Bardonomics

In an address to the country on the evening of November 8th, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a shock announcement that 500 and 1000 rupee notes were, from the following morning, no longer to be legal tender. The move to take the bills out of circulation—“demonetization” being the economic term—led to a frenzied aftermath.   Most of the money circulating in India comes in 500 and 1000 rupee notes, rendering colossal sums of cash worthless unless exchanged within a relatively brief window of time till the end of the calendar year. Astonishingly long lines formed at once outside bank branches across the country, with some waiting for over several hours to exchange small bundles of notes. The government’s objective was to expose illegally acquired “black money”—frequently the fruits of corrupt activity and the enablers of further shady dealings. Many real-estate dealings in India, for example, occur at least partly in cash to avoid leaving a traceable trail of