A Veritable Kaleidoscope

An Economist’s Miscellany, 2011, KaushikBasu, OUP, 240 pages

Kaushik Basu is that rare being- an economist with the flourish of a litterateur. As a professor of Economics at Cornell University, former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India and presently the senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank, he has adorned many roles. In each of his passing act, he has left an indelible mark of individuality and impression. After a long series of serious academic work and popular essays for the common reader, this book comes as a potpourri of the many threads Basu holds close to his heart.

This book is a delightful mix of the various interests in Basu’s life that spans economics, sociology, art, literature and philosophy. It has essays on an array of fields of academics, musings on everyday life, travel memoirs and impressions, translation of two classic Bengali short stories from the nineteenth century, introduction to two engaging games created by the author and even a play set in an academic world! In its scope and diversity, this volume transcends genres and its lightness and brevity, it excites the reader to foray into a number of worlds held together by Basu’s wide interests and inimitable humour. Written at a juncture in life when he was moving from his comfort zone of academics (with a fairly predictable routine) to the mind boggling world of policy making as he took up the challenging job of Chief Economic Advisor, this book also offers a unique glimpse into his inner world including the many surpirses that he encountered, his apprehensions, hope and expectations.

Reinventing the world around

Basu delivers on his usual cocktail of  political economy, foreign affairs,  trade and economics obliquely shedding light on the inner world and workings of professional economists and researchers. ‘Philosophy has to be deductive, poetry romantic, plays and fiction humorous, and politics intriguing if they are to catch my attention,' remarks the author as he prepares to lead us into the book. This is a presage of things to come since the book is a veritable kaleidoscope of crossing boundaries among different sketches of life Basu paints in his vast canvas.

He begins a section with essays and commentaries on the contemporary world including a comparison between China and the emerging India. After a few delightful essays covering some of his work, he moves on to draw personalities like AmartyaSen and Paul Samuelson with a few deft strokes. There are anecdotes and tales about ‘personnages’ that Basu has come across in far away land. What I enjoyed the best are the travel memoirs, including the one in which the author uses the logic of game theory to nab a pickpocket on the streets of Europe. Witty and eloquent, these stories reveal economists as a special ‘species’ with a vision of their own, viewing the world and its conundrums differently from others.

An Economist’s Miscellany is a playful book that questions our assumptions about the world and life around though the eyes of a versatile intellect. In disarming generalisations and provoking new thoughts and ideas, it succeeds through a conviviality of making the reader an accomplice and an active partner in discussing and engaging with Basu’s ideas.