Scary fall. Exports, which contribute around 16% to India's GDP, fell by 33.3% in March to US$ 11.5 bn, the sharpest fall since April 1995. For the whole of FY09, exports touched US$ 168.7 bn, recording a 3.4% growth in dollar terms and falling short of the government's revised target of US$ 170 bn. The fall in exports has obviously been due to the ongoing recession in the US, Europe and Japan. Imports have not been spared either. Non-oil imports in March contracted 18.9% to US$ 11.7 bn while oil imports shrank 58.1% to US$ 3.8 bn. Waning imports in the areas of machinery, equipment and project goods is likely to be an area of concern as it signals a slowdown in industrial production. While there are expectations that the recovery would start manifesting in July itself, others are of the opinion that the export growth will be subdued in FY10 as well. What is clear is that unless some sparks of revival are witnessed in the developed economies, India's export growth till such time will most likely remain muted.
The more things change, its turn out to be the same as it ever was. A new book about the history of work reveals that today’s workers have much in common with all those who have come before them over the past 12,000 years. People’s appetites drive them to produce more than they need, and they build political and economic institutions to help them do it. Then those institutions drive them to do more. NYT ( see the story in the link) also talks about Gluttons for punishment. We work so much because we want so much. That was anthropologist James Suzman’s conclusion after studying hunter-gatherers in the Kalahari Desert who satisfied their survival needs with roughly 15 hours of weekly labor. But modern, urban societies cause us to develop unlimited desires, which lead us to endless labour https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/29/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-james-suzman.html?cid=other-eml-onp-mip-mck&hlkid=38845d000b404e829c41b7395739f39a&...
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