Deepak Lal: The inflation scare

The fear that the recent rise in the inflation rate will scupper their chances of re-election has led the UPA government to blame the usual suspects: hoarders, monopolists, and of course, foreigners. So bring back discredited policies: raid hoarders, torment speculators and ban export of agricultural products. But raiding merchant's stocks and banning forward training merely short-circuits the inter-temporal smoothing mechanism