Essays in economics and other cheerful themes: a dismal scientist's occasional reflections of the world around him/ S. Subramanian.

Cover; Contents; Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction: A Brief Guideto the Book; PART I: Of Home and the World; 1 -- Well-being and the World Today; 2 -- Global Poverty, Inequality, and Aid Flows: A Rough Guide to Some Simple Justice; 3 -- The Status of the Child in India; 4 -- Human Development and Human Rights; 5 -- 'Inclusive Development' and the Quintile Income Statistic; 6 -- Reprisal without Rectitude; 7 -- Moral Catastrophes and Immoral Reasoning; 8 -- Looking Back and Ahead; 9 -- Examining the 'Creamy Layer' Principle; PART II -- Between Economics and Philosophy 10 -- Headcount Poverty Comparisons11 -- Thinking Through Justice; 12 -- Are Egalitarians Really Vulnerable to the Levelling-down Objection and the Divided World Example?; 13 -- Can We Possibly Subscribe to Both Liberty and Equality at One and the Same Time?; PART III -- Miscellaneous Mistakes; 14 -- A Curmudgeon's Complaints; 15 -- Jai Ho, Jeeves!; 16 -- Language and Representation or, More Modestly, Mathematical Economics and Poverty; 17 -- Writing Economics in Exactly 300 Words:Two Samples in theTradition of J.B. Morton (Beachcomber); About the Author