Death of Newspapers

Bloggers of various reputes predict the death of newspapers (in paper form). In fact they have been doing so for some time now. This includes Seth Godin, who I admire for his views.

However, I think their viewing window is very myopic. And they talk only of US. Welcome to India. Find out the depth of digital penetration. Walk into any store (not just supermarkets); check out the number of magazines that line up the racks - they are gone by the end of the week/month. Magazines and Newspapers are not going to die out any time soon. In fact, the circulation is growing. Vernacular Newspapers, such as Dainik Bhaskar, is now pushing into the metros.

I am not so sure about US either. I talked to a regular Kindle user - from US - just the other day. He is an avid reader. So I asked him if he subscribes to newspapers on Kindle. "No", he said, "the format is not what I expected. It is no fun."

The argument against newspapers is that a) it is expensive b) the news is old by the time you read it. Inexpensive is a game even newspapers can play. As it is, in India at least, it is not expensive at all. Besides, everyone knows that newspapers do not contain breaking news. Newspapers have an advantage that digital free-for-all versions do not. And that is this: It is organized news. And it gives you all relevant news with the least effort. Try gathering all news in the newspaper on the internet and see how much time you need to spend. Not everyone needs news instantaneously. But everyone needs them organized. Therein lies the key to newspaper survival.

Personally, I cannot see myself in the toilet with a Kindle in my hand. Give me the rustle of newspaper any day.

Do you agree? Or do you see death written on the face of paper newspapers and magazines

PS: Didn't realize who Malcolm is? Seth is talking, in his blog, of Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers, The Tipping Point and Blink. Do read the review by Malcolm Gladwell (link in Seth's Blog). It is very interesting and designed to provoke varied reactions.

Mr. Obama, You need Lessons in Economics

Mr. Obama,

Chances are that you haven't read my open letter to you, posted some while ago. Chances are that you will not read this too.

In my previous letter I had a tiny paragraph on banning protectionism. For your convenience, here is the extract:

"Ban protectionism. Open up world trade. Will make you unpopular in America if you do it immediately. But has to be done and will happen whether America likes it or not. If the world has to prosper. Your call."

I am sure you are surrounded by economists of repute who advise you on important matters. I am therefore surprised how you could even dream of taxing outsourcing. The fact that you have been mentioning Bangalore quite often shows you are being misled. The roots of the US economic meltdown does not lie in Bangalore. Nor does Outsourcing to Bangalore or Beijing cause US misery.

One does not have to an economist to understand this. I am not. Fortunately there are many pop-economics books in the market that are very good. I would recommend that you go no further than Tim Harford's The Undercover Economist. Here is an excerpt:

A more extreme example may clarify things further. Think of a country whose government is very keen on self-sufficiency. 'We need to encourage our local economy,' says the Minister of Trade and Industry. So the government bans all imports and patrols the coast to prevent smuggling. One effect will be that a lot of effort will be devoted to producing locally what was once imported: this certainly is encouragement to the local economy. But another effect is that all of the export industries will quickly shrivel and die. Why? Because who would want to spend time and money exporting goods in exchange of foreign currency, if nobody is allowed to spend spend the foreign currency on imports? While one part of the local economy is encouraged, another is crippled. The 'no imports' policy is also a 'no exports' policy. And indeed, one of the most important theorems of trade theory, the Lerner theorem, named after the economist Abba Lerner, proved in 1936 that a tax on imports is exactly equivalent to a tax on exports.

Still wish to go ahead with taxing outsourcing, Mr. Obama?

Will anyone tell me why is the dollar appreciating?

Wall Street is in a state of turmoil.
Unemployment rates in US are on the rise (HP has today announced a downsizing of 25,000 odd employees).
And if the value of currency is determined in open market, will someone tell me who is upbeat about the US economy? And why?

PS: I did get the answer to this one. See Why is Dollar Appreciating?
Later on, the main stream media caught up. What fun!