This article reviews beer production, consumption and the industrial organization of breweries throughout history. Monasteries were the centers of the beer economy in the early Middle Ages. Innovation and increased demand later induced the growth of commercial breweries. Globalization and...

In his early years, B S Minhas, who passed away recently, enriched economics with his valued theoretical contributions that are today an integral part of economic literature. These were both acknowledged and challenged by the giants of economics at that time. On his return to India, realising...

This paper aims to demonstrate that the economic behaviour of ordinary men and women in the pre-colonial Deccan was as much ‘capitalistic’ as that of similar agents in contemporary Europe. The difference in the economic trajectories of the two societies can be reduced to different...

India was a major player in the world export market for textiles in the early 18th century, but by the middle of the 19th century it had lost all of its export market and much of its domestic market. India underwent secular deindustrialization as a consequence. While India produced about 25...

A fresh wave of globalisation since the early 1990s has created both hope and despair. Failure of state has reaffirmed faith in market based institutions. Expansion in trade across national borders and opening the national markets to the world is recommended for speedy and sure economic growth....

In this paper the issue of indirect tax reform, with a special focus on customs duty reform is examined. [WP]

Over the last few decades India has emerged as an economic giant. In 2000 the Special Economic Zone (SEZs) policy became part of a strategy to maintain high growth and promote India’s manufacturing sector. However, India’s current SEZ policy does little to strengthen India’s...