Ideas of India
Through conversations with top thinkers in the social sciences and beyond, economist Shruti Rajagopalan explores the ideas that will propel India forward.
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M.R. Sharan Examines Decentralization and Local Representation in India
07/03/2025
M.R. Sharan Examines Decentralization and Local Representation in India
Today my guest is , an assistant professor in the department of agricultural and resource economics at the University of Maryland College Park. He is the author of numerous papers and the book . His main research interests are development economics and political economy. We talked about his research on local government in India, incentives of various political actors and the power structures they inhibit, fiscal federalism, and much more. Recorded May 21st, 2025. Read a enhanced with helpful links, or watch the . Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:07) - Local Political Actors (00:16:16) - Portability (00:20:36) - Village Government in India (00:53:42) - Separation of Powers (01:03:51) - Inclusion (01:21:20) - Outro
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Rakesh Mohan Reflects on Dismantling the License Permit Raj
06/20/2025
Rakesh Mohan Reflects on Dismantling the License Permit Raj
Today my guest is He is the President Emeritus and Distinguished Fellow at in New Delhi. He has previously served as Executive Director on the Board of the International Monetary Fund and as Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. We talked about his work with the Government of India since the 1980s, especially dismantling the infamous License Permit Raj during the 1991 reforms, his work on urbanization and infrastructure, the kinds of structural reforms India still needs to undertake, and much more. Recorded April 25th, 2025. Read a enhanced with helpful links, or watch the . Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:13) - Labyrinth of Control (00:23:55) - Dismantling the Licensing System (00:48:27) - Regrets (01:07:31) - The Infrastructure Report (01:28:05) - Structural Transformation (01:46:23) - Outro
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Ramachandra Guha on the Origins of Indian Environmentalism
06/05/2025
Ramachandra Guha on the Origins of Indian Environmentalism
Today my guest is environmental scholar, historian and biographer . He is the author of a number of books, including a two-volume biography of Gandhi and the award-winning book “.” We talked about his latest book, ".” We spoke about global versus local commons, bottom up approach to environmentalism in India, urbanization, economic growth and technological progress and much more. Recorded May 7th, 2025. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:08 - Speaking with Nature 00:08:42 - Unquiet Woods 00:38:29 - Science and Progress of Environmentalism 00:47:33 - Radhakamal Mukerjee 00:55:06 - K. M. Munshi 01:03:38 - Technological Progress and Tradeoffs 01:11:22 - Jayaprakash Narayan 01:19:39 - Outro
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Rajmohan Gandhi on Revenge and Reconciliation in South Asia
05/22/2025
Rajmohan Gandhi on Revenge and Reconciliation in South Asia
Today’s episode is the second part of my conversation with , a historian and biographer involved in efforts for trust-building and reconciliation and author of more than fifteen books, of which the most recent is . He taught history and politics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1997 until he retirement in 2022. His most recent initiative is , a writers collective responding to the worldwide thrusts against democracy and equality. We spoke about his reflections on communal violence between Hindus and Muslims, revenge and reconciliation in South Asia, Sikhs and Buddhists, differences between north and south India, constitutional values, and much more. Recorded April 17th, 2025. Read a enhanced with helpful links, or watch the . Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.
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Rajmohan Gandhi Reflects on India's Founding Fathers
05/08/2025
Rajmohan Gandhi Reflects on India's Founding Fathers
Today my guest is , a historian and biographer involved in efforts for trust-building and reconciliation and author of more than fifteen books, of which the most recent is . He taught history and politics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1997 until his retirement in 2022. His most recent initiative is , a writers collective responding to the worldwide thrusts against democracy and equality. We spoke about his reflections on his biographies of the founding fathers, , , , and , their competing visions, debates with others like Ambedkar and Nehru, constitutional values, the civil rights movement, his faith, and much more. Recorded April 18th, 2025. Read a enhanced with helpful links, or watch the . Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps Intro - 00:00:00 Patel - 00:01:34 Rajaji - 00:31:20 Ghaffar Khan - 00:51:53 Gandhi - 01:05:53 Competing Visions - 01:17:32 Biographies of Family Members - 01:18:54 Serendipity in the Research Process - 01:23:40 Civil Rights in the US - 01:27:23 Pessimistic or Optimistic? - 01:35:16 Role of God and Faith - 01:36:27 Outro - 01:38:20
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Taking Stock of the Indian Economy with Prachi Mishra
04/24/2025
Taking Stock of the Indian Economy with Prachi Mishra
Today my guest is Prachi Mishra, who is a Professor in the Department of Economics, and Director and Head of Isaac Center for Public Policy at Ashoka University. Prior to joining Ashoka, Prachi was Chief of the Systemic Issues Division and Advisor in the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund. We spoke about the current state of the Indian economy, India’s growth trajectory, if the rupee is overvalued, India’s fiscal consolidation, and much more. We also spoke about Trade, but this episode was recorded before the big tariff announcements on April 2. Recorded March 31st, 2025. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.
