Data points.

Just getting accepted into business school is proving a career boost for some students, who are fielding offers from consulting firms before their MBA programmes even begin. Major consulting firms, including Bain and McKinsey, say they are offering some 2023 internships to students who don't start until this fall. Some offers come with the promise of a full-time job after graduation in 2024. The early-bird recruiting raises the question: Why take on an expensive business-school degree when just getting accepted is enough to compel job offers? The offers, recruiters say, reflect the knowledge that companies expect students to acquire from MBA programs that have a solid hiring record, and come after interviews, coaching and conversations about the candidates' career goals. Many companies need to staff expanding businesses and are planning on these positions even if the economy sours, they say.

(Adapted from 'Some MBAs Are Getting Job Offers Before They Step Onto Campus,' by Lindsay Ellis, published on June 13, 2022, by the Wall Street Journal)

Power and gas risk imbalances

In the power sector, the government is the sole buyer and seller of grid electricity. The structure of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) is lopsided with guaranteed returns for investors, while the risk of pricing and demand is being shifted to the government. Had the government not been the sole buyer of electricity, it could have moved the risk towards the IPPs. However, that never happened. Since the government could not pay the IPPs on time due to growing gaps in costs and revenues, the risk of IPPs kept on increasing, and the return on IPPs increased with every successive power policy. The power sector circular debt has grown to unmanageable levels in the process. The story of gas circular debt is building similarly where the supply is increasingly being shifted towards the imported Re-Gasified Liquefied Natural Gas, while buyers are not willing to pay the premium.

(Adapted from 'The Economic Journey: Muddling Through,' by Ali Khizar, published in June 2022, by United National Development Programme)

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