Several of the Mutineers are fans of Tyler Cowen over @ Marginal Revolution. The authors of Marginal Revolution are ostensibly Libertarians but have enough intellectual honesty, spark, and insight to draw a broad audience across the political spectrum.
Tyler is perhaps best known for applying the lessons of economics to the global culture industry and has published multiple books on the subject (my reviews are here and here.) In a nutshell, Tyler argues that far from the bland Disney-fied vision of corporatized culture pushed forth by anti-globolists of all stripes, Economics and Culture are actually rather natural allies and responsible for far more cultural creation than homogenization.
Today, Tyler posts on Marginal Revolution: My favorite things Indian and it appears the man is rather erudite on the Desi diaspora -
My favorite things IndianBeing here is number one at the moment, but here are a few specifics:
1. My favorite Indian musician - I have to go with Zakir Hussain; yes the CDs are wonderful but they do not compare with seeing him live. Honorary mentions go to Ali Akhbar Khan (sarod) and L. Subramaniam (violin).
...3. My favorite Indian novel - Rushdie is the obvious favorite, but I will opt for Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy. Better than any Dickens but Bleak House. And did you know that he was an errant economics Ph.d. student at Stanford when he wrote the manuscript?