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Sajith Pai on India's Digital Divides
04/10/2025
Sajith Pai on India's Digital Divides
Today my guest is , who is a Partner at , an early stage Indian venture fund. He is also a well known writer, and the author of the annual Indus Valley Report. We spoke about the trends in the latest Indus Valley Report, the stratifications in Indian consumer markets, investor sentiment, policies and infrastructure to foster the AI boom in India, the AI start-up scene and much more. Recorded March 6th, 2025. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:04:32 - 2025 Trends 00:24:30 - Last Year vs. This Year 00:32:25 - The Role of Artificial Intelligence 00:45:59 - Artificial Intelligence Startup Scene 01:16:40 - Sajith’s Reading Habits 01:22:20 - Outro
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Jasti Chelameswar on Constitutional Interpretation and Judicial Independence
03/27/2025
Jasti Chelameswar on Constitutional Interpretation and Judicial Independence
Today my guest is , who is a former justice of the Supreme Court of India. Prior to his elevation, he served as chief justice in High Courts in Gauhati and Kerala and as a justice in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. We spoke about his judgments on electoral qualifications, judicial conduct, transparency in judicial appointments, the constitutional right to privacy, separation of powers, and how dissent shapes constitutional interpretation, and much more. Recorded February 25th, 2025. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:27 - Election Law Cases 00:17:15 - Process of Writing Opinions 00:25:38 - Misconduct of Judicial Officers 00:31:34 - NJAC Opinion 00:44:47 - Fundamental Right to Privacy 01:06:29 - Death Penalty Matters 01:15:36 - Outro
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Akshay Jaitly on India's Energy Sector Challenges, Reforms, and Future Pathways
03/13/2025
Akshay Jaitly on India's Energy Sector Challenges, Reforms, and Future Pathways
Today my guest is , one of the founders of Trilegal, one of India’s leading law firms. He specializes in advising on energy and infrastructure projects. His research interests include power sector reform, the energy transition and public-private contracting. We talked about the top-down nature of electricity regulation and pricing in India, the dysfunctional DISCOMS, the reforms required for an energy transition towards renewables and nuclear energy, and much more. Recorded February 11th, 2025. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:06 - Electricity in India 00:15:31 - DISCOMs 00:41:26 - Open Access 00:44:31 - Expanding Capacity 00:46:52 - Renewable Energy 00:50:04 - Technology Diffusion 00:59:11 - Nuclear Power 01:17:18 - Outro
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Christopher Coyne on War, Conflict, and the Quest for a Stable Peace
02/27/2025
Christopher Coyne on War, Conflict, and the Quest for a Stable Peace
Today my guest is , who is a Professor of at George Mason University, the Associate Director of the at the Mercatus Center. We talked about the economics of conflict and peace, history of the US security state, the US intervention in Afghanistan, domestic consequences of militarism abroad, and much more. Recorded January 15th, 2025. Read a enhanced with helpful links, or watch the . Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.
