Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Economics of Love

Since time immemorial humanity has glorified Love . Many great minds did devote precious time in knowing length and breadth of the same. In the process , history did see many great exponents of love who became part of folklore . Ironically all great lovers were losers . This grave truth has not stopped generations from falling in love . As civilizations rose and fell , economy did influence love as it had to be sustained by materialistic approach to life. Many Wars and battles were result of some direct/indirect influences of hate induced due to love. Love did bring to the fore the poet in Kalidasa who gave imagination new heights in Meghdootam . Manu advised to keep distance from lovers when it came to get wise opinion. Ignoring other aspects , its interesting to see love from eyes of an economist . Here it goes...

Some start it as early investment , some wait for right opportunity and apt sentiment , some subside due to lack of know how . Like monsoon it keeps everyone guessing , those who are interested , those who are not.Some have all the know how , infrastructure and time but they lack the human resource. Some daring enough go for a " start up " when each lovable moment is hard earned. We do see many whose life seem a successful love story , but may be the actual story is difficult to decipher . We know a few who achieve this with wise maturity . So far so good , the story continues for those who become part of the game , for others its simple bane . For those who are in the game , suddenly things achieve unmanageable proportions. Fiscal deficit haunts the most when there are financial liabilities to be completed with cash crunch and no help of FII . Current account deficit is strained by b'day , monthly celebrations , random lunch , dinner and gifts and other " invisibles ". Entertainment taxes force you to take austerity measures e.g take cheap public transport , enjoy street food etc. But the austerity measures are difficult to sustain for the whole financial year. Soon you have to pretend as if you've really deep pocket. If availability of foreign brands was cause of  headache , thanks to 100% FDI in single brand retail , things are sure to get more difficult as policy measures will open up the market further e.g more foreign brands to consume Hot money. How can the monetary and strategic regulators e.g Mom-dad would remain subdued for long. Their policy measures to tighten up the liquidity in your bank account is something which you had ratified once you came into this world. With regular audits the anomaly in the balance sheet becomes apparent which leads to warnings and apprehensive words. Rates are revised regularly to keep control on  the spending and other 'self welfare' requirements. In addition to Mom-dad-regulatory-Body  your Love interest ( LI ) acts as self appointed vigilance-officer and information-commissioner . Your every activity is tracked and your actions are heavily regulated . LI's advice becomes the rule , every request has to be pre approved. Capital investors ( friends ) loose confidence in you and your credit rating takes a hit e.g junk.

With present looking hopeless and grim , long term benefits seem almost a void from the relationship . Can this scenario lead to meaningful and sustainable result ( Happy Marriage ) .what policy reforms can be taken to avoid complex situation and maintain NPA ( non performing assets ) to the minimum? Same old question comes to mind whose answer will remain unknown for ever i.e What then love is? May be its a journey after which you can say/write , " It has been long and unexpected journey and i'm proud you were on my side in this " . The journey which is long will for sure have bullish and bearish phases . Sometimes paradise will be lost due to cruelty of time , but the quest will continue . May be better lovers and true soul mates will walk on earth in future and new folklore will be created . Some best paintings are never complete , some stories will not find conclusion because journey itself is the destination.

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