The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science is set to be announced on Monday. The contenders include Jean Tirole, Bengt Holmstrom, Oliver Hart, Robert Barro, Paul Romer, Avinash Dixit, Angus Deaton, Lars Peter Hansen, William Baumol, Robert Shiller, Richard Thaler, Andrei Shleifer, William Nordhaus, Douglas Diamond, Alan Krueger, David Card, Joshua Angrist, Jerry Hausman and Eugene Fama. A look at the winners through the last 10 years

Nobel prize in Economics

Business Standard

The cut-off yield for the 7-day term repos was 8.80 per cent, 20 basis points below the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate. The range of bids was 7.60 to 8.96 per cent. While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had indicated that banks could not bid for term repos at or below the repo rate there was no bar vis-à-vis the MSF rate. Looking at the trends in the call money rates, the substantial bid-cover ratios in the Treasury Bill auctions, the revival of commercial paper and certificate of deposit markets and the forthcoming maturity of the Cash Management Bill of about Rs 50,000 crore, it was expected that the banks would bid for yields at or less than the MSF rate. Otherwise, they may as well prefer the MSF even though it will not have the benefit of additional liquidity of a small order. The repos and the MSF have been rolled over daily, making them effectively term borrowing for even more than 14 days. The acceptance of yields below the MSF rate is an extension of the already-prevai

Letters: RBI term repos

L K Advani will not attend the Hunkar rally - Narendra Modi's first full fledged public meeting - in Bihar. Why? Ostensibly because the Bharatiya Janata Party has an elaborate programme of public meetings by all its leaders and he will be addressing another public meeting elsewhere in the country - except no one knows where.

Missing in action?

Just because he's become the President of India, he will not give up some things he's done all his life. Pranab Mukherjee arrived in Kirnahar, his ancestral village for the second time since he became India's First Citizen, donning the role of a village priest to conduct the Durga puja before the idol at his ancestral home in Mirati, a village 200km from Kolkata. He reached the temple early in the morning on Saptami and began the puja rituals. He was assisted by his son and MP from Jangipur, Abhijit Mukherjee. After the completion of Saptami Puja on Friday, he went to Santiniketan to attend a cultural programme at Visva Bharati. At the university, he was asked about the chit fund scam. He said it was a fallout of people's greed that was tapped by some unscrupulous companies. "The problem is not that there aren't enough laws. Greedy people are often trapped by some companies. A campaign is required to make people aware of such companies and schemes," he said. No one asked him any questi

Home-bound questions

Ever more clear that sports bodies need reform

The Jwala Gutta case

Five questions that will tell us how much you know about the Master Blaster

Test your Sachin quotient

Government must not change road contracts ex post facto

Crony capitulation

Little and late

The resignation of Union Cabinet ministers from the Andhra region protesting against the creation of Telangana has created a piquant situation for at least one ministry. Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister M M Pallam Raju, who requested the prime minister to accept his resignation, subsequently made it public that he would not be attending office. This may not have mattered much except that he was scheduled to chair a high-profile annual event of the ministry. This is a day-long meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) that is attended by all state education ministers as well as dignitaries from various disciplines (Tata's J J Irani and Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar Shaw were once nominated members of CABE). Given the importance of the event, it is scheduled way in advance. With Pallam Raju's sudden unavailability, ministry officials have had no option but to ask his junior minister Jitin Prasada to step in. But even this change has created tediously tricky issues of p

HRD ministry's HR problem

As with all signature infrastructure projects, the country's first monorail project by the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) is subject to intense debate and discussion. Understandably, the MMRDA is working hard to commission the project soon and keep criticism at bay through a public relations exercise. In a set of pictures released to the press about the monorail Operations Control Center (OCC), MMRDA began on a lighter note saying, "Please do not mistake it for a Space Center. It's the Operations Control Center (OCC) of India's first Mono Rail Project at Wadala".

Space for humour

With Lalu Prasad Yadav in jail and his wife former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi taking over the reigns of the party in a proxy position, there is perceptible unease among many senior leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal. One such senior leader, who was also a Union minister in the first stint of the United Progressive Alliance along with Lalu Prasad, even skipped a high-level meeting called by Rabri Devi for the first time after her husband went to jail to analyse the situation.

Out of office

Food Minister K V Thomas' visit to Rome to attend an international conference of UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation will also have religious significance. The minister is expected to meet the current Pope of the Catholic Church, Francis, who was elected the 266th Bishop of Rome earlier this year after his predecessor took the unusual decision of retiring.

