Contents Prologue Introduction to the Second Edition PART ONE: MAKING INTRODUCTIONS 1. Entering North Block The Last Column, The First Week Life in the Heart of Indian Government 2. Ambiguity, Equivocation, and Economics PART TWO: ACADEMIC TRANSGRESSIONS 3. Policy: Foreign and Domestic China's Power and Corbett's Gun The ABC of 123 India Globalizing A Higher Opportunity The Ethics of Reducing Inequality 4. On the Road A Traveller's Guide India's Wild East Among the Zapotecs Economics and Zen in Munich Namaste: Welcome to Israel Praying in the Foothills of Mount Fuji The Maharaja Disappoints 55 Taking Off: Airports and Economics Fragments from an Africa Diary: Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Diepsloot Samoa Diary Bhutan: Development Economics in the Himalayas Postcard from Malaysia: Through the Fog, Gently A Hinduism more Tolerant In Good Faith: A Journey, An Education An Evening in Florence The Turin Miracle Does god exist? There Are Several Possible Hypotheses? 5. Persons and Ideas Amartya Sen: Re-inventing Himself Prasanta Pattanaik: A Fine Theorist Engels and the Quest for a Better World Paul Samuelson and the Foundations of Economics In Praise of Doubt Kenneth Arrow: Possibly the Most Important Economist of the Twentieth Century John Nash: The Shakespeare of Economics The Anti-Argumentative Indian: Amartya Sen The Angry Intellectual: Ashok Mitra The Problem of Choice Stiglitz's Sticky Prices Manmohan Singh: A Quiet Courage 6. Culture and Economics Art and Commerce Markets and Aesthetics Norms and Prosperity Trust and Development Where India Is Ahead of China 7. Conundrums of Finance and Economics Burning Cash: A Finance Conundrum Why Some Financial Products Should be on Prescription Financial Scams and Ponzis Acquiring Land for Industry Bureaucratic Reform in India Labour Market Reform in India Whither Social Progress? Same-Sex Preference and Rights Evidence-Based Policy Mistakes The Ease of Doing Business Comes with Trade-Offs 8. Medley 106 Are We Becoming Over-Cautious? My Worst Lectures India at 60 Mother at 90 PART THREE: CONTEMPORARY POLICY EXCURSIONS 9. India and the World In India, Black Money makes for Bad Policy India and the Visible Hand of the Market Resisting the Moral Retreat Anger Isn't Enough Trump's Gift to China Facing the Slowdown In the Name of Education 10. Inequality and Labour Pains The Insecurity of Inequality Experts and Inequality Inequality in the Twenty First Century The World Economy's Labour Pains Profit Sharing Now The Rich Can Fight Inequality, Too 11. The Global Challenge America's Dangerous Neo-Protectionism Reviving India's Economy A Currency Crash Course for Politicians Why is Democracy Faltering? A Thimbleful of Optimism The Case for a Global Constitution The Language of Conflict PART FOUR: LITERARY TRANSLATIONS By Debt If Need Be The Birth of a New God PART FIVE: DRAMATURGIC INCURSIONS Crossings at Benaras Junction PART SIX: END OF ALLITERATIONS Duidoku and Ultimate Duidoku