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Katherine Schofield on The Hidden History of Music in Mughal India
02/13/2025
Katherine Schofield on The Hidden History of Music in Mughal India
Today my guest who is a professor of South Asian Music and History at King’s College London. She is the author of the recent book . She also hosted a on the same theme. We talked about the history of classical music in India - from Natyasastra to Dhrupad and to khayals and qawallis. about Aurangzeb’s relationship with music, the sacking of Delhiand it’s influence on hindustani classical music, the powerful tawaifs of that time, and much more. Recorded January 24th, 2025. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:02:17) - The Nāṭyaśāstra and Tasting Music (00:09:29) - Raga Style and Persian Influences (00:18:35) - The Influence of Intoxicants (00:19:42) - Aurangzeb and Other Courtly Characters (00:33:37) - Aurangzeb’s Demise and Its Effect on Music (00:43:15) - Traveling Musicians and the Spread and Rise of Different Forms (00:49:49) - Development of Tomri (00:55:37) - What Makes Punjab So Different (00:59:17) - The Tawaif (01:02:06) - The Stories of Sophia Plowden and Khanam Jan (01:18:07) - Outro
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Anton Howes on Trade, Innovation, and the Forgotten History of Salt
01/30/2025
Anton Howes on Trade, Innovation, and the Forgotten History of Salt
Today my guest is head of innovation research at The Entrepreneurs Network, and the historian-in-residence at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. He is the author of and the excellent Substack . We talked about salt trade in India, the Dutch culture of innovation, the Royal Society of Arts, endogenous versus O-ring theories of growth, why the Industrial Revolution took place in Britain, and much more. Recorded November 11th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:29) - History of the Salt Trade and Salt Tax in India (00:11:12) - Harvesting Salt in Bengal (00:17:140 - The Great Hedge of India (00:23:58) - The Rationale for Taxing Salt (00:25:49) - The Western European Salt Trade and Land Control (00:34:22) - The Dutch Golden Age (00:39:44) - Baltic Salt and New Forms of Sleeching (00:45:51) - Maritime Trade (00:48:24) - Why Did the Industrial Revolution Take Place in Britain and Not Elsewhere? (01:03:14) - Solving the Problem of Debasement in Britain (01:08:33) - The Path to the Royal Society of Arts (01:16:39) - A Culture of Tinkerers and Improvers (01:20:49) - The Society of Arts’ Aims and Legacy (01:31:15) - Theories of Progress (01:40:20) - The Society of Arts and the Tool of Status (01:47:43) - Outro
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Anant Sudarshan on Market Solutions to Air Pollution, Energy Policy, and Ecological Disruption
01/16/2025
Anant Sudarshan on Market Solutions to Air Pollution, Energy Policy, and Ecological Disruption
Today my guest is , an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Warwick and a Senior Fellow at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC). We talked about air pollution in India, crop burning, subsidizing electricity, depleting ground water, the impact of the collapse of keystone species and much more. Recorded November 25th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:52) - Air Pollution in India (00:06:00) - Causes of Pollution in Delhi (00:07:32) - Addressing Crop Burning as a Source of Pollution (00:14:11) - Regulatory Frameworks for Pollution in India (00:18:16) - Creating a Market for Pollution (00:39:52) - Vehicular Pollution and Rationing (00:53:56) - How Subsidies Complicate the Pollution Problem (01:02:44) - Pigouvian Subsidies (01:08:19) - Electricity as a Right (01:26:04) - The Near-Extinction of Vultures in India (01:38:41) - Outro
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2024 in Review
12/26/2024
2024 in Review
Today the roles are reversed. Producer Dallas Floer interviews Shruti for the annual end of year episode where they look back at key themes and episodes from the past year, address listener questions, discuss the job market series, and share some questions from previous guests. On behalf of Shruti and the entire Ideas of India team, thank you for listening to the podcast this year. We’re excited to bring you more episodes in 2025. Recorded November 26th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:23) - Listener Questions (00:02:27) - Essential readings on the Indian economy (00:04:19) - The economy of eastern India from 1970 to today (00:06:18) - Achieving a “Developed India” (00:09:20) - Alternate paths for economic students (00:014:56) - Suggested dissertation topics for PhD students (00:18:57) - Revising stances on COVID shutdowns (00:24:42) - Problematic TV news programs in India (00:27:57) - Predicting the economic impact of AI (00:30:11) - The South Korean chaebol model (00:38:24) - Karthik Muralidharan: reimagining state capacity (00:41:02) - Aparna Chandra: institutional checks on judicial bias (00:44:03) - Arjun Ramani and Thomas Easton: critical reforms to maintain growth (00:47:29) - Ruchir Sharma: the state of American capitalism (00:51:00) - The Job Market Series (00:54:01) - Questions from Past Guests (00:56:59) - Shifting stances on schooling and drugs (01:02:11) - Law and economics (01:05:36) - “Home” when living in many cultures (01:09:44) - Next up for The 1991 Project (01:11:31) - Personal goals for 2025 (01:16:26) - Thanks and Good Wishes (01:18:29) - Outro
