Random interview by a local TV Channel

Guess it was on the cards!! Anyways here goes.....

1.Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it:

One on near my right eye... Someone hit a broken bulb with a cricket bat, and it came straight at me.

2. What is on the walls in your room?

A huuuuge LYNYRD SKYNYRD flag, a Cree Indian prophecy, glow-in-the-dark stars, random posters.


3. What does your phone look like.

Right now, Its a normal MOTO RAZR...whose fully charged battery dies within a day! :-D

4. What music do you listen to?

Guns N' Roses, Black Sabbath, The Beatles, Cannible Corpse, Dream Theatre, and lots more.

5. What is your current desktop picture?

The 2007-08 squad of LIVERPOOL FC.

6. What do you want more than anything right now?

Water.. Water !! Damn the Arizonan heat !!

7. Do you believe in gay marriage?

I dont care.....

8. What time were you born?

5:27 am

9. Are your parents still together?

Yeah

10. What are you listening to?

Your talking !!

12. The last person to make you cry?
Meeeeg....don't ask what that is!

13. What is your favourite perfume/cologne?

Christian Dior, Faberge Essence D'Homme,

14. What kind of hair/eye colour do you like on the opposite sex?

Doesn't matter...

15. Do you like pain killers?

I keep away from any pills i really don't need.

16. Are you too shy to ask someone out?

Nah...

17. Favourite pizza topping?

Chicken (duh!), Jalapenos and Olives.

18. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?

Dreaming abt mom's food, coming back to reality...i'd have to make do with Over-Roasted Turkey Sub from Quiznos.

19. Who was the last person you made mad?

Math instructor !!

20. Is anyone in love with you?

Plenty I believe ;-)

Everythings an Argument!! :-)

As much I love debating (what ignorant people call "arguing"), I understand that the other person(s) might not. In the past few weeks, I've indulged in a couple of arguments with Ketaki's room-mate Krupa. Though I enjoyed it a lot :-), I guess it was a frustrating experience for Krupa. Generally, who I argue with doesn't bother me, but it was my first time debating with a "GIRL who is SEVEN YEARS ELDER" (both being good reasons not to get into a heated argument).

So here's what I learnt today, and what I advise you all as well...

"The next time you're in a heated argument with someone, let them win. Not only that, but AGREE with them. You don't always have to be right. It's ok to let the other person win. As a matter of fact, it's important that you let the other person know that you hear what they're saying and validate their point. First of all, everyone needs to be heard. They're probably not arguing a point just to argue. No matter how silly their argument may sound, it's because they're feeling real feelings about it and they need to be heard."

Yes, I know that you need to be heard as well. But it won't kill you to hold off for a day or two before you state your case (in a calm manner). Plus, if you're in a heated argument and you stop and calmly agree with the other person and really listen, you set an example for future discussions. You're teaching them how to listen to you !!

Why be afraid of a stronger rupee ???

RBI has been doing less trading on the currency market. Without these artificial forces in play, the INR has appreciated. Shankar Acharya wrote an eloquent article in Business Standard saying this is all wrong, that we should just go back to the happy days of the policy framework of the mid-1990s. He says that the INR is overvalued and that does fundamental damage to India's exports growth and ultimately India's GDP growth.

I disagree. My main point is that there is a lot going on in exports growth, and that the negative impact of INR appreciation and high local inflation has been swamped by other factors which have helped enable high export growth. The empirical evidence supports the claim that there is no simple and sharp negative impact flowing from INR appreciation to exports growth.

Let's start with an AR model for monthly yoy exports growth data, which just captures the time-series structure of the series. I use data from March 1992 onwards. This works out to an AR(14) model. With this in hand, suppose you introduce contemporaneous and past yoy changes of the INR/USD. There's absolutely nothing there. Going up to 6 lags (or beyond) gives nothing. Not a single coefficient is significant. This result holds whether you do the full dataset (from March 1992 onwards) or if you focus on the latest 100 points which is 8.33 years.

In other words, after controlling for the time-series structure of the exports growth series, yoy INR/USD fluctuations don't seem to matter in explaining the fluctuations of yoy exports growth.

My claim is not that prices don't matter. It's just that the explanatory power of currency fluctuations is small at best, and that the main story of exports growth is elsewhere. To say this differently, standard measures of REER are highly ineffective.