The Price of a Burger: How Food Aggregators Are Eating Into Restaurant Sales
Jaidev Pant
Home-dining services and Cloud Kitchens are booming post the pandemic. However, this boom might not be as simple as it seems. Behind the success of third-party aggregators, lies the hidden suffering of restaurants and dine-in platforms.
India’s Growth Prospects – Are They Really Deterred by Religious Majoritarianism and Polarisation?
Fahad Hasin
In a recent statement, former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan warned that an “anti-minority” image could harm India’s growth prospects due to reduced demand for Indian products in the global market. One might argue instead that proper economic growth could further overshadow and mask the rising religious polarisation in the short-medium run.
Through the Looking Glass: Gender Lens and Education Policy
Reya Daya
The recently implemented Early Warning System like most education policies remains genderless. However, it is crucial to make gender-specific policies to ensure truly equitable education for girls.
The State of Electric Vehicles in India
Abhiir Bhalla
With the government actively promoting the use of Electric Vehicles in India, what is the future of electrical transportation in India looking like?
Tax-Free Films: A “Larger” Message or the Government’s Message?
Shree Bhattacharyya
In such a diverse country, where forms of art such as film shed light on innumerable points of views, it is important to note which voices are getting highlighted by the government and which are not.
The Act of Cleaning Up: River Rejuvenations and Its Many Delusions
Biplob Kumar Das
The Ministry of Environment recently declared a plan to rejuvenate thirteen rivers across the country. Here is a look at how river rejuvenation projects in the past have panned out, and what lessons we can learn from them.
The Economic Cost of Putin’s March Towards Kyiv
Rutuparna Deshpande
As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces continue their onslaught of Ukraine, disruptions to the global economy are starting to show their corrosive effects. How has this war bruised India’s economy?
Employ and Empower: Upskilling Homemakers in India
Jaidev Pant
In a digital age where online courses and promoting small businesses on social media becomes more accessible, is India missing an opportunity to upskill its homemakers to run their own businesses?
The Forces Behind Amazon’s Decision to Shut-Shop on Westland
Arunava Sinha
While the closure of Westland Publishing may mean an unfortunate outcome for some of its writers and readers, this episode points to the structural problems in the English language trade publishing business in India.
Could Home-schooling Have Saved India’s Students During COVID?
Rutuparna Deshpande
Pandemic school closures have cost India millions and halted learning for many. Why were alternative education frameworks like homeschooling unable to help?
Budget 2022’s Big Infra Push May Flag in Face of Global Inflation
M.K. Venu
The government seems to have put all its eggs in the infrastructure investment basket to revive growth and employment.
Money, Money, Money- Always Funny in the Twitter World!
Jaidev Pant, Lakshya Sharma, Maahira Jain
While ABBA may have written this song when Twitter was a thing of the future, money today is still funny, especially in a rich man’s world. The editors of this issue compile some of their favourite memes from the 2022-23 Union Budget.
In the Long Run We Will All Still be Paying Our Debt
Tanvi Rupakula reviews the Korean space western movie, Space Sweepers, set in 2092 AD.
Who is riding pillion on the e-scooter buzz in India?
Cefil Joseph Soans Reading between the lines of the pitch and sale in India’s e-scooter scene, Cefil Joseph Soans tests if the buzz is sustainable?
Electric Vehicles in India: Focus on the Consumer, not the Car
By Rohan Pai
India’s growing environmental concerns have pushed the Government of India to re-evaluate its energy choices, and look into sustainable modes of production. Some of the key initiatives being carried out are focused on the electrification of vehicles, and the long-awaited launch of Tesla Motors in the Indian market. These initiatives will…
It is the ‘Tax-the-Rich’ hour!
Ishita Singh While it wasn’t that long ago that Europe repealed its wealth taxation, is it safe to say that the pandemic has resurged the popularity of radical policies and schemes that target the redistribution of wealth?
To Have Loved and Lost
Advaita Singh
Paid leaves for parents after stillbirths or miscarriages are certainly a social issue. However, the effects of grief on productivity make it an economic issue in tandem. This gives the opportunity for inclusive legislation that can improve economic conditions and boost economic growth.