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Pravin Krishna on the Political Economy of Multilateral and Preferential Trade Agreements, Trade Liberalization, and the Future of Global Trade
12/05/2024
Pravin Krishna on the Political Economy of Multilateral and Preferential Trade Agreements, Trade Liberalization, and the Future of Global Trade
Today my guest is is the Chung Ju Yung Distinguished Professor of International Economics and Business at Johns Hopkins University, at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and Department of Economics. We talked about history of preferential trade agreements, India’s approach to trade liberalization, whether such agreements are trade creating or diverting, and much more. Recorded November 12th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:00:59) - Essential Components of the Postwar Multilateral Trade System (00:04:38) - India’s Role in the GATT and the Special Status of Developing Countries (00:06:31) - India in the Global Trade System After 1991 (00:09:10) - The Decline of the WTO and New Trade Dynamics (00:17:45) - Understanding the Small Percentages of Preferential Trade (00:20:19) - Indian Trade Liberalization and Alliances from 2010–2020 (00:26:18) - Viner: Trade Creation and Trade Diversion (00:33:35) - More Optimistic View of Equilibrium (00:38:46) - Foreign Lobbies in Domestic Markets (00:49:3) - Just pick a number (00:55:21) - The Impact of Trade Liberalization (01:04:05) - Labor Elasticity in Relation to Trade Openness (01:11:17) - Predicting the Near Future Impact of U.S. Trade Tariffs (01:19:52) - How the New Administration’s Plans Might Impact India (01:25:58) - Future Trade Relations Between India and China (01:30:52) - Outro
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Deepti Sharma on Survey Methods and the Hidden Biases in Economic Data
11/21/2024
Deepti Sharma on Survey Methods and the Hidden Biases in Economic Data
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. I spoke with , who's an Assistant Professor at Ahmedabad University. She completed her PhD in public policy from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Management of Health Services at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. Her current research focus is empirical methods, applied microeconomics, public health and gender studies. We discussed her job market paper, We talked about the systematic bias in proxy reporting when compared to self-reporting in time use surveys, some techniques used to fix those biases, the gendered nature of these biases, policy implications of using these time use surveys and much more. Recorded September 12th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:12) - Grand Tamasha (00:02:42) - Proxy-Reporting Versus Self-Reporting in Time-Use Surveys (00:07:16) - Gender Bias and Systematic Bias in Proxy-Reported Data (00:10:27) - How Cultural Norms and Gender Perceptions Shape Reporting (00:16:59) - Challenges in Collecting Accurate Time-Use Data (00:19:34) - Methodological Approaches to Working with Proxy-Reported Data (00:24:43) - Suggested Approaches to Conducting Time-Use Surveys (00:31:21) - Impact of Climate Change on Gendered Agricultural Work (00:33:17) - Hysterectomy Rates and Health Insurance Policies in India (00:36:03) - Outro
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Kushagr Bakshi on Constitutional Interpretation and the Transformation of Federalism
11/14/2024
Kushagr Bakshi on Constitutional Interpretation and the Transformation of Federalism
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. I spoke with is a Michigan International and Comparative Law Scholar and an SJD candidate at the University of Michigan Law School, where he also received his LLM. He received his first law degree from NUJS in West Bengal. We discussed a chapter of his dissertation called “ We talked about assymetrical federalism versus hetererarchy, constitutional values and imagination for federalism in India, and much more. Recorded October 24th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:06) - Grand Tamasha (00:04:12) - Asymmetric Versus Heterarchical Federalism (00:19:37) - Isn’t this Asymmetric Federalism? (00:31:39) - Democracy in Local Governments (00:43:27) - Rethinking the Rajya Sabha (00:53:30) - Outro
