and owns a gun shop. He is a former Marine-Force Recon-, served in Vietnam, the LAPD and as a mercenary before partnering with Elvis.

Together Elvis and Pike work the dark side of glittering LA, righting wrongs, catching crooks and generally being a pain in the whoosis of old antagonists in the Police force.

Everyone of the eighteen odd Cole and Pike novels is a delightful read. We suspend disbelief very willingly and dive in and relish every clever move by Elvis and every violent one by Pike. Superb entertainment -every time!

In addition to the Cole and Pike series, Crais has written a few stand-alone novels and these too, are outstanding examples of the genre. To give you just a quick peek, a recent book has, as principal protagonist, Maggie Marine. Her formal name is Military Working Dog Maggie, an eighty five pound black and tan German shepherd trained to attack and to detect IEDs. She served two tours in Afganistan , got wounded and lost her handler to an IED and ended up with the K9 unit of the LAPD. Maggie and her new handler together help build a vastly entertaining story.

In sum, you cannot go wrong with a Robert Crais. If you spot one you haven’t read, pick it up instantly before someone else does; find a comfortable couch and a free weekend and enjoy!

Happy reading.

Good Economics for Hard Times by Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee

 

Professors Banerjee and Duflo published Good Economics for Hard Times in 2019, the same year they won the Economics Nobel.

The title sets the tone of the book. The authors begin by identifying some of the principal features of the ‘hard times’ facing the present-day world. These include growing economic inequality -- of both income and wealth -- increasing social polarization by race/ethnicity/religion leading to fractured societies, growing angst amongst the deprived and declining trust in state structures. To deal with these hard times the need of the hour is good economics free of ideology, preconceived notions and assumptions divorced from reality.

The authors have focused their attention on eight areas of concern for the modern world. They examine the issue of migration and its consequences, both real and imaginary (viz. politically created), look at the pains of free trade and the failure of theory based on unrealistic assumptions about the real world. They question the economists’ assumption of given and immutable human preferences and ask if the days of growth are over and what are growth’s determinants anyway? Global warming, technology, employment and inequality, the legitimacy of the state and the merits of cash disbursals and the importance, for welfare policy, of a regard for individual dignity are also examined in detail.

Banerjee and Duflo are serious iconoclasts, writing clearly and arguing cogently using a wealth of data from a wide range of studies by many researchers, to effectively question inadequate theoretical conclusions, false ‘facts’ and ‘common sense’ perceptions that do not make sense at all.

The proportion of international migrants in the world’s population has not changed between 1960 and 2017 and low skilled migrants have not caused a drop in employment or in wages anywhere! The poorest do not migrate overmuch; societies just like economies are ‘sticky’ for many reasons and large -scale migration stems largely from desperation created by sustained violence. And, on the other hand, Sergey Brin was born in Russia and Steve Jobs biological father was from Syria!

Trade theory claims, amongst other things, that free trade raises national income for all participants but assumes that resources are homogeneous and shift smoothly and seamlessly between occupations and geographical regions. This assumption is false. Labour is far from homogeneous  and both labour and capital are ‘sticky’ too. As a result, even if total national income increases from trade, there are losers and winners and the former need state assistance if overall welfare is a matter of concern. If the angst of the losers and its consequences for an otherwise well- to- do society like the US are to be mitigated, effective state intervention is a must.

It must be emphasized here that a blog post can only give, at best, a brief glimpse of some interesting things in a book of more than three hundred densely packed pages. The authors dive deep into each selected issue  and examine multiple dimensions in detail in every case. And to get at that, the book has to be read as it deserves to be, slowly and carefully.

Economists take peoples’ preferences as both given and immutable and proceed on their analysis therefrom. In a fascinating chapter, the authors examine the whole issue of human preferences and individual and herd behaviour based on them, in the modern context of the Internet, social media and the ‘echo chambers’ created by these tech developments. A case study of Princeton students demonstrates, in very disturbing fashion, how deeply embedded racial stereotyping can be; how much self-doubt it can engender and the extent to which it can influence behaviour and performance.

