How does technological progress in financial intermediation affect the economy? To address this question a costly-state verification framework is embedded into a standard growth model. In particular, financial intermediaries can invest resources to monitor the returns earned by firms. The...

The article is essentially a book-review of Professor Vijay Joshi's recent work, "India's Long Road: The Search for Prosperity". In this critical essay, I take a slightly revisionist approach when it comes to a "typical" book review. For example, the length of this article goes well-beyond the...

It is often argued that, ethically, resource rents should accrue to all citizens. Yet in reality the rents from exploiting national resources are often concentrated in the hands of a few. If resource rents were to be taxed, on the other hand, substantial amounts of public money could be raised...