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Neeraj Kaushal, a former Senior Editor with The Economic Times, is currently in New York where she is pursuing her Ph.D and is also teaching.She hopes to be wiser and, more importantly, richer at the end of her US stint.

• Risky but rewarding
'Most economic activities involve risk. The higher the risk, the greater the chances of earning a high profit. Globalisation is risky, but the rewards are also high. Economies equipped with modern financial instruments can insure against these risks to a large extent.'

• Reforms? What reforms?
'Believe it or not, India, the world's largest democracy gives less economic freedom to its people than countries like Ethiopia, Albania or even Nigeria. Politically, we may be most free in South Asia, but our neighbours--Sri Lanka, Pakistan and even Nepal -- have much freer economic regimes.'

• Lessons to learn
'NYSE is trying to take steps that may hurt some of its own members, but will be healthier for other investors. This would not be the first time. NYSE often formulates rules and guidelines to ensure that there are no abuses through insider trading or other means. Indeed, it is the most active self-regulator in the securities industry.'

• Where's the millennium bug?
'Our average Wall Street investor lives in a household with an annual income of $60,000 and has total assets worth $85,000. Below average investors also have a place on Wall Street. Investors with less than $50,000 annual income have stock holdings worth $20,000. The median stock holding of investors with more than $150,000 annual income is $150,000.'

• The Man in Wall Street
'Some people will argue that investors are buying the shares of high-tech industries because they think that if the Y2K bug affects the US economy, the demand for the expertise of high tech companies -- to debug the economy -- would rise. For it is the same people who created the Y2K bug that would be called to control the crisis.'

• The curse of October
'According to the textbook on securities trading, crashes and corrections are the best time to enter the market. The trick is to see when the market has touched the bottom. Those who saw the bottom in Japan and in the emerging economies have made profits in the past six months, but those who wanted to climb the dizzying heights of the Dow have not done so well.'

• The market never sleeps
'Besides low commission and neutrality of e-brokers, trade through the web provides anonymity to the customers. So the market remains oblivious till the transaction is conducted that a big institution has traded in a particular stock. Compare that with traditional trading in India or elsewhere. The market in India reacts at the mere news that UTI may be buying or selling in bulk.'