Climate change, likely consequences and possible remedies, are discussed in detail. One important fact to remember is that 10% of the world’s population contributes 50% of CO2 emissions and 50% of the least polluting population contributes 10%.The authors also emphasize that the impact of global warming will be hardest on the poorest populations of the world and that, to avoid disaster, there may be no option other than a change in energy consumption habits along with rapid evolution of green technology.

Inequality of income and wealth -- causes, consequences and possible redressals -- are taken up for extensive discussion. The fact that free markets cannot handle all problems leads to the need for state intervention and an examination of the efficacy of the modern state. Those of us familiar with the ‘extractive’ and corrupt state may be jolted by the argument that if the markets cannot do something ,the state must intervene, even if the cost is higher than it should ideally be. It is also good to remember that corruption is as much a part of the private, market environment as it is endemic in the state structure.

A chapter on ‘Cash and Care’ highlights the need for universal unconditional cash transfers, along with more targeted efforts to deal with want, not just in the third world, but even in the USA. The implications of such a policy are analyzed, the problems -- financing and implementation -- discussed and the necessity of incorporating considerations of human dignity in notions of welfare, emphasized.

In conclusion, Professors Duflo and Banerjee reiterate the need for abandoning inadequate assumptions while formulating development policy. Bad ideas --distorted by ‘ideology, ignorance and inertia’-- can do enormous harm. Eternal vigilance appears to be the price of good policy and in the authors’ words ‘Without... vigilance, conversations about multifaceted problems turn into slogans and caricatures and policy analysis gets replaced by quack remedies.’

The book is not an easy read but a very rewarding one. It is educative, it makes one question, it makes one think.

Happy reading.

Masters of Thriller Writing -James Lee Burke

 

 

Very few thriller writers get nominated for the Pulitzer or even win more than one Edgar Award. James Lee Burke has done both.

One reviewer said that Burke “blurs the boundary between so-called ‘serious’ literature and detective fiction” and another that his “prose ...has a pronounced streak of poetry in it”. High praise, and all of it well deserved.

But just in case you get the impression of a soft, gentle, poetic sort of detective fiction, stop and correct the impression. Burke’s books have darkness, violence and despair along with love and compassion and great, absolutely riveting, good-versus-bad, storytelling.

Dave Robicheaux aka Streak is big, tough, and no longer young. He was a Marine in Vietnam and a detective with the New Orleans Police Department before we meet him in Iberia Parish of southern Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, working as a Deputy in the Sheriff’s Department. Dave’s past is dark -- alcoholism, the brutal murder of his first wife and a deep wellspring of violence that is hard to control. Despite the past, or perhaps because of it, Dave battles crime single mindedly and in his characteristically gripping, and often gut wrenching, fashion.

Damaged heroes, who are nonetheless convincing and attractive, are hard to create, but Burke succeeds brilliantly with Dave Robicheaux. In Streak, he has created a protagonist that can be ranked right up there, or almost, with Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlow, who of course, is far more understated.

Detective fiction, especially such as feature policemen as principal protagonists, tend to be long on procedure and short on nature and ambience. But here again Burke is different, and powerfully so. His portrayal of the Gulf Coast -- the sea, the swamp, the vegetation, the wildlife -- is remarkably evocative and in no way takes away from the action.

Burke has published over forty books of which more than twenty feature Dave Robicheaux. He has other protagonists, and their adventures, some in Montana, others in Texas, also make for great reading. However, if you are just starting on Burke -- lucky you -- begin with the Robicheaux series and you will be hooked, forever and a day.

Happy reading.

Basic Income: A Transformative Policy for India by Sarath Davala ,Renana Jhabvala, Somya Kapoor Mehta and Guy Standing

 

 

In recent times, the issue of ‘ basic income’ has acquired a political hue with various political parties adopting different avatars of this long discussed policy measure .This politicization of policy has ,as always, led to a considerable muddying of the waters of reasoned debate with ideological debris.

In this context the book by Davala et al is a refreshingly clear and extremely educative work of scholarship based on hard data from field research.

The authors begin by carefully defining their terms and the task at hand .Their objective is to assess the impact on clearly specified parameters, of a modest basic income disbursed monthly in cash without conditions, to all individuals in selected villages.

In Indore district of Madhya Pradesh eight villages all roughly similar in size and socio- economic structure, roughly equidistant from an urban centre and in close proximity to a primary school were selected at random for a trial as were twelve villages to serve as ‘control’ villages for purposes of comparison. Similarly, one tribal village was selected for trial and one control village for comparison. The NGO SEWA was active in all the villages and was part of the project which was funded by UNICEF. For a year and a half  every individual ,adult and child, in the trial villages got a certain sum of money  unconditionally.(Rs 200 per adult and Rs 100 per child between June2011 and May 2012 and Rs 300 per adult and Rs 150 per child between June 2012 and November 2012).No income was disbursed in the control villages . A base line survey was conducted before commencement of the pilot, an interim survey half way thru and a final evaluation survey after the pilot ended. The impact assessment of Basic Income was based on the huge amount of data these surveys generated.

It is important to emphasize that in addition to the pathbreaking results of the project, the book serves to educate in numerous other ways.

The authors analyze the functioning of two important policy measures adopted in India for poverty alleviation-the Public Distribution System for free/concessional distribution of essential commodities , primarily foodgrain , and the public works program to offer work to those wanting it in the rural areas. The PDS is expensive to run, plagued by leakages and corruption and often does not guarantee adequate availability of the products it purports to supply. Public works, even if adequately funded, do not help those unable to perform hard unskilled labour-the most vulnerable amongst the poor- and often do not create useful assets .They do not contribute to skill creation either.

The authors also emphasize the problems in any kind of conditionality or targeting in social welfare schemes. The problems of cost of implementation, inaccuracy due to exclusion and inclusion errors and corruption in field operations are rampant. By comparison, unconditional cash transfers appear to offer a better option as regards both efficiency and equity.

Having examined the pros and cons of various approaches to poverty alleviation the authors proceed to assess the impact of basic income on various symptoms that poverty exhibits in the villages studied, as compared to the control villages. Here too, before we reach the impact assessment, those of us not familiar with the realities of rural poverty in India, stand to learn some very disturbing stuff. Rural indebtedness, despite the plethora of financial institutions created over the years, and resulting from it ‘tied labour’, is a reality ten years into the 21^st century. An indebted labourer may , on the strength of a loan, remain a naukar of a big landowner for long periods of time-often a lifetime!

The authors examine the impact of basic income on personal welfare, income and productivity and importantly, on freedom-the emancipatory effect of such income.

The principal welfare parameters are indebtedness, living conditions (toilets/energy use/water sources) nutrition and health. To pick up just indebtedness, Basic Income made a significant difference very quickly with debt showing a decline in both tribal and non- tribal villages. Households became more resilient in the face of external shocks- often the basic cause of indebtedness. The cynical view , that ‘private bads’ like alcohol consumption would increase were categorically disproved by the results and shown to be based on prejudice, not ground realities. Every welfare parameter showed improvement with Basic Income and the authors contend that the ‘emancipatory value’ of Basic Income was far more than just it’s monetary value.

Productivity and thereby income also showed improvement with Basic Income which permitted small investments that enhanced local income earning abilities and even impacted migration . Since women got the same income as men there was significant positive impact on women’s voice and a sense of identity and citizenship. A movement towards gender equity was thus an important consequence of Basic Income.

There is no claim that a small , universal , unconditional cash transfer is a magic wand to eliminate poverty. It is however emphasized that it can be an important tool especially if we face up to the fact that there are serious limitations to the tools currently in use-PDS, MGNREGA and very importantly the huge subsidies currently in vogue that are acknowledged to be largely regressive.

The one argument that I personally found overwhelming was that a small cash transfer can serve as a “minor correction for brute ill luck”. Endemic, visible poverty has perhaps desensitized us to a great extent and the absence of want has made us so complacent and we forget -as the authors remind us- that the basis of wealth is more often inheritance than personal effort and ability. Equality is perhaps impossible in the human condition and equality of opportunity is a dream that can be aspired to ( ‘getting to Denmark’, as Francis Fukayama put it) but how can we deny a small recompense for the visible and  implacable brutalities of fate.

The book is long, simply written and the regressions are confined to the appendix. It is not a light read but a rewarding one.

Happy reading.

Masters of thriller writing: Donald E Westlake aka Richard Stark (1933-2008)

 

 Many years ago, on the pavement near Flora Fountain, Mumbai, I discovered a bunch of slim and rather battered looking thrillers in paperback. A quick reading of the back covers promised entertainment and their poor condition ensured they were cheap. A win-win all around, I thought, and I was right.

My love affair with the Parker series by Richard Stark started that evening.

Parker, tall, strong, silent and immensely tough, is amongst the most impressive, and dare one say, attractive anti-heroes in the noir space. He is a robber by profession, and not one of your milk-and-water burglars either! Parker specializes in armed robbery. Large scores, banks, armored cars and suchlike, planned in detail and executed slickly with a team of fellow professionals is what Parker does best. But there are always flies in the ointment that make life interesting beyond the heist. Some wannabe tough guy feels he can cross Parker and make off with the entire swag and violence ensues.

 This of course, is just one variation on the theme of violence and betrayal that permeates Parker’s dark underworld and makes these books un-put-downable. But significantly, Parker does not hurt anyone who does not deserve it; and there is a lady love, the only one with whom Parker is a trifle gentle.

Westlake-Stark won several Edgar Awards, published more than a hundred books, of which more than twenty are as Stark featuring Parker. Stark ended the Parker series years ago and then after a hiatus of twenty odd years, revived it -- much to the joy of fans like me.

I picked up a few new editions at very reasonable prices back in the days when there were many bookshops one could browse in. The good news is that the Parker books have been reprinted. Some are reasonably priced and some not. The publishing trade is incomprehensible in this regard.

For thriller aficionados, especially of the tough, noir genre, Parker is irresistible.

Try your luck in the bookshops and if you see a reasonably priced Parker, pick it up. You won’t regret it.

Happy reading.

Poor Economics--- By Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo

 

 

Almost a decade ago,long before they won the Nobel Prize,Economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo published 'Poor Economics'.The book was a runaway success and remains immensely relevant today.

'Poor Economics' is written simply and clearly -- not one econometric model or Game Theoretic theorem in sight -- and argued convincingly with solid data backup. For anyone concerned about the issue of poverty and all that goes with it, the book is an essential read -- both educative and deeply disturbing.

The authors begin by highlighting a seemingly obvious but oft disregarded proposition -- to tackle a problem one needs to understand it in painstaking detail. And if it involves human beings, one needs to get up close and personal and understand the mind sets, the motivations and the basic emotional drivers of the people involved. In practice, despite pious protestations about the emergent need for poverty alleviation by both academics and policy makers, poverty tends to be studied from a distance and the poor set up as two-dimensional caricatures.  ‘Ideology, ignorance and inertia’ appear to be the key determinants of both theory and policy and the result is that the outcomes are less than satisfactory, to say the least.

Such trenchant criticisms are not simply a radical rant of fringe looneys -- these are mainstream Ivy League economists and, besides, they offer logical argument to counter ideological theories and  also a practical method, the much hyped Randomized Control Trials, to evaluate  policy measures. To top it all, they present an 18 country database derived from field level studies to back up their conclusions.

The authors are suspicious of broad, simple and sweeping solutions that promise to wipe out poverty in one fell swoop. They insist that a more appropriate approach is to focus on particular issues in specific environments and design policy measures after rigorous testing in the field using RCT for validation. Randomized Control Trials, brilliantly borrowed from the medical field, are best described in the authors’ words:

 ‘In an RCT…individuals or communities are randomly assigned to different “treatments”— different programs or different versions of the same program. Since the individuals assigned to different treatments are exactly comparable (because they were chosen at random), any difference between them is the effect of the treatment.’………

 

‘A single experiment does not provide a final answer on whether a program would universally “work.” But we can conduct a series of experiments, differing in either the kind of location in which they are conducted or the exact intervention being tested (or both).’

The authors don’t confine themselves to general assertions; instead they examine a series of poverty related issues ranging from nutrition, public health, primary and secondary education to fertility and finance and throughout, the focus is on the poor – their circumstances, their compulsions and deriving therefrom their life decisions.

The process is simple and immensely powerful—from grass roots investigation and interaction to comprehensive understanding; from understanding to policy formulation; from formulation to validation and from validation to implementation or acceptance for implementation.

In every one of these explorations one finds fascinating insights. One revealing conclusion relates to ‘time inconsistency’ in human behaviour. Most humans tend to place a higher value on present gratification as opposed to future gratification and this impacts many decisions including those relating to present consumption versus saving. “I’ll consume today and save tomorrow, definitely!” But that tomorrow never comes. This tendency is aggravated when the future is both uncertain and unpromising or frankly bleak and resources are obviously inadequate to make any difference even in the medium to long run. Some of the seemingly ‘irrational’ consumption and savings decisions of the poor may well be very rational given their circumstances! 

The same logic applies to a tendency to avoid the immediate inconvenience of standing in line for a child’s vaccination today and postponing it to some undefined future occasion. Even when the benefits of vaccination for future health of the child are known, the immediate ’headache’ of getting it done is small but significant. But since it is small it can be overcome with a slight ‘nudge’— a small but significant incentive. This was tested and found effective -- a gift of a modest amount of dal was enough to tilt the balance in favour of immediate vaccination instead of postponing it in a study done in Udaipur district in Rajasthan.

A whole series of other poverty related issues are examined by the authors. What are the consequences of the ‘Elite Bias’ in primary education? Has the focus on the best and brightest and the neglect of the rest in school education severely damaged educational outcomes? Is cheap food through the public distribution system the best way of dealing with poor nutrition amongst the poor or are there other areas that should be focussed on? Why have the plethora of nationalized banks not met the credit requirements of the poor? How come the money lender is still important in their lives?

 Are microfinance institutions the new miracle cure for the credit requirements of the poor wannabe entrepreneur? A detailed study of this issue reveals that while MFI’s do help significantly, the miracles are few and far between. The rags to riches stories peddled by these institutions are exceptions not the average rule. The ‘businesses’ most of the poor run are simply not profitable enough to transform their lives, MFIs notwithstanding! Other solutions have to be found.

Why are preventive health measures which are both cheap and effective neglected and expensive cures focussed on? What makes the admittedly inadequate state expenditure on health largely infructuous? What are the consequences of asymmetry of information amongst the poor, and moral hazard amongst medical practitioners, for the health of the poor?

The list goes on and on.

The best that the blog format adopted here can do is to give a brief glimpse of the insightful nature of this work. The book is long and by no means a light read but the effort to work through it is enormously rewarding.

Happy reading!

Masters of Thriller Writing --- Gavin Lyall

 

 

Gavin Lyall (1932-2003) flew with the RAF, worked as a journalist and then, from the early 1960s, switched to full time thriller writing.

Lyall wrote about fifteen odd thrillers and several of them are amongst the best examples of the genre, no exaggeration!

My personal favourite is ‘Midnight Plus One’ set in Europe in the early sixties. Just in case someone looks at the setting and feels it is dated and therefore likely to be boring, think again. Once you start the book it is almost impossible to put it down. The hero, a Brit, worked in France during the Second World War with the French Resistance and built up a very tough reputation. Post war, he is back in Paris as a business consultant, when a wartime acquaintance offers him a lucrative and rather simple -looking contract -- to escort a rich businessman by road to a European destination.

The journey begins rather inauspiciously with a murder and then races across Europe at high speed, gathering gun-battles, double-crosses and assorted thrills en route. The protagonist is seriously impressive in a silent, strong fashion; the plot is a piece of twisted cleverness and the pace is gripping. In addition to the high-grade thrills, Lyall adds one rare and impressive feature to the narrative -- a quiet love story that is knitted into the tale with a very delicate touch and establishes an effective counterpoint to the high intensity violence all around it.

Lyall has, in addition, written a set of aviation thrillers -- pilots and planes involved in all sorts of mayhem -- and a series featuring Major Harry Maxim, a widowed SAS officer, who finds himself dealing with secret and sensitive situations in the company of secret servants, one of whom is female, attractive and unattached.

All of these books are simply outstanding thrillers and Lyall a grand-master of the genre. Availability is, however, a problem and several of his books are very highly priced -- even the Kindle editions. The good news is that Midnight Plus One is priced reasonably on Kindle. Of course, second hand book shops, where such entities still exist, are the logical places to look for Lyall.

Good luck and happy reading.

  

An Introduction to Haiku – An Anthology of Poems and Poets from Basho to Shiki with translations and commentary By Harold G Henderson

 

 

Clouds come from time to time

And bring to men a chance to rest

From looking at the moon

                                           Matsuo Basho

(Translated by Harold Henderson)

Good translations of poetry are particularly difficult because the translator needs to be not only a master of the two languages involved but also a poet of serious ability. Reading Harold Henderson’s translations of some of the major Japanese Haiku poets of the 17^th and 18^th centuries confirms that he meets both criteria. From 1927 to 1929 he worked as the Assistant to the Curator of Far Eastern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He then went to Japan for three years and returned to teach Japanese at the University of Columbia, New York. Professor Henderson thus meets the academic criterion very easily. And when you read his translations of some of the greatest Haiku ever written, you will agree that he has, in addition, poetic sensibility of a very high order indeed.

The book has two chapters that introduce the reader to the main characteristics of this poetic form and tell us a little about the early developments of this genre. And then begins the poetry, and that is seriously powerful stuff.

It can be argued that the ‘classic’ introduction to Haiku in English are the four volumes titled Haiku by RH Blyth, scholar of Japanese culture and, apparently, a contemporary and friend of Harold Henderson. The four substantial volumes  certainly have a great deal more content than Henderson’s one slim volume-more haiku and many references to haiku equivalents in English poetry etc etc. However, Henderson fans will argue, in turn, that Henderson’s translations have more poetic value, if that means anything at all.

Just for a bit of fun, I shall offer translations of a few major haiku by both scholars, and readers can decide which versions they like best.

 Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) (Poet and Zen Buddhist monk of Samurai blood)

Context is often crucial in understanding haiku. On one of his many travels Basho writes that he climbed up to Takadate, the site of a famous castle and of the final battle of Japan’s most famous warrior hero, Yoshitsune, ‘thinking of bygone glories’. On reaching the site Basho found just ‘a wilderness of grass’, and he sat down and wept.

 

 

He then composed the following haiku

Summer grass:                                                                  

Of stalwart warriors’ splendid dreams                       

The aftermath                                                                                                       

(Henderson’s translation)    

 

Ah summer grasses!

All that remains

Of the warriors’ dreams

(Blyth’s translation)

 

One summer night Basho went for a boat ride in the Bay of Akashi. On the shallow sea floor fishermen had laid out earthenware pots which functioned as traps -- an octopus would, in the dark, enter the pot thinking it to be a crevice in the rocks and then it would be unable to come out.

Basho composed the following haiku:

Octopus traps; how soon                                                                                         

They are to have an end-these dreams                       

Beneath the summer moon (Henderson’s translation)                                                  

 

 

 

 

The octopus trap

fleeting dreams.

Under the summer moon

(Blyth’s translation)

When it was evident that he was dying, Basho’s friends asked him for his ‘death poem’. Basho initially refused saying that all his poems of the last ten years were death poems but the next morning he presented the following haiku:

On a journey, ill,

And over fields all withered, dreams

go wandering still.

(Henderson’s translation)

 

In Henderson’s words “Surely as lovely a farewell as any poet ever gave to the world.”

Henderson’s book is available on Amazon and the Kindle edition is cheap-- INR 333.39! The paperback edition is ridiculously expensive. Blyth’s Haiku in four volumes does not appear to be available at present.

Happy reading!