Words on gold

Campaign season is delightful, in many ways. In the capital, sometimes even more so 8212; the autorickshaws with loudspeakers, the campaign posters over street signs. But the highlight for many is when candidates release their financial disclosure forms and they8217;re dissected by a nation grateful to have a legitimate, respectable reason to discuss how much money everybody else has. Here are some such reasons.

Several things emerge from the most recent instalment, that of Delhi state politicians cheerfully opening their books to a prurient public. One is that houses are really, really expensive now. Everyone seems about three times richer than they were the last time 8216;round; and that8217;s mainly because the old three-bedroom in Greater Kailash is suddenly much in demand. Were it necessary to draw a conclusion from this 8212; in order to justify one8217;s inordinate interest, for example 8212; it8217;s that if there is an Indian real estate bubble of some sort, it hasn8217;t burst yet. Or if it has, politicians are immune to the downturn. Neither of which possibilities should surprise anyone.

What about all the gold and jewellery? Given that such a vast proportion of so many candidates8217; declared assets are in those, the 8220;safest8221; of assets, it might suggest that they8217;re all natural fiscal conservatives. Or, then again, given that gold and jewellery are also simultaneously not really safer than, and provide considerably less return than, many other alternatives, should we be intensely concerned? Concerned that we8217;re handing over our nation8217;s finances to a bunch of people perfectly willing to keep most of their mobile wealth as diamonds? To people to whom crises in modern finance and the markets are clearly Incomprehensible Things On The Business Pages? Or are they all really smart 8212; did they get out just in time? It might be worth asking. Since this is one of the few times one can do so.