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Aarushi Kalra on Digital Polarization and Toxicity, Understanding User Behavior, Social Media Algorithms, and Platform Incentives
11/07/2024
Aarushi Kalra on Digital Polarization and Toxicity, Understanding User Behavior, Social Media Algorithms, and Platform Incentives
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. I spoke with Ph.D. candidate in Economics at Brown University. We discussed her job market paper, “.” We talked about the demand and supply of toxicity against minorities on social media platforms, user behavior, platform behavior, real world segregation due to ethnic violence, and much more. Recorded October 24th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:00:58) - Grand Tamasha (00:02:31) - Exploring How Social Media Users Engage with Toxic Content (00:06:06) - Understanding the Drivers of Toxic Speech on the Internet (00:08:50) - Definitions of Toxic Content (00:11:05) - Scale of Data and Choice of Language (00:12:23) - Impact of Recommendation Algorithms on User Engagement (00:16:27) - Key Findings on Toxic Content Exposure and Sharing (00:22:08) - Interpreting How Personalization Shapes Engagement in Toxic Social Media Content (00:25:31) - How Recognizing the Agency and Sophistication of Users Shapes Interpretive Models (00:31:45) - The Challenges of Platform Regulation (00:34:04) - The Challenges of Creating Interventions to Address Toxic Content (00:35:46) - Social Media as Normalizing Toxic Speech (00:38:09) - The Route of the Ram Rath Yatra As Lens on Segregation (00:48:58) - Outro
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Abishek Choutagunta on Federalism, President’s Rule, and Constitutional Design
10/31/2024
Abishek Choutagunta on Federalism, President’s Rule, and Constitutional Design
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. I spoke with , who received his PhD in economics from the Institute of Law and Economics, University of Hamburg. He is also an EV India fellow at the Mercatus Center. We discussed his paper “” with , , and myself, yes you heard that right. We talked about the Centripetal Federalism in India, state and local government finances, emergency powers, SR Bommai, constitutional design, and much more. Recorded September 6th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:01) - Grand Tamasha (00:02:58) - Article 356 and President’s Rule (00:26:47) - Why are local governments broken in India? (00:46:33) - India is Centripetal in its Federalism (00:53:08) - Outro
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Atanu Chatterjee on Governance and Design in Slum Rehabilitation
10/24/2024
Atanu Chatterjee on Governance and Design in Slum Rehabilitation
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. I spoke with a PhD candidate in geography at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, and a lecturer at the School of Human Settlements, XIM University Bhubaneswar. We discussed examining the in situ slum rehabilitation scheme through a state-led intervention in low income housing in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. We talked about the reasons for the emergence of urban slums in Ahmedabad, the successes and failures of the in situ slum rehabilitation scheme, the differences across four recent slum redevelopments, the types of problems residents face post rehabilitation, and much more. Recorded September 12th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:10) - Grand Tamasha (00:02:54) - The Aims of In Situ Slum Redevelopment (00:05:58) - Frameworks for Understanding Slums (00:10:06) - The Economic Context of Slums in Relation to Governance (00:12:26) - Communal Violence and Segregation and the Formation of Slums (00:15:46) - Approaches to Slum Redevelopment (00:17:05) - Slum Redevelopment in Ahmedabad (00:19:37) - Ahmedabad As a Success Story? (00:21:35) - Consent and Coercion in the Redevelopment of Slums (00:26:07) - Public–Private Partnerships and Participation in Redevelopment Schemes (00:27:21) - Challenges in Adjusting to In Situ Redevelopment (00:30:19) - Expectations of Living in a Post-Redevelopment Colony (00:32:03) - Basis for Evaluating the Success of Rehabilitation (00:34:01) - Allotment of Homes and Ownership Restrictions (00:36:15) - Questions Regarding the Resale of Allotted Homes (00:40:04) - Issues that Impede Residents’ Adjustment to Communal Living (00:42:51) - The Role of the State in Facilitating Transitions to Redeveloped Housing (00:44:14) - Mechanisms for Creating Successful Redevelopments (00:46:27) - A Participatory Approach Versus a Top-Down Approach to Redevelopment (00:49:03) - Building the Capacity of Community Associations (00:51:36) - Grounds for Optimism (00:53:09) - Improvements of the Institutional Framework Through Community Empowerment (00:54:45) - The Potentially Supportive Role of NGOs (00:56:390 - No Quick Fixes but Revised Platforms (00:57:33) - Outro
