In this episode, Shruti speaks with Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta about Adam Smith's "The Theory of Moral Sentiments," spectatorship and imagination, self-interest, federalism, the Scottish Enlightenment as applied to Indian politics and much more. Mehta is the Laurence Rockefeller Professor for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University. He is also a contributing editor and columnist at the Indian Express and former president and chief executive of the Center for Policy Research, New Delhi. He has...
Sep 30, 2021•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 31
In this episode, Shruti talks with Alice Evans about fraternal capital, women's limited mobility, female friendships, representations of women in art and much more. Evans is a lecturer at King's College London and a faculty associate at the Center for International Development at Harvard's Kennedy School. She has published on topics such as women's labor force participation, urbanization and social change, pro-worker reforms, what drives support for gender equality and more. Her book "The Great ...
Sep 16, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 30
In this episode, Shruti talks with Uday Bhatia about Hindi gangster films, particularly "Satya" and its legacy. They discuss vigilante cops, corrupt politicians and other movie tropes, as well as how the Indian gangster film has evolved over time. Bhatia is a film critic with Mint Lounge. He has previously worked with Time Out Delhi and The Sunday Guardian. His writing has appeared in The Caravan, GQ, The Indian Quarterly, The Indian Express and The Hindu Business Line. Bhatia is also the author...
Sep 02, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 29
Ideas of India is a podcast in which Mercatus Senior Research Fellow Shruti Rajagopalan examines the academic ideas that can propel India forward. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple , Spotify , Google , Overcast , Stitcher or the podcast app of your choice. In this episode, Shruti talks with Shreyas Narla and Prakhar Misra about India's 1991 economic reforms. They discuss the role of Prime Minister Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, India's transition from socialism to a market econ...
Aug 19, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 29
In this episode, Shruti talks with Salil Tripathi about Bangladesh's economic prosperity, cultural similarities and differences with India, religious and linguistic identity, and about what India can learn from Bangaladesh on its 50th anniversary. Tripathi is an Indian journalist, author and editor, currently the chair of PEN International's Writers in Prison Committee. and he is the Senior Advisor on Global Issues at the Institute for Human Rights and Business. He is the author of " Offence: Th...
Aug 05, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 28
In this episode, Shruti and Amartya Lahiri discuss the Indian economy in light of the country's socialist past, distrust of markets, current monetary policy and continuing challenges. Lahiri is a professor at the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia. He has previously held positions at the University of California Los Angeles and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. His current research interests include macro- and microeconomic developments in India over the past...
Jul 22, 2021•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 27
In this episode, Shruti and Krish Ashok discuss different Indian cuisines, oral versus written tradition, the fusion of different musical styles, the challenges of working remotely and much more. Krish is the global head of digital workplace practice at Tata Consultancy Services in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. He is also a classical violinist, guitarist and cellist, and he has written a book, Masala Lab , on the science of Indian cooking. Full transcript of this episode Follow us on Twitter Follo...
Jul 08, 2021•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 25
In this episode, Shruti and Yashica Dutt discuss India's caste system, being Dalit and "passing" as non-Dalit, the intersection of caste and gender, reservations in the Indian educational system and much more. Dutt is an Indian writer and journalist who has written on a broad range of topics including fashion, gender, identity, culture and caste. She has worked with the Hindustan Times, LiveMint, Scroll.in, The Wire and HuffPost India. Her new book, " Coming Out as Dalit ," is a memoir of her ex...
Jun 24, 2021•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 25
In this episode, Shruti and Keshav Desiraju discuss Indian musical traditions, devadasi women and the music of M. S. Subbulakshmi. Desiraju is the author of " Of Gifted Voice: The Life and Art of M. S. Subbulakshmi ." He has recently retired from a career with the Indian Administrative Service and in 2013 was Secretary of Health & Family Welfare to the Government of India. He has held many positions with the Government of Uttarakhand, the Government of Uttar Pradesh and the Government of Ind...
Jun 10, 2021•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 24
In this episode, Shruti and Chinmay Tumbe discuss the history of pandemics in India and throughout the world, including cholera, influenza, plague and now COVID-19. They also discuss how issues of caste, migration and scientific progress have influenced these pandemics. Tumbe is an assistant professor of economics at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. His research interests include urban and labor economics, business and economic history, and migration studies. His most recent book is...
May 27, 2021•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 23
In this episode, Shruti talks with Alice Evans about issues affecting women in India, including single-gender education, son preference, social media and many others. Evans is a lecturer at King's College London and a faculty associate at the Center for International Development at Harvard's Kennedy School. She has published on topics such as women's labor force participation, urbanization and social change, pro-worker reforms, what drives support for gender equality and more. Her book "The Grea...
May 13, 2021•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 22
In this episode, Shruti and Virginia Postrel discuss her latest book, " The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World ." They talk about different methods of dyeing, spinning as a feminine occupation, the textile trade in the 17th and 18th centuries, how technological changes disrupted the industry and much more. Postrel is an author, columnist and speaker whose work spans a broad range of topics from social science to fashion, concentrating on the intersection of culture, commerce and...
Apr 15, 2021•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 21
In this episode, Shruti talks to Himanshu Jha about his recent book, Capturing Institutional Change: The Case of the Right to Information Act in India . Himanshu is a lecturer and research fellow in the Department of Political Science at the South Asia Institute at Heidelberg University in Germany. Full transcript of this episode Follow us on Twitter Follow Shruti on Twitter Follow Himanshu on Twitter Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox!...
Apr 01, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 20
In this episode, Shruti speaks with Milan Vaishnav about a report, How Do Indian Americans View India? , in which he and his co-authors ( Sumitra Badrinathan and Devesh Kapur ) conducted a survey about the political beliefs of Indian Americans. They discuss the results of the survey and talk about how the Indian American community might change in the future. Vaishnav is the director and senior fellow of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is also the auth...
Mar 18, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 19
In this episode, Shruti talks with Shoumitro Chatterjee about farms and farm policy in India, particularly in terms of government subsidies and other state intervention in agricultural markets. Chatterjee is an assistant professor of economics at Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include agriculture and international trade and development. Full transcript of this episode Follow us on Twitter Follow Shruti on Twitter Follow Shoumitro on Twitter Click here for the latest Ideas ...
Mar 04, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 18
In this episode, Shruti and Chandra Bhan Prasad discuss the legacy of philosophy of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the status of Dalits in India and the importance of entrepreneurship. Prasad is an Indian journalist, political commentator and activist, an entrepreneur and founder of the ByDalits.com platform, an adviser to the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the editor of Dalit Enterprise Magazine. He is also a winner of the Emergent Ventures grant for his work on Dalit capitalism and pr...
Feb 11, 2021•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 17
In this episode, Shruti spoke with Arvind Panagariya about his book, Free Trade and Prosperity: How Openness Helps the Developing Countries Grow Richer and Combat Poverty . Panagariya is Professor of Economics and the Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy at