Mr. Rajan, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, has been honored with awards this winter for his role in helping to bring momentum back to the country’s economy. His unexpected interest rate cut on Thursday helped strengthen emerging market stocks around the world. At home, the view is less favorable, as Mr. Rajan […]
Central banking isn’t a contact sport like football, or even cricket. But the head of India’s central bank, who until recently was living and working in the U.S., is throwing some sharp elbows at his counterparts at the Federal Reserve. This is as close to a brawl as you’re likely to see in the genteel […]
For the most part, India’s current growth slowdown and its fiscal and current-account deficits are not structural problems. They can all be fixed by means of modest reforms. This is not to say that ambitious reform is not good, or is not warranted to sustain growth for the next decade. But India does not need […]
Banking reforms alone, however, aren’t going to bring foreign investors back or prevent the rupee from falling further. This is (Raghuram) Rajan’s real challenge: He is stepping into a stew of financial chaos, missed opportunities and political paralysis that has been simmering for years. It’s no longer inconceivable that India could become the first of […]
Congratulations to India for appointing Raghuram Rajan as the new governor of its central bank. It would be hard to think of anybody better qualified — not even Janet Yellen. But condolences to India for the news that monetary and financial policies aren’t the main obstacles to its prosperity. The economy needs better management, all right, but not […]
Two fundamental beliefs have driven economic policy around the world in recent years. The first is that the world suffers from a shortage of aggregate demand relative to supply; the second is that monetary and fiscal stimulus will close the gap. Is it possible that the diagnosis is right, but that the remedy is wrong? […]
The first time I met Raghuram Rajan, the Indian economist couldn’t sit still. It was over coffee in Bangkok in November 2008, less than two months after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. imploded and almost took the global financial system down with it. Rajan had become a big draw by then, having warned as early as 2005 […]
looking beyond borders 