Confusion: to meet or not to meet the fiscal deficit target?

I came across 3 articles worth reading.  One clearly calls for the government to raise demand while the others caution us about the fiscal deficit.  This is the problem when we have no coherent economic theory guiding analysis.

http://www.livemint.com/Home-Page/gSPSvmblarO04TMXZ1yK2M/Recovery-in-capex-still-far-away.html

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/economy/fiscal-discipline-notchoice-butnecessity_4661161.html

http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/6Hr0OQt5WwLpf4zsi9EWRL/Dont-give-up-on-fiscal-consolidation.html

Disinvestment & Fiscal Policy

Quite coincidentally, just yesterday, we saw the relationship between disinvestment and fiscal policy in class in the context of the crowding out effect.  An article in today's Livemint discusses this issue.

http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/J1vd64xNZL1zMD5w59F9vM/The-right-approach-for-disinvestment.html

Reserve currencies and world seigniorage

Interesting read on the race to attain the status of international reserve currency.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/06/chinas-yuan-jumps-to-fourth-most-used-world-payment-currency

Can we make sense of all this?

Can we make sense from these three articles using macroeconomic theory that appeared in the Livemint, all on the same day?

A useful exercise for students to look at issues from a macroeconomics perspective.

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/Puwo4XzazcHApN5n1JK0eI/India-to-remain-the-worlds-fastest-growing-economy-IMF.html

http://www.livemint.com/Money/XGY7AWl1fNfNEsMWe0PMFO/If-economy-is-really-growing-74-why-is-consumer-sentiment.html

http://www.livemint.com/Money/1dgjHuBdeq6Tct7GwRGJ8I/PMI-data-shows-spluttering-economy-plunging-business-expect.html

Growth rate predictions!

Students often ask how economists arrive at their growth forecast.  Quite arbitrary I would say.

Here is an excerpt from a question posed to Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor.

"Analysts are projecting GDP growth near about 7 per cent — Moody’s for instance talks about 7 per cent, Fitch says 7.8 per cent and Standard Chartered Bank 7.3 per cent versus 7.7 per cent earlier — and this is on the back of FY15 GDP growth coming in at 7.3 per cent. Are we still within this range including the lowest forecast by Moody’s at around 7 per cent?"

The interview can be read at:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/you-should-never-make-predictions-about-the-future-certainly-not-oil-prices/article7707968.ece

The theory of perfect competition (contestable markets) is not all theory afterall

Doesn't this come close to textbook discussions on perfect competition?  Also, relate this to the long-term decision making problem of a firm when it does not have perfect foresight.  Do you think Kwid will be able to recover its fixed costs of Rs.3000 crore on a new plant with its aggressive pricing strategy?

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/renault-launches-small-car-kwid-at-rs-26-lakh/article7684827.ece

Here's some more food for thought ....

Will these strategies work?  Are legislative reforms sufficient to ignite growth?  And what about employment?

http://www.newindianexpress.com/editorials/Onus-on-Both-Govt-India-Inc/2015/09/25/article3046432.ece

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/bilt-pulls-out-of-malaysia-sells-stake-in-sabah-forest-for-500-million/article7686130.ece

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/editorial/chinks-in-make-in-india/article7686002.ece