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A simple sentence from Ms. Aslam, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman -as she confirms Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif will attend the swearing in ceremony for prime minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, May 26, 2014- says it all: "Pakistan sees peace with India as a precondition for economic development." A long established truth that applies to a large degree in reverse, that peace with Pakistan is also a precondition for a singleminded focus on economic development in India. How else can India tackle the problem of 1 million young people joining the labor market every month for the next 15 years, according to the UN Department for Social and Economic Affairs. The figure is much larger when including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Burma). And would approach 2 million a month if Indonesia is included, the entire region sharing the Buddhist-Hindu-Muslim legacy and lacking the strong engine for growth provided in East Asia by Japan and China.

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Competing models from Suzuki and other manufacturers have better acceleration for highways and are more durable than the Tata Nano or its successor the Tata Twist. The Tata Twist is pricd at $400,twice the price of the Nano, and has features such aspower steering. The small engine with power closer to that of a motorcycle is a serious handicap for the Nano concept, as buyers are looking for more power on Indian highways. The Tata Nano sold as low as 5000 cars in Nov. 2013, with the 250,000 capacity of the Nano plant in Gujarat remaining unutilized.

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This NYT editorial says the Pfizer bid to acquire Astra Zeneca is an inversion, a tax maneouvre using openings in U.S. and British tax laws that allows an American company to incorporate in London by acquiring a British company. In effect Pfizer beomes a subsidiary of the British company. This reduces taxes owed even though business takes place at Pfizer as before. NYT says 25 companies have adopted inversions since 2008. The top corporate tax rate in Britain at 20% is lower thant the top rate of 35% in the U.S. Additional tax maoeuvres could make it easier for income shifting to tax havens, and make it possible to free up cash held in foreign countries without the need to first repatriate it to the U.S. The problem is that such maneouvres are taking place at a time of large U.S. deficits, and deep cuts in public services and government investment in R&D, infrastructure, education, that would lead to future economic growth.

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Christina Zander provides an exceptionally good report on what holds women back in work and managing positions in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Even in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, with a more enlightened outlook in gender relations, the number of women who are CEO's for 145 Nordic companies is only 3%. For the U.S. Fortune 500 this is about 5%. Good child care benefits and parental leave laws that promote a fair distribution of child raising responsibilities between men and women are part of the enlightened outlook in Nordic countries. Yet the number of women being promoted to senior positions is limited. Interestingly rules requiring quota for women on Boards of Directors have led to a different situation on Boards- in 2013 41% of the boards at Norway's public companies were women compared to 18% at private limited companies. About 5.8% of general managers at publicly listed companies were women in 2013, 15.1% in private companies. Sandvik's Ms. Einarsson was promoted to a senior position recently. She says the opposite is true, one needs to start not at the top but at the entry level to ensure women are fairly represented. Culture is part of the problem as even in companies with equal male and female employees, the managers are mostly men. Men are seen as more eager to take responsibilities and risks, and are more integrated into networks. Even childcare and paid parental leave can be deceptive. One researcher shows that Swedish women still take the major part of responsibility for children, with 75% of the 480 available days. Women managers and researchers point to the difficulties women face with a full time career or working over 60 hours a week in a management position, and combining this with picking up children from daycare. Sofia Falk is the founder of Wiminvest, which helps companies invest in geting talented women. Her suggestions are that companies offer other incentives instead of more money- an assistant, private child care, grocery shopping, shared management positions, technical solutions to be able to work at home. The CEO of Sandvik, Olof Faxander, is persistent in changing company attitudes- he has raised the proportion of women in management positions to 21% from 9% in 3 years, eventually hoping to reach 33%....

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Krugman reflects on the discontent in Europe reflected in anti-EU opinion at the time of the elections to the European parliament in 2014.