Articles

Long-term Decline in Crude Oil Demand and Competing U.S. and Russian Interests

Saudi Arabia is eager to boost supply and slash oil prices to punish Russia for exceeding its production quota. But the Saudis will likely manage supplies to keep prices around $70 to appease the U.S. administration.  

Book Review:

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

by Alice Schroeder

Knowledge@Wharton, July 15, 2009

(*The publication does not list names of authors.)

Excerpts: Buffett’s most important act is donating his wealth, mostly to the Gates Foundation, and that too to be spent in twenty years, mainly on health care and education. As Buffett states, “… the idea of passing wealth from generation to generation so that hundreds of your descendants can command the resources of other people simply because they came from the right womb flies in the face of a meritocratic society.”

Also, unlike most other philanthropists, Buffett has not set up a foundation nor paid for buildings at hospitals or museums to try to perpetuate his name.

As an investor, Buffett is fearful when others are greedy, holding onto the cash generated by Berkshire’s businesses. Then, during severe stock market or industry declines, he is greedy when others are fearful, buying good businesses at very attractive prices.

Buffett’s three rules of portfolio management are: 1) don’t lose money; 2) don’t forget rule one and 3) don’t go into debt. His focus, an intellect which is a perpetual learning machine, rationality, confidence and an ambition from childhood to become rich, are identified by Schroeder and others as the personal traits that drove his success. Then, he attracts talented people to work, partner and deal with him due to his honesty, fairness, letting them do their job without interference and crediting them for any success. 

The world of music is ever growing and evolving, and we’re not just talking about sound trends. With the consistent introduction of varying revenue streams and distribution channels, the opportunity for profit grows, but so does the complexity. We take pride in clearly explaining and navigating the often foggy landscape of entertainment law and its relationship to music industry professionals of all types. We help our clients draft and negotiate contracts relating to recording, publishing, licensing and distribution, sponsorship and merchandising.

U.S. Job Layoffs And Temporary Professional Work Visas

Global Indian TImes, February 2, 2024

U.S. tech companies manage labor costs mainly through Indian engineers on temporary work visas

Central Banks and Speculative Froth

Economic & Political Weekly, November, 24.2007

Summary: It has been the pattern over the past two decades, after every major bust, for the US Federal Reserve and other central banks to cut interest rates and liquefy credit markets. Such decisions have softened the blows to the global economy but they have also created speculative bubbles. Financial institutions and speculators have thus learnt to put pressure on central banks to bail them out, most recently from the housing bust in the US. But at some point the rescue measures will not work and the result will be major global economic and geo-political problems.

Crude Oil Prices: Heading to New Highs 

Economic & Political Weekly, March 26, 2005 

Summary: Rising consumption in the US, China and countries like India is expected to push up worldwide demand for crude oil in the years to come. But the long-term supply situation looks not too promising as chances of finding massive low cost reserves appear slim.

Entrepreneurs in India and Abroad

By Ignatius Chithelen and Shankar Parameshwaran*

From The Oxford Companion to Economics in India, Oxford University Press. 2011;2007

This essay seeks to answer why Indian professionals succeed as entrepreneurs in the US but are far less successful in India.

The Future of the Indian Rupee Is Tied to Oil Imports

Knowledge@Wharton

The weakness or strength of the Indian rupee in the long run will continue to be largely determined by the level and costs of the country’s crude oil imports.

How Sugar Co-operatives in Maharashtra, India, Set Cane Prices Paid to Farmers

Economic & Political Weekly, December 24, 1983

Summary: Peasants, engaged in sugarcane cultivation for about half a century, had by the 1950s established a powerful position for themselves in the socio-political and economic life of Maharashtra. This power, which they continue to wield, has its chief economic base in sugar, both cultivation of sugarcane and its processing. This paper seeks to understand the main mechanism – payment of sugarcane prices – through which the peasants use the industrial extension of their agrarian operations to further their accumulation of capital.

Origins of Co-operative Sugar Industry in Maharashtra

Economic & Political Weekly April 6, 1985

This paper seeks to understand the origins of the co-operative sugar industry in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, India’s largest sugar producing state. The conditions leading to the emergence of rich peasants in the region in the early 1900s and their relevant characteristics are discussed in Section I. The spread of canal irrigation, coupled with financial support from a co-operative credit infrastructure, enabled the rich peasants to cultivate sugarcane, extensively as well as intensively, as seen in Sections II and III. A series of defensive responses by the rich peasants, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, created the conditions for the shift in the 1950’s to co-operative manufacture and marketing of sugar. These conditions and the setting up of the first sugar co-operative are discussed in Section V.