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Kaushik Basu

Kaushik Basu

Writing for PS since 2002
101 commentaries

Kaushik Basu, a former chief economist of the World Bank and chief economic adviser to the Government of India, is Professor of Economics at Cornell University and a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

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  1. Globalization vs. Democracy
    basu101_Alfonso Sangiao iStock Getty Images Plus_voting Alfonso Sangiao/iStock / Getty Images Plus

    Globalization vs. Democracy

    Apr 19, 2024 Kaushik Basu highlights the contradictions and vulnerabilities inherent in the current international order.

  2. The Economic Consequences of Legal Behavior
    basu100_David Dee DelgadoGetty Images_newyork David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

    The Economic Consequences of Legal Behavior

    Mar 15, 2024 Kaushik Basu highlights the potential benefits of emphasizing adherence to the spirit of laws, if not their letter.

  3. Economic Possibilities for Our Overworked Grandchildren
    basu99_Spencer PlattGetty Images_tax wealth Spencer Platt/Getty Images

    Economic Possibilities for Our Overworked Grandchildren

    Feb 21, 2024 Kaushik Basu shows how it is possible to redistribute income from the rich to the poor without undermining individual incentives.

  4. Remembering Robert Solow
    basu98_David L. RyanThe Boston Globe via Getty Images_robertsolow David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

    Remembering Robert Solow

    Jan 15, 2024 Kaushik Basu honors the life and work of the pioneering scholar, who died in late 2023.

  5. The Biggest Threats to Global Economic Stability
    basu97_robertsrobGetty Images_worldeconomy robertsrob/Getty Images

    The Biggest Threats to Global Economic Stability

    Dec 27, 2023 Kaushik Basu highlights the urgency of re-thinking some core assumptions amid debt distress and rapid technological change.

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  1. delong259_ChesnotGetty Images_musk Omar Marques/Getty Images
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    Musk Has Made Tesla a Meme Stock

    J. Bradford DeLong worries that the first mover in electric vehicles is increasingly running on bucket-shop hype.
  2. buchholz15_Al Drago-PoolGetty Images_yellen Al Drago/Pool/Getty Images
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    The US Treasury’s Bond Blunder Will Cost Gen Z Dearly

    Todd G. Buchholz & James Carter thinks the US should have locked in favorable borrowing rates when it had the chance.
  3. james217_ Christopher FurlongGetty Images_gold Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
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    What’s Driving the Global Gold Rush?

    Harold James considers the political factors pushing the price of the “barbarous relic” to all-time highs.
  4. stiglitz333_ Chip SomodevillaGetty Images_bidentrump Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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    Global Elections in the Shadow of Neoliberalism

    Joseph E. Stiglitz

    While scandals, culture wars, and threats to democracy dominate the headlines, the biggest issues in this super election year ultimately concern economic policies. After all, the rise of anti-democratic populist authoritarianism is itself the legacy of a misbegotten economic ideology.

     considers what 40 years of anti-government, low-tax, deregulatory advocacy have wrought around the world.
  5. terzi6_green transition degrowth Getty Images
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    Averting Climate Catastrophe Requires Economic Growth

    Alessio Terzi & Gernot Wagner show why shrinking the global economy, as envisaged by advocates of degrowth, is a bad way to cut emissions.
  6. varoufakis114_KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEVAFP via Getty Images_germany protests KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images
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    Banned By Germany

    Yanis Varoufakis

    Germany recently prohibited a Palestinian Congress from taking place in Berlin, arrested its Jewish supporters, and barred one of its organizers, Greece’s former finance minister, from entering the country. But the turn to repression is powerful evidence that the country’s pro-Israel political consensus is breaking down.

     sees in his case an effort to enforce with repression a pro-Israel political consensus that is breaking down.
  7. sheng147_ Annabelle ChihGetty Images_taiwansemiconductors Annabelle Chih/Getty Images
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    China Should Emulate Taiwan’s Tech Policies

    Andrew Sheng & Xiao Geng urge the Chinese government to follow the island's lead by embracing the financialization of innovation.
  8. leonard100_CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSONPOOLAFP via Getty Images_macron CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
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    The Macron Moment

    Mark Leonard thinks the French president has the capability to provide the strategic leadership that Europe needs.
  9. lshuo1_Ryan PyleCorbis via Getty Images_china coal Ryan Pyle/Corbis via Getty Images
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    Is Climate Action China’s Trump Card?

    Li Shuo & Lauri Myllyvirta explain why the country’s emissions-reduction plan for 2035 could accelerate the fight against global warming.

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