Ideas of India

The podcast delves into India's 1991 liberalization, phases of globalization, British Corn laws, WTO relevance, absolute vs. comparative advantage, future Argentina, and more. Doug Irwin discusses trade policy history, economic reforms in Latin America, global trade evolution, human mobility, trade economists' roles, Adam Smith vs. David Ricardo trade theories, US trade policy history, and political economy of tariffs.

Rahul Matthan, a technology lawyer and partner at Trilegal, discusses India's digital public infrastructure, the unified payments system, AI, blockchain, and privacy concerns around Aadhaar. He addresses the challenges of maintaining privacy in the era of advancing technology and explores the impact of DeepFakes on reputation and authenticity.

Aditya Balasubramanian, Senior Lecturer in History at Australian National University, discusses his new book on Swatantra Party and opposition politics in India. Topics include the influence of BR Shenoy and Austrian economists, the principles and coalition-building efforts of Indian conservatives, conservatism rooted in pluralism, the party's ideologies and coalition, and the views on inflation and authoritarianism.

Today my guest is Nasreen Munni Kabir, a documentary filmmaker, TV producer and director, author, biographer, translator/subtitler, and an absolute authority on all things Hindi cinema. We spoke about her biographical conversation series of books with artists like Javed Akhtar, Gulzar, Lata Mangeshkar, Waheeda Rahman, Zakir Hussain, AR Rahman. We also spoke about her documentary films on Guru Dutt, and television series Movie Mahal chronicling the history of Hindi cinema, how she chooses her subjects, the difficulty of subtitling Hindi films, her favorite films, songs, artists, and much more.  Recorded December 12th, 2023. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

The podcast host discusses their ideas of India, popular episodes, and their reflections and future plans. Topics explored include cancel culture, welfare measures, startup founders' allegiance, the potential of the Indian rupee as a global currency, challenges to developing talent in India, and optimism and pessimism for India's future. The host also shares insights into preparing for various episodes about podcasting, comedy, marriage equality, Austrian economics, and more. Additionally, they discuss rewatching 'The Sopranos,' upcoming movie releases, and supporting the podcast through subscriptions and merchandise purchases.

In this episode, Rajat Kochhar, an environmental economics scholar, discusses the impact of market power in local agricultural markets on farmer adaptation to climate change. They explore distortionary policies, regulations, crop choice, water audits, and the agricultural produce market system in India and the UK.

Vani Swarupa Murali, a PhD candidate and instructor specializing in political science and environmental governance, dives into India's centralized agricultural policies. She discusses the adverse effects of this centralization on farmers' livelihoods and groundwater depletion, particularly in Tamil Nadu. Vani highlights the complexities of agriculture and irrigation, revealing how inadequate governance leads to enduring inequalities. She advocates for localized solutions and critiques the government's inconsistent responses to farmers' needs, bringing personal anecdotes to life.

Shruti spoke with Kartikeya Batra, Ph.D. candidate in economics at the University of Maryland. They discussed the long-run effects of land redistribution in India, the Zamindari or Taluqdari system, land titling versus redistribution, property rights, the relationship between land owning castes and socioeconomic outcomes, and more.

In this episode, Shruti spoke with Vatsal Khandelwal, who is a junior research fellow at Merton College and an associate member of the Department of Economics at University of Oxford. His main research interest are development and behavioral economics, with a focus on social and economic networks. They discussed his job market paper titled “Silent Networks: The Role of Inaccurate Beliefs in Reducing Useful Social Interactions,” (coauthored with Ronak Jain). They spoke about pessimistic beliefs and their impact on individual’s well-being, the methods to correct incorrect beliefs about social norms, the importance of social networks, support groups, students’ expectations’ impact on performance more. Recorded September 21st, 2023. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Follow Vatsal on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

Shruti spoke with Sarath Pillai, who is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study of India at University of Pennsylvania. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Chicago, a Master of Studies in Law from Yale Law School, a MA in history from the University of Delhi, and a Postgraduate Diploma in archives and records management from the National Archives of India, Delhi. They discussed his job market paper titled “German Lessons: Comparative Constitutionalism, States’ Rights, and Federalist Imaginaries in Interwar India,” recently published in “Comparative Studies in Society and History.” They spoke about how the views of the princely states on federalism and constitutionalism are different from the view of the Indian nationalists; the influence of German thought on India in the early twentieth century; subnationalism and federalism in modern day India and more. Recorded September 6th, 2023. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Follow Sarath on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.