On the road to Liberty

Writing the foreword to the International Property Rights Index 2010 , I note that "The present economic crisis, with its root in housing and property, provides a very good opportunity for people in the rich and poor countries to take a fresh look at the significance of property rights and to renew our appreciation of a system of formal ownership of property." The International Property Rights Index is published annually by the Property Rights Alliance , an international network, based in the US. Foreword to the IPRI 2010 , by Barun Mitra The crisis that has shaken the financial world over the last two years is ascribed to many failures – from easy money, human greed or a lack of government oversight to the lethal financial derivatives created by financial whiz kids. While relevant, much of the public discourse has ignored a fundamental cause of the present economic woes. In my view, this financial crisis is the consequence of distorting or altogether disconnecting the relati...

The less credibility the climate body has, the less it can do to block vital economic development. My analysis of India's relationship with IPCC is in this article titled " India Supports a Toothless IPCC " published in the Opinion Asia section of the Wall Street Journal Asia , on February 8, 2010. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed support for the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and its leader, Rajendra Pachauri, at a local energy conference in New Delhi Friday. The move has surprised many observers, but it may prove to be politically astute. The IPCC's credibility is in tatters. From climategate to glaciergate, Amazongate, natural-disaster gate, and now Chinagate, the revelations of bad science keep coming. Given all that, plus the much-publicized flap between Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and Mr. Pachauri over the science behind "melting" Himalayan glaciers weeks before the Copenhagen climate summit in December, su...