Inclusive Growth.

At the cost of being termed 'nerdy', I shall use this medium to think aloud my thoughts on the current talk of the town - Inclusive Growth. (See, I have invested so much time and effort the last six months in my MBA program that there have been spill-over effects and I have begun to believe that the trade is closer to my passion than engineering. Then again the last statement was fairly strong and is subject to the standard disclaimer: Strong statements are subject to market risks and are expected to change and temper with time.)

Well, coming back to the issue. A lot has been said about Inclusive Growth and no doubt a lot more will be said.. Now here's how I see the problem.

I believe that the issue of inclusive growth is a 'principal agent' problem (Google for principal agent problem in the economic context.) The agents being the haves and the have-nots. So, then if a particular section of the society is disbarred or prevented from sharing the profits of the entire community, it could act in accordance with its own interests and, thus, create market disturbances.

In simple layman terms, the interests of the entire community, society or organization need to be well aligned. For this to happen, the implication is that the rewards of progress need to be fairly distributed to all the stakeholders. More importantly, no one should get the feeling that they got a raw deal. This does not mean that you reward poor performance. On the contrary, poor performance should be punished and the agent should be told in very clear terms the basis on which his performance was judged, why he did not perform and what steps he could take to improve future performance. Similarly, excellent performance needs to be adequately awarded, thus, incentivising the agent to perform even better in the future.

Simple problems have simple solutions and complex problems have even simpler solutions. The concept of the principal agent problem is applicable in most disharmonious organizations and societies, and my limited knowledge would suggest that it applies to the problem of non-inclusive growth in the Indian economy.

Wise cracks!

In the mood for wise cracks today, so here goes!!

- Everyone's after the time value of money (read interest rate), but what about the money value of time (read opportunity cost)??

- When there's a gold rush, everyone runs after the gold, a few run after the spades. Guess who make the fortune?

Encounters of the marital kind.

First post for the year. So, by default, has to have masala. And in good measure, while I am at it, am gonna spike up the drink.

Ok, I am new to the marital encounters and while I do offer consultancy services to many a friend, many of whom have been blessed by my advice, this was a first for me.

In all earnestness, this was like the driving test that I took in the US. I go to the driving school. The instructor tells me go drive the car. I take the car out into the streets, do my best to make sure I don't ram into that truck, and scare the bonkers out of every car that dares to come near me. Fifteen minutes later, the guy says let me out, you passed the test. I go what the!, smile and get my license.

Ok, so lets play "Meet the parents."

Conventional Indian arranged marriages go: Guy and his family and uncles and aunts go to the gal's house. The gal comes in with a tea tray laden with goodies, and delights everyone with her culinary delights, and shyly says my name is Mira.

Fast forward to 2008, I had the gal's family come over to meet me at my house. No gal, just Mommy dear and Papa dear, who wanted to take a good hard look at me. Talk of men's liberation or the changing times. Whatever, I come in with the tea-laden tray.

Mommy Dear: "So, beta, did you make this samosa?" I nod my head in glee. "And how much 'moin' did you put?" This is worse than an I-banker's interview but hell I am prepared for this! "Two tbsps!" Mommy dear pacified, its Papa bear's turn.

Pappa Bear: "And what are your hobbies?" I shag. Well, couldn't tell him that, so I talk about my stamp-collecting and coin-collecting interests. Papa Bear is impressed. Beta's gonna take good care of my stamps and coins, he thinks..

Well, mission accomplished. Mommy Dear and Papa Bear gave the green signal. Now I move to the second round of interviews -this time with the gal. But then that's another story, another day!