Assorted Links

1. TTR says we need to fear sixth pay commission(SPC). It would not blowup the public finances as government can pay higher salaries by disinvesting. I don’t really agree as SPC is not a one time pay and government would have to pay the amount each year. May be govt can pay if SPC is imposed now by selling its assets, can it do the same every year?

2. New economist points inequality is a big threat to economic boom.

3. Mankiw on US economy.

4. Rodrik points to a user friendly website for tracking MDGs.

5. On Thursday, there was a heavy sell-off in US markets in backdrop of a negative report on Citi. Fin Prof points out that the analyst (from CIBC) who wrote the report got death threats.

6. ESAP Blog points to 4 inconvenient truths about India’s growth. It has just put the first one so it is going to be a series of posts. The first one is that growth happened before reforms were initiated.

It also has some good facts on Pakistan.

7. Stephen Roach feels it will be a garden variety recession.