Ep 375: Karthik Muralidharan and the Bureaucrat's Burden
The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma
The Significance of the Deep State and Bureaucracy
The deep state, comprising technocrats and bureaucrats, plays a crucial role in government decision-making, often overshadowing politicians. While the bureaucracy may appear dysfunctional, there are exceptional individuals within the civil services who understand and support this system, acknowledging the deep state's importance. The state operates as a faceless entity with its own internal logic, akin to other self-referential institutions like academia.
To reform India, you must reform the Indian state. Karthik Muralidharan joins Amit Varma in episode 375 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his much-awaited new book that has finally released -- and the chapters on it that deal with our bureaucracy. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Karthik Muralidharan on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar, UCSD and CEGIS. 2. Accelerating India's Development -- Karthik Muralidharan. 3. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 4. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 5. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 7. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah). 8. Brave New World -- Vasant Dhar's podcast. 9. To Kill A Mockingbird -- Harper Lee. 10. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 11. The Elusive Quest for Growth -- William R Easterly. 12. The White Man's Burden -- William R Easterly. 13. The Tyranny of Experts -- William R Easterly. 14. Thomas Sargent's speech at Berkeley. 15. Front-line Courts As State Capacity: Evidence From India -- Manaswini Rao. 16. The Argumentative Indian -- Amartya Sen. 17. BR Ambedkar's speech to the constituent assembly in 1949. 18. State Building -- Francis Fukuyama. 19. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything. 20. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything. 21. When Should the State Act? -- Episode 26 of Everything is Everything. 22. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 23. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 25. The Political Economy of Bureaucratic Overload -- Aditya Dasgupta and Devesh Kapur. 26. Red Tape -- Akhil Gupta. 27. Paper Tiger -- Nayanika Mathur. 28. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 29. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 30. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande -- Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. Annie Hall -- Woody Allen. 32. The withering trend of public employment in India -- CP Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh. 33. The Colonial Constitution — Arghya Sengupta. 34. Arghya Sengupta and the Engine Room of Law — Episode 366 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Active and Passive Waste in Government Spending -- Oriana Bandiera, Andrea Prat and Tommaso Valletti. 36. Lagaan -- Ashutosh Gowariker. 37. List of Soviet and Russian leaders by height. 38. Bureaucratic Indecision and Risk Aversion in India -- Sneha P, Neha Sinha, Avanti Durani and Ayush Patel. 39. A Theory of Misgovernance -- Abhijit Banerjee. 40. Premature load bearing: Doing too much too soon -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock. 41. Sense and Sensibility -- Jane Austen. 42. Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen. 43. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Montek Singh Ahluwalia). 44. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 45. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 46. How China Escaped the Poverty Trap -- Yuen Yuen Ang. 47. Pritika Hingorani Wants to Fix Our Cities -- Episode 361 of The Seen and the Unseen. 48. Gangaajal -- Prakash Jha. 49. Building State Capacity: Evidence from Biometric Smartcards in India -- Karthik Muralidharan, Paul Niehaus and Sandip Sukhtankar. 50. Amitabh Bachchan on Twitter. 51. Nick Bloom at Stanford. 52. The Personnel Economics of the Developing State -- Frederico Finan, Benjamin Olken and Rohini Pande. 53. Double for Nothing? Experimental Evidence on an Unconditional Teacher Salary Increase in Indonesia -- Joppe de Ree, Karthik Muralidharan, Menno Pradhan and Halsey Rogers. 54. The Indian Labour Market through the Lens of Public Sector Recruitment -- Kunal Mangal. 55. Timepass: Youth, Class, and the Politics of Waiting in India -- Craig Jeffrey. 56. Karmayogi Bharat. 57. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 58. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 59. A new vision for legal education in India -- Abhishek Singhvi. 60. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. Zindagi Toh Bewafa Hai -- Song from Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Magic and Files’ by Simahina.
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