Author Archives: vinod

Smart but Poor…

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This article discusses the (surprising to some) LACK of empirical relationship b/t formal education and income at a national level –

Over the past decade it has became an article of faith that education and skills make a vital contribution to economic performance (1). Deficiencies in national labour productivity and economic growth are increasingly attributed not to inadequacies in productive investment, but to educational shortfalls and weak labour skills (2).

…’African countries with rapid growth in human capital [the fashionable term for people’s work abilities, especially levels of education] over the 1960 to 1987 period – countries like Angola, Mozambique, Ghana, Zambia, Madagascar, Sudan, and Senegal – were nevertheless growth disasters. Countries like Japan, with modest growth in human capital, were growth miracles. Other East Asian miracles like Singapore, Korea, China, and Indonesia did have rapid growth in human capital, but equal to or less than that of the African growth disasters. To take one comparison, Zambia had slightly faster expansion in human capital than Korea, but Zambia’s growth rate was seven percentage points lower.”

The Mallu economic malaise is a perfect example – statistically, at least, it’s the most educated state in India but, alas, also one of the poorest. Books, degrees, and examinations mean little for economic growth without a comprehensive social fabric that praises constructive, gritty real world results over idealized, intellectual banter….

Lost in Translation

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Hello Mutineers – I’m en route to a biz trip so posting will continue to be light BUT, I did want to point out this list of “Hard to Translate Words” from Marginal Revolution.

1 ilunga [Tshiluba word for a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time; to tolerate it a second time; but never a third time. Note: Tshiluba is a Bantu language spoken in south-eastern Congo, and Zaire]

Alas, this list appears far from comprehensive – there’s only a single Desi word –

8 selathirupavar [Tamil for a certain type of truancy]

I have no idea what it means… any candidates for other devilishly hard to translate terms from the homeland, beta?

Daler – Back and Blacker than Ever

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Mutineers wept openly last October when our favorite, cheesy, chubby-cheeked Baritone was arrested by Delhi’s finest in a brutal police raid. We chanted, marched, and printed posters to speak Truth to the Power. How could they not understand that Na na na na na re (whatever it means) was the answer to Rodney King’s question for the ages – Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?
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Madhoo – White People, Black People, Brown People

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A fine rant – Dancing with Dogs: White people, black people, brown people

Translated from the movie “Padamati Sandhyaragam”-

Father: DonÂ’t trust these white people – they look down upon us because we are dark.

Â…later in the movieÂ…

Father: DonÂ’t trust these black people – they are jealous about us because we are whiter [than them].

Watch Madhoo handle it…

Why Anna is Sexy (well, one of the reasons ;-)

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Marginal Revolution reports on fascinating research on what makes some people sexier than others – their names –

New research has revealed that the vowel sounds in your name could influence how others judge the attractiveness of your face.
Women with round-sounding names such as Laura tended to score higher than those with smaller vowel sounds. “Unfortunately for me, Amy is one of the bad names,” Perfors laments.

So “Ah-Na” is good while the classic Mallu-aunty name “Ai-lee-ahm-ma” is bad (although to be honest, this often isn’t just because of her name) And for the boys –

For boys, a good name will contain vowel sounds made at the front of the mouth, such as ‘e’ or ‘i’ sounds; names with fuller, rounder vowel sounds such as ‘u’ tend to score lower. So pat yourself on the back if you’re called Ben… but if your name is Paul, you might have to work work harder to snare a date.

“V-ih-nohd” is Good. “Ah-bee” – you’re screwed. 😉

Reihan: Wrestlin’ with Race

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Guest blogging continues @ DanielDrezner.com with an interesting post from Reihan analyzing Harold & Kumar Go To Whitecastle. Interestingly, the racial dilemma he’s focusing on is Harold’s rather than Kumar’s –

In “Harold and Kumar”, Harold dreads the prospect of pursuing a romantic relationship with “Cindy Kim,” a straight-laced Korean American co-ed at Princeton meant to evoke the stereotypical Asian American overachiever. She is a crashing bore. “Maria,” this shapely bombshell he worships form afar, is decidedly not Asian (she’s of indeterminate Latin origin, it seems — one assumes that making her a classical Anglonormative blonde would’ve been too much), though it’s never clear that she’s not also a crashing bore.
it raises interesting questions concerning the ways in which sexual attraction is bound up with aspirations. Could it be that Harold needs Maria to affirm his own attractiveness, and his self-identification? Man, I don’t know.

Reihan’s a fun writer BUT, I think I like Manish’s analysis of the trend that Harold & Kumar may portend for us (oh, wait, it’s cuz he’s citing me. 😉

Is Hollywood’s newfound interest in drugged-out Asians a good thing or a bad thing? Vinod points out via email that Asian stoner characters are unthreatening comic figures to the average American, a sly way of slipping Asians into major roles to be laughed at without making them romantic leads. That leaves them only slightly more respectable than Fu Manchu and Stepin Fetchit.

Sir, you, uh, have something on your shoulder

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This is just weird. But, there’s clearly a commercial motivation here cuz otherwise, god knows, there are other places to shine the investigative spotlight – Indians say no kissing with dandruff

Most Indians wouldn’t kiss their partners if they had dandruff, according to an ACNielsen survey.
Ninety three percent of the women and 80 percent men spoken to during the survey said they wouldn’t even touch the hair of someone who has dandruff.
Nearly half of Indians have suffered from dandruff in the last three months, said the survey, which was commissioned by Head & Shoulders.

Now generally, one might be tempted to say this would cause a procreation problem out there, but… then again, maybe dandruff, kissing, and sex aren’t quite so closely linked in the motherland 😉

A nation parched

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Brief, fascinating article @ TCS about India’s Woe Over H2O

Water is rarely a political topic in rich countries, and in most developing ones it only reaches the national media when its delivery becomes a problem. But India is something of an exception. It has both serious water problems and politicians that are routinely fired for not delivering voters this most precious substance. India desperately needs water reform, and especially privatization, but even the current Indian government — the most free-market oriented realistically imaginable — is unlikely to try to tackle hydro-politics.
There are two most remarkable statistics about Indian water: over one million children die from water-borne diseases every year and illegal water trading realizes over $1 billion in value. What is perhaps not surprising is that these two issues are inter-related. Few Indians (perhaps 30%) have access to decent sanitation and high quality drinking water. Not only does this expose the majority to dangerous dysenteries and other water-borne disease, but it provides back-breaking toil for those (usually women and children) who have to collect it every day. The indirect costs are even more staggering with salinity levels rising in so much irrigation water that crops fail, farmers commit suicide (over 500 year this so far) and thousands of the poorest starve.

Sometimes you can’t take even the tiniest things for granted…

As a bit of an econo-geek, this passage rang very true –

Indians are proud to be part of the world’s largest democracy, but given the elitism in their society they are also part of the world’s largest rent-seeking, politically manipulative and bureaucratically stifling society the world has ever seen.