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Steven Brownstone on Agricultural Subsidies, Mechanization, and Historical Land and Labor Institutions in India
10/17/2024
Steven Brownstone on Agricultural Subsidies, Mechanization, and Historical Land and Labor Institutions in India
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. I spoke with , a PhD candidate in economics at the University of California, San Diego. His research focus is on the fields of development economics, agricultural economics, and political economy. We discussed his job market paper, . We talked about the reason there isn't a natural mechanization in rice plantation in Telangana, the role of the state in the uptake of mechanization, the labor market in a developing country that is undergoing a structural transformation and much more. Recorded September 11th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:04) - Grand Tamasha (00:02:36) - The Wage and Labor Effects of Mechanized Drum Seeders in Telangana (00:07:43) - Wages Failing to Rise: NREGA and a Profitability Ceiling (00:09:41) - Women’s Changing Role in the Farming Labor Market (00:11:07) - The Puzzle of Mechanization: Is Government Intervention Necessary? (00:15:41) - Mechanization or Migrant Labor (00:19:27) - The Role of Government in Mechanization Adoption (00:23:46) - Should Telangana farmers grow rice? (00:26:08) - Market Distortions and Maximizing Food Production (00:29:31) - Larger Economic Questions About Agricultural Subsidies (00:34:18) - Future of Mechanization and Agricultural Policy in Telangana (00:36:45) - The Long Shadow of Feudalism: Concentration of Land and Labor Market Power in India (00:39:00) - How the Feudal Structure Shaped Current Farm Ownership and Women’s Labor (00:41:54) - New Research in Relation to Existing Stories of State Capacity (00:46:05) - Outro
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Deepika Padmanabhan on Language, Identity, and Nation-Building in South India
10/10/2024
Deepika Padmanabhan on Language, Identity, and Nation-Building in South India
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. I spoke with , who's a PhD candidate in political science at Yale University. Her research focuses on nationalism, language and self-determination with a regional focus in South Asia. We discussed , everyday imposition language promotion as a nation building strategy in Southern India. We talked about how the exposure to dominant national languages like English and Hindi impacts the identity of subnational regional speakers in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the politics of language in South Asia, the instrumental versus symbolic characteristics of regional languages and much more. Recorded September 11th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:08) - Grand Tamasha (00:02:47) - Linguistic Diversity and National Identity (00:03:55) - History and Politics of Multilingualism in India (00:06:20) - Language as a Nation-Building Tool with Putative Effects (00:08:53) - Experiencing the Hierarchy of National and Subnational Identities Through Language (00:11:51) - Observing the Discriminatory Effects of Linguistic Imposition (00:15:37) - Bilingualism or Diglossia (00:18:03) - Differences in the Political and Economic Valences of Hindi and English (00:21:18) - Migration and Language Politics (00:22:35) - Linguistic Pluralism in Relation to National Identity and Growing Nativism (00:25:39) - Hindi as the Site of Political and Economic Tensions (00:30:45) - Dialects of Local Languages Provoking a Subnational Identity (00:34:26) - A Linguistic Origin Story (00:38:33) - Politics in Tamil Film (00:43:20) - The Future of Linguistic Diversity with Advancements in Technology (00:45:15) - Outro
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Sukrit Puri on the Entanglement between Business and Politics in India
10/03/2024
Sukrit Puri on the Entanglement between Business and Politics in India
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. This is the 2024 job market series where I speak with young scholars entering the academic job market about the latest research in India. I spoke with , who is a PhD candidate in political science at MIT and an Elinor Ostrom fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. His research focus is on the entanglement between business and politics in emerging economies, and his dissertation focuses on family firms in India. We discussed his job market paper, , we talked about how family firms differ from management and expert run businesses in India, whether it is in their firm structure or their political giving, whether family firms are most strategic or expressive in politics, the differences