The global financial crisis in the past one year had compelled foreign investors to pull out huge sums of money from the emerging markets causing the indices in these regions including India to plunge. But it appears that the appetite of these foreign investors for emerging markets seems to be on the rise again and India in this regard seems to be pulling ahead. As reported in a leading business daily, while India has pulled in US$ 1.8 bn of foreign money, other emerging markets such as Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan and South Korea have bagged US$ 18 m, US$ 531 m, US$ 632 m and US$ 7 respectively. The perception is that global liquidity is improving and that there are not likely to be any major reversals in these flows immediately unless the risk perception about emerging market equities heightens again. Also, those foreign investors who have been sitting on huge piles of cash are now taking the opportunity to invest in emerging markets including India where valuations are very attractive currently.
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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