Nominal Dichotomy?
Decades back, I remember my uncle, in his wheelchair, reminded me, almost scolding, that merely repeating something doesn't turn it true. Perhaps what I related to him was indeed incredulous..... But those were, and these are, nominal times! Some things repeat .... Like politics, like nominal coalition pressures, like inflation, and ......the sliding FX! And they are, Nominally True - de facto! Back in 70s, inflation was in the double digits in the aftermath of the oil crisis, our population half what it is today, and the Dollar exchanged for 8 Rupees, perhaps less. So what went wrong and who got away.... and how? It turns out Democracy is blind to the nature of economic system adopted under it - whether the trade-oriented, per-capita Nominal paradigm, or the infrastructure-focused Real paradigm. The many governments that we elected found the 'desi'-hybrid version of the per-capita oriented, nominal paradigm - based on inflation-managed capitalism, FX-massaged trade (and ex...