June 5, is World Environment Day. For a change, rather than looking at the impact of people on the environemnt, this article, Let them eat cake or air!Green Crusade Against the People, by Barun Mitra, looks at some of the impacts of environmentalism on the people. A shorter version, Green crusade against the people, of this article appeared in The Economic Times newspaper on June 5, 2000. Another version, Those green airy fairies: The urban elite's obsession with cleaning the air, appeared in The Hindustan Times on June 16, 2000.
May 31, is World No-Tobacco Day. Looking at the onslought on tobacco, Barun Mitra found that the War on Tobacco: At the cost of liberty. A version of this article was published in The Telegraph newspaper of Calcutta on May 28, 2000.
On May 11, 2000, India's billonth baby was officially born. This article India's Billionth Asset looks at the India's population, and holds the misguided economic policies responsible for wasting one of the most precious of all reaources, her people. A version of this article was published in The Asian Wall Street Journal on May 11, 2000.
Poverty,
Wealth and Waste
The March 2000 issue of PERC
Reports features this article by Barun Mitra The article looks
at the reasons why poor countries have extensive recycling networks and
why richer countries often do not. He suggests that regulations designed
to prevent international trade in waste actually discourage recycling.
PERC,
a think tank based in Bozeman, Montana, USA, is dedicated to Providing
Market Solutions to Environmental Problems.
Is
Free Trade Fair Trade?
The Economist magazine, 15 January 2000, carried
this article by Barun Mitra on page 28 under the Pfizer Forum. The Forum
also carried the article in the following publications.
International
trade and child labour
Social and labour conditions have become a highly charged subject.
However, rather than a restrictive linkage between trade and child labour,
historical experience clearly shows that an open market and free trade
are the best instruments for improving the conditions of labour, argue
Dr. Munmun Jha and Barun Mitra in this op-ed in The Economic Times
on 7 December 1999.
Liberty Institute is working on a range of trade related issues, some
of the briefing papers are available
here.
Natural
disaster, but avoidable tragedy
The enormity of the tragedy that scarred Orissa in the aftermath of
the super cyclone is yet to be assessed. But a question arises: Is nature
biased against poorer people and developing countries? asks Barun Mitra
in this op-ed in The Economic Times on 23 November 1999.
Even a cursory analysis of the scale of natural disasters, whether floods,
earthquakes or hurricanes, would show that economically developed countries
have
a much greater resilience to withstand calamities and suffer far lower
loss of life. In Orissa the human tragedy was clearly the handiwork of
man.
6
Billion and Growing!
The UN has designated a child born in the Bosnian capital on 12 October
1999, as the 6 billionth person on earth. In this op-ed in The Economic
Times on 12 October 1999, Barun Mitra calls for a celebration.
He points out that people are not just conusmers, but given the freedom
to operate, are also producers. The more people consume, more there is
to consume. This is refelcted in the fall in prices of every other resources
except labour!
A more detailed article on this theme is available here.
Give
Trade a Chance
An op-ed on Kashmir by Barun Mitra, in The Economic Times,
19 June 1999.
War clouds are gathering over Kashmir once again. After fifty years
of endless confrontation, it is high time to think of a different strategy.
It is quite quite clear that a military victory will not settle the issue
either way. While the political divide is obvious, effective steps towards
open trade and travel, in Kashmir and in South Asia, would go a long way
in building a market based relationship, which in turn could help
ameliorate the political pressures. Unlike the military victories, conquests
by the market forces leave no victims, only winners — peace and prosperity.
It is time we gave it a thought.
The Market
is Green
In this op-ed published in The Economic Times, 5 June
1999, on the occasion of the World Environment Day, Barun Mitra says
that "The market is not necessarily the enemy of the environment, as is
generally made out to be. A competitive market is actually the best friend
of the environment. Environmental quality is like a valueadded product
that becomes economically affordable and technologically viable with economic
growth."
Who is
a Foreigner?
In this op-ed published in The Economic Times, 22 May
1999, Barun Mitra says that it is ironic that the Prime Minister wants
a "national debate" on the desirability of any foreign-born holding highest
political offices in the land. Just the other day, the PM quoted a few
lines from Tagore on national television. Immediately above the lines he
quoted, the poet says that "the aryasn, the non-aryans, the dravidians,
the Chinese, the shakas, the huns, the pathans, the moghuls have all been
successfully assimilated in this sacred land". Much more is at stake than
the future of a polical party and its leader.
A longer version of this article is available here.
Another very thought provoking article on the same issue by Prof. Mushirul Hasan of the Jamia Milia University, New Delhi, the noted historian, titled She is here to Stay: The rights of Citizen Sonia was published in The Indian Express on 22 May 1999.
Clean
Air: How can we get it?
In an op-ed published in The Economic times, 11 May 1999,
Barun
Mitra points out that years of economic restrictions helped to create
and sustain monopolistic automobile industries that faced very little competition.
"It was a sellers market where high cost and low quality had become the
norm. Companies gloated over decade long waiting list of buyers. Not only
the consumers, but also the environment lost out in the process." The author
concludes that a free market hastens the adoption of newer and cleaner
technologies.
The Legacy
of Hayek
An op-ed by Barun Mitra on the occasion of Friedrich A. von
Hayek's birth centenary published in The Economic Times,
on 8 May 1999. Hayek was one of the greatest champions of liberty in this
century and a Nobel laureate economist.
Save
the Tiger: Commercial road to conservation
Barun S Mitra argues in this op-ed published in The Economic
Times, 9 April 1999, that for a number of species recognition of
economic value has, contrary to popular belief, helped conserve the resource
base, and could do the same for more exotic species like tigers, and others.
Amartya Sen: The 1998 Nobel Prize recipient
in economics
Amartya Sen has reintroduced the issue of ethics in economics. Here
is a contribution from Barun S. Mitra, Going
Beyond Good Intentions: A look at Amartya Sen. Versions of
this article has appeared in the Asian Wall Street Journal, The Economic
Times, The Freeman(now Ideas on Liberty).
Comments and suggestions are most welcome. Please write to
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