Vatican detour

The report "Moily travels by Metro, takes the lead on conversation" (October 10) took my mind back some 70 years when I, then living in a small town, was on a sight-seeing trip to Delhi. Early on a working day, I was taken to Raisina Hill to have a look at the Viceroy's House from the outside. As we reached Great Place (now Vijay Chowk) at the foot of the Hill, I saw a large number of office-goers dismounting from cycles and walking up the slope wheeling their cycles. Some were white  men in gorgeous military uniforms, others wore  felt hats. I was told that they were senior  military and civil officers who would normally drive to work from their bungalows but were commuting by cycle to save petrol much needed for the war. What, therefore, Moily is doing today under more difficult circumstances is nothing new and deserves to be emulated. Some six years later when I joined the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Bombay, I was told by a senior officer who used to commute to the RBI by public

Letters: Cycles of history

This refers to Kanika Datta's column "Standard Business" (Swot, October 10). It came as a surprise that the letters to the editor section of a newspaper is also flooded with promotional material. Before the advent of e-mail, the letters to the editor section was considered as a punishment posting since one had to read, sort out and edit them for publication. Indian newspapers do not acknowledge the letters sent for consideration as is the practice with newspapers in nations such as the UK, the US and Hong Kong etc. This is my experience. A Singapore newspaper has a condition that letters should be sent before 2.30 p m, if they are to be considered and should be related to the day's news. Another US newspaper puts the condition that the letters should relate to the news of the week gone by and not more than that. Writing letters to the editor is a good exercise for the brain and it is said such exercises may prevent the onset of a disease such as Alzheimer's. One feels elated to see the

Letters: To the letter

This refers to the editorial "Lessons from Hyderabad" (October 9). The announcement by then Home Minister P Chidambaram, in 2009, for the creation of Telangana, taken at the height of an indefinite fast by Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader K Chandrashekhar Rao, had resulted in protests in the non-Telangana regions and opposition from ministers and leaders from within the Congress. This forced the central government to put the issue on hold. But the United Progressive Alliance's decision at this belated stage to announce the creation of a separate Telangana state by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh seems solely aimed at winning support of the people of Telangana and bringing TRS Chief KC Rao in the UPA fold for the 2014 general elections. The Congress took the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions for granted and its attempt to get the best of both worlds has backfired. Now, if it sticks to the decision on Telangana it will be a big loser in the Seemandhra region and if it backtracks th

Letters: Telangana Catch 22

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, during his first term as the Planning Commission deputy chairman (July 2004-June 2009), tried to bring in foreign consultants. The proposal was junked due to protests from the Left, which was supporting the government then. By his second term (from June 2009), the body had widened its ambit from being just a Plan fund allocation organisation, which analysts say is the right thing as it is expected to advise the government on various matters. Here is a look at the panel's recent suggestions:

The action commission

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Union government to implement the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, to provide at least 3% reservation in government jobs. The court has given three months to implement the order in letter and spirit. It ruled reservation had to be based on total cadre strength rather than only the identified jobs. Here is a look at the status of the differently-abled in the country:

More Jobs for the differently-abled

The Bali agenda

Foreign capital sees little virtue in Indian partners

Forced marriages

World Education Services (WES) aims to help institutions develop effective and informed international enrolment strategies through understanding of student segments. International students are subdivided into 4 segments - strivers, strugglers, highfliers and explorers - based on academic preparedness and financial resources. WES examined how these segments differ by level of education and by source countries  in terms of their information-seeking behaviour, and suggests strategies for effective outreach. WES research suggests institutions using or considering using agents need to better understand the behaviour of students that rely on their services and take pro-active steps to ensure their relationship with agents is transparent to students.

Student segmentation for effective international enrolment strategy

Dear Students,LAST WEEK WE ASKED: Do you think institutes should take an initiative and devise ways to make faculty remuneration better to attract good talent to academics?BEST RESPONSEIt is imperative that remuneration doesn't become a hindrance, as a good faculty would be a key factor behind building a great institute. The best faculty generally consists of corporate professionals who make a career switch to academics for their passion of the subject and desire to impart education/ share learning experiences. At a time when higher education in India is witnessing shortage of well-trained faculty members, a salary which is at par with multinational companies can go a long way in getting more of such people to switch over to academics.Progyan Das, Indian Institute of Management, KashipurOTHER RESPONSESAt present, a majority of colleges and top institutes are facing faculty crunch. It can be exemplified from the stance in some colleges where faculty grew by a small portion over a decade

Business Standard

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