in the nature of the quid pro quo for a family firm versus a management run firm, the latest electoral bond scheme, and much more. Recorded September 11th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:16) - Grand Tamasha (00:03:05) - Analyzing Family-Run Firms and Campaign Donations (00:07:06) - How Family Businesses Donate Politically in Relation to Corporations and Individuals (00:10:17) - Distinctions Between Family-Run and Non-Family-Run Firms (00:14:48) - Political Donations and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Overlap or Distinct Strategies? (00:19:35) - The Hidden Side of Campaign Contributions (00:25:56) - Ethnic Identity in Relation to Expressive Giving (00:28:59) - Challenges in Measuring Quid Pro Quo Arrangements (00:35:55) - The Impact of Demonetization on Political Donations (00:37:06) - Assessing the Reaction to the Information Shock from Mandated Disclosures (00:45:22) - Understanding the Reputational Impact of Political Donations (00:51:15) - Is Uncertainty a Factor? (00:57:11) - Outro
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Rolly Kapoor on Group Travel and Women's Job Search Behavior in India
09/26/2024
Rolly Kapoor on Group Travel and Women's Job Search Behavior in India
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. We are kicking off the 2024 job market series, where I speak with young scholars entering the academic job market about their latest research on India. Our first scholar in the series is , who is a PhD candidate at the Department of Economics at University of California, Santa Cruz. Before this, she received a BA in Economics from Delhi University and an MSE in Economics from University College London. Her research focuses on issues related to gender, access and urban mobility in developing countries. We spoke about her job market paper titled, , co-authored with Smit Gade. We talked about the difficulties women have in navigating urban areas, its effect on female labor force participation, the impact of safe travel on job market decisions, and much more. Recorded September 6th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:14) - Grand Tamasha (00:05:07) - Mobility Constraints for Women in India (00:07:37) - The Study: How Do Women Travel Together? (00:10:04) - Background on Women’s Travel in India (00:13:00) - Social Norms and the Cognitive Load: Benefits of Women Traveling Together (00:16:42) - Findings on Travel Buddies and Job Interview Attendance and Additional Positive Impacts (00:21:14) - Implications for Further Research on Women’s Mobility Patterns (00:26:40) - Diverse Reactions to Travel Interventions (00:28:32) - Policy Implications for Supporting Women’s Travel (00:33:43) - Other Research Projects on Women and Labor (00:39:29) - Outro
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Ruchir Sharma on America’s Debt and the Future of Capitalism
09/12/2024
Ruchir Sharma on America’s Debt and the Future of Capitalism
Today my guest is Ruchir Sharma, who is the , a , and the author of the recent book, . We talked about American debt levels, US monetary policy, regulation and cronyism, industrial policy, the Indian economy under Modi, and much more. Recorded July 31st, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:00:59) - Capitalism in America (00:07:48) - Problems in Monetary Policy (00:17:07) - Elite Consensus and Capitalism (00:21:13) - Crisis and Course Correction (00:27:14) - Credit and Bond Markets in the US (00:33:07) - Industrial Policy in the US (00:38:46) - Misunderstanding Systemic Risk (00:48:18) - Declining Birth Rates and Economic Growth (00:51:00) - Technology versus Regulation (00:58:12) - India’s Economic Future (01:00:30) - Modi Government’s Economic Policies (01:16:25) - Alternative Ways out of Fiscal Crisis? (01:18:04) - Outro
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Amol Agrawal on the Bankers who Built Modern India
08/29/2024
Amol Agrawal on the Bankers who Built Modern India
Today my guest is , who is the author of He teaches economics at Ahmedabad University and blogs at the excellent blog . We spoke about the colonial and post-colonial history of banking in India, the unique features of the South Canara district, and its bankers, inclusive banking by state and private banks, bank nationalization, and much more. Recorded July 26th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:21) - History of Private Banking in India (00:12:06) - Lending and Deposits (00:16:17) - Industrial Development and Banking (00:21:24) - Bank Runs in India (00:25:54) - Success of South Canara Banks (00:28:38) - Systemic Risk in South Canara (00:36:16) - Banking Castes? (00:40:29) - What was the RBI so wrong about with South Canara banking? (00:47:50) - Pigmy Deposit Scheme (01:05:28) - Why Were India’s Banks Nationalized? (01:23:35) - Outro
