Deep Impressions

    Medicine, Money  & Morality : A Contrary View       There are two vociferous demand these days :   ·        a loud cry against the high prices of medicines and health essentials  ·        an appeal to make covid vaccines off-patent      The former complains against lawlessness ; the latter demands a temporary lawlessness.  The former is creating waves domestically and the latter internationally.  Strangely, the both have a common unanswered question.     Yes, we all agree that one should not be greedy, one should not be insensitive and one should not be adamant in these times. And therefore, there is a strong case for the covid vaccines to go off-patent. However, there is also a counter argument. It says that before giving the waiver, one should also consider the implications for the next pandemic.    Will during the next pandemic, investors put billions of dollars in inventing vaccine if they know that the vaccine they would fund could go off-patent within a year of invention

  With the global developments of the last few years it is time we rethink the format and the definition of democracy.    So here is a wishful speech to the guardians of democracy. ------------ ------------- ---------------- x  ------------ ------------- ----------------  ( In case you wish you listen this blog,  please CLICK HERE )   From settlements to territories,  From territories to empires And from empires to nations     …... civilization has come a long way in search of structures and conventions through which a human population connects, cooperates and controls itself.     Community chieftains gave space to kings. Kings were taken over by emperors and emperors surrendered to the democratic forces.   In this process of evolution, democracy has not only proven to be the most stable but also the most widely accepted structure. However, to believe that democracy is the last word in governance, would itself be a challenge to the spirit of democracy – which is ‘openness to dissent’.

    Analysing trends of human past over centuries & millenniums has always been an intriguing discipline.   Researchers inclined towards pre-historic period enjoy studying evolutionary patterns across time periods classified as stone age, bronze age and iron age. Those inclined towards documented history find it absorbing to dissect human survival in strategic war fares during periods known as Roman era, Byzantine era, Mughal era, Ming dynasty era etc. And those with mindset of an economist find it fascinating to analyse human prosperity during eras classified as first industrial revolution and second industrial revolution.   The nomenclature and classification of eras in the post World War-II period may yet be an incomplete exercise, however, independent of names that are ultimately conferred upon, it remains undisputable that the dominance of Computing Technology will play a decisive role in such a nomenclature.   The origin of computing technology has been traced to the birth of

  The K-shaped recovery can bring up surprises not just for economists but also for the marketers                           ---------------      ---------------      ---------------      ---------------         Most readers were convinced with my previous blog “Why Indian real estate will bottom out in 2021 ?” . However, they were not clear how could the housing demand increase despite so many job losses and salary cuts.     The answer lies in the uniqueness of K-shaped recovery which is likely to dominated the post-pandemic economy. In such a recovery, certain sectors will do much better than the others and certain players within a sector will perform much better than the others. This will result in a skewed and an unequal distribution of income.   Such a non-uniform growth is not something that any national economist would aspire for. However, such a recovery could offer a favourable pitch for rising demand for new homes   Unlike GDP which is driven by rising average incomes, the dem

Demand forecasting is a complex exercise and more so when it comes to Real Estate ; as homes are bought for consumption, for investment and at times for investment-cum-consumption. However, a broad-based analysis can definitely help chart out a trend.                          ----------- xx ------------ xx ------------- Demand forecasting in real estate has always been a puzzle for economists. Economics suggests consumption products like iPhone, cars, mobile data, have a falling demand curve which means as price falls their consumption increases. For investment products like equities, as prices fall, trading volumes normally come down indicating lowered demand. However, when it comes to real estate, demand forecasting becomes a complex exercise, some buy homes for consumption, some for investment and there are other who look at homes for investment-cum-consumption. Therefore, demand forecasting has always remained a puzzle. However, a broad-based analysis can definitely throw a good a