It's a Girl

Female infanticide is a social evil that is destroying Indian culture and I applaud any effort to highlight this issue.  It's a Girl is an upcoming documentary about selective abortions in India and China.  I feel economic incentives are vital to understand and address this issue.  I don't think there is some inherent evil in Indian and Chinese families that forces them to kill girls.  Its a result of economic incentives which force parents to rely on their children for retirement.  Culturally, male offspring have been linked with that responsibility more than female offspring.  Public policy needs to address this issue by creating a stable safety net for retirees.   Hopefully, the movie discusses this issue in more detail.  Here is the link to the trailer:

Follow the discussion at The Langar Hall

Hurricane Irene

Hopefully, Hurricane Irene doesn't go ape shit in NYC.  Asides from the loss of life in one of the most densely populated regions in U.S., the financial loss could run into billions.  Pretty scary post over at FiveThirtyEight highlighting the losses.  Given the fragile state of the economy, a catastrophic storm can push the nation into another recession.   Lets hope Irene loses some of its fury as it moves north.  Stay safe NY!

Nimrata

I know something about lots of things but by no means do I know everything about anything.  My goal in starting this blog is to learn a little more thru discussion and debate.  I hope to share ideas from economics to politics to philosophy to current events.  I also have a dream of writing a book one day.  It seems that one of the necessary skills for writing a book is…well…good writing.  So, this is also an attempt to improve my writing ability. 

Few words about the title of the blog...The Humble Contrarian.  As a Contrarian, I often find myself disagreeing with the thoughts of the majority.  I am tired of the daily oversimplification of complicated issues where everyone seeks a black or white answer.  The reality for me resides in a grey region where the issue requires much better analysis.  One can easily give up on the rigors of this analysis if it becomes too hard or if a question seems unanswerable.  Humility is needed for this approach where one must realize ones own limitations and never compromise ones own faculties.  Too often one accepts a wrong answer which is riddled with flawed logic just to claim that one has an answer.  Asking the right question is more important than the right answer and one must pursue truth regardless of where it leads.  I hope to embody this sentiment thru this blog. 

TYFYI!