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Amartya Lahiri and Devashish Mitra on Trade and Manufacturing-Led Economic Growth in India
08/15/2024
Amartya Lahiri and Devashish Mitra on Trade and Manufacturing-Led Economic Growth in India
Today my guests are and who are joining me to discuss their latest paper for titled . Amartya Lahiri is the Royal Bank Research Professor in the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Devashish Mitra the Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. We spoke about structural transformation and increasing total factor productivity, manufacturing versus services led growth, industrial policy, export led growth, how to employ India’s youth in more productive sectors, and much more. Recorded July 29th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:27) - State of India’s Structural Transformation (00:08:28) - Has India’s Growth Peaked? (00:15:39) - Trade-, Export-, and Manufacturing-Led Growth (00:27:50) - Manufacturing-Led or Services-Led Growth Model? (00:47:16) - Scaling Manufacturing (00:59:38) - Labor Productivity in India (01:06:41) - Rising Protectionism (01:19:44) - Monetary Policy and Trade Policy (01:35:26) - Outro
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Anirudh Burman on Rethinking India’s Land Regulation
08/01/2024
Anirudh Burman on Rethinking India’s Land Regulation
Today my guest is . He is an associate research director and fellow at Carnegie Endowment India, and prior to that, he worked at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and the Centre for Policy Research, both in New Delhi. He has his master’s in law from Harvard Law School. We spoke about the dysfunctional land markets and the kinds of reforms required in land use policy, land sale and land transfers. We also talked about the various experiments with land pooling and leasing in India, how to think about eminent domain law, land titling, land title insurance and much more. Recorded July 15th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:02:46) - How does India’s Land Market work? (00:15:23) - Why do we have such bad regulation? (00:23:519) - Land Transfer and Consolidation (00:40:35) - Transitioning to an efficient land regulation system (00:45:25) - Eminent Domain (01:05:35) - Land Leasing (01:11:01) - Land Pooling (01:28:37) - Outro
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Kadambari Shah and Shreyas Narla on Continuing the Reform Agenda
07/18/2024
Kadambari Shah and Shreyas Narla on Continuing the Reform Agenda
Today my guests are Shreyas Narla and Kadambari Shah, who are my colleagues at the Mercatus Center and research scholars working with me on the 1991 Project. We spoke about the kinds of policy change we would like to see in the coalition government led by Modi’s in his third term. We talked about the research Shreyas, Kadambari and I have been working on in the areas of competition policy, regulating India’s digital marketplace, labor law reforms, scaling India’s manufacturing, streamlining GST, and much more. Recorded July 1st, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:31) - Past Budgets Announcements and Upcoming Budget (00:09:38) - Restarting reforms (00:22:56) - The Tinkering of Government (00:27:08) - Regulation of Big Tech Companies (00:51:35) - India’s Labor Regulations (01:10:33) - Solutions to India’s Regulatory Environment (01:20:27) - Outro
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Sajith Pai Unpacks the 2024 Indus Valley Annual Report and the Changing Indian Consumer
07/04/2024
Sajith Pai Unpacks the 2024 Indus Valley Annual Report and the Changing Indian Consumer
Today my guest is Sajith Pai, who is a partner at Blume Ventures and he is a long-time media executive turned VC. At Blume, Sajith supports investments in media, ed tech and e-commerce, while simultaneously helping Blume building a research and knowledge platform. We spoke about the . written by Sajith and his co-authors, Anurag Pagaria, Nachammai Savithiri both at Blume Ventures; the many countries that make up the country of India; bifurcated between India1, 2, and 3; gross fixed capital formation, fintechs, the consumption led boom that India is experiencing, the space industry, and much more. Recorded June 25th, 2024. Read a enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow on X Follow on X Click for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:09:16) - Private Consumption and Fixed Capital Formation (00:14:15) - Gross Fixed Capital Formation (00:22:39) - Regime Uncertainty (00:26:51) - The Indian Consumer (00:35:10) - Bottlenecks and Reforms (00:42:18) - Mutual Funds Savings Model (00:47:33) - Path from Seed to IPO (00:55:40) - India's Foreign Investors (01:00:57) - India's Fintechs (01:11:09) - Space Tech in India (01:17:36) - What's on Pai's Bookshelf? (01:23:39) - Outro
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