E-commerce Platforms and The Continued Mistreatment of Delivery Personnel
Samyukta Prabhu & Rohan Pai
While Amazon’s Twitter antics have made news for all the wrong reasons, it has taken attention away from the delivery workers’ strikes worldwide. Hectic shifts, decreasing pay and lack of basic benefits are problems faced by delivery personnel across several e-commerce platforms. This article highlights the poor working conditions faced…
Banking on the Government
Advaita Singh Trade Unions all around the country are protesting because they believe that the privatisation is bad for the economy. This article explores the role of Public Sector Banks to understand the impact of privatisation.
‘Mining’ Nothing but a Grave
Tanish Bafna With the Parliament gearing up to pass a new cryptocurrency bill, investors and entrepreneurs are desperately scrambling to keep a dialogue open with the government. Given that the State is unlikely to change its stance, will India be potentially missing out on the next big thing since the Internet?
All Bets Are Off: Trust and Antitrust Among Large-Scale Corporations
Gauri Bhawkar
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how profitable large firms, such as Amazon and Facebook, can be even during times of global turmoil. Is there a check on how firms can become so all-encompassing such that consumers can’t avoid purchasing their products even if they tried – and what implications does this phenomena hold…
Evaluating the Implications of Privatization in India’s COVID-19 Inoculation Drive
Anjana Ramesh
India’s vaccination drive has witnessed considerable private sector involvement – from the development of vaccine candidates, to their mass-production. The recent announcement confirming the allowance of private distribution of vaccines has furthered this involvement. What implications does privatization of inoculation drives hold for India and its public healthcare capabilities?
Budget 2021 and Fiscal Deficit: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Ankur Bhardwaj
This steep revision in fiscal deficit estimates for the current financial year (2020-21) as one of the highlights of the Budget. If we take a closer look at fiscal deficit revision and the path the government wants to take in the future, we find three important points to underline – the good, the…
Wages for Housework: Giving Wives Their Due?
Ashwini Deshpande
Since the suggestion is about valuing women’s work in India, a good starting point would be to explicitly recognize their contribution to household enterprises as workers, on the same footing as the men, and share the earnings from the household enterprise fairly.
Decoding the Union Budget 2021: Q&A with Professor Nishant Chadha
As Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget on 1st February 2021, setting India forward on the road to economic recovery, the writers of OpenAxis sat down with Professor Nishant Chadha to better understand the nuances of the Budget and its implications.
Taking from the Rich: Reddit, GameStop and the Consequences of Greed
Vibhor Garg
The actual nature of power within market structures has been exposed, and it cannot be allowed to fade from public memory. The “free” market is a selectively free market.
Farm Bills 2020 and The Future of The Indian Economy
Karantaj Singh
Farmers have been protesting the newly passed farm bills across the country. But what exactly are the components of this bill and how can it potentially impact the future of the Indian economy?
A case for caution: India’s path to economic recovery
Rochak Jain
The problem facing the Indian economy is threefold- demand has dipped significantly, inflation is rising and the supply chain has been disrupted. How steep is the road to recovery and how may we be able to walk it?
Bidenomics For America and The World
Karantaj Singh President elect Joe Biden seems to have very different views from President Donald Trump on most socio-political issues, and his economic policies seem to be very different as well. So what will Bidenomics mean for America and the world?
Reforming Antitrust Law To Regulate Big Tech
Samyukta Prabhu
The economics of Google and Amazon seem to fundamentally differ from regular brick-and-mortar stores. Can we factor this into antitrust law? Or are monopolies inevitable in the tech world?
How the Economics Nobel Laureates help us Understand the Way the World Works
Samyukta Prabhu
Does the ‘dismal science’ have any bearing on our lives? Here are a few insights from Nobel-winning economists to help us model our way through the world.
How COVID-19 is adding to the existing NPA crisis in India
Shrishti Agrawal
The crisis of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) has been looming over the Indian banking sector for a while now. Since lockdowns are being imposed in the country as a means to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, will the sudden slowdown of the economy drive the crisis to its brink?
What do stock market fluctuations in 2020 tell us about human behaviour?
Srijita Ghosh
How “rational” can humans be while making economic decisions? Does our monkey mind constrain the functioning of stock markets?
Targeted ads: Is there an ethical, economically-viable alternative?
Samyukta Prabhu
Targeted ads follow us around the internet. Can the government use them to control elections? How do they expand Big Tech’s profitability? Is there a way for us to use social media without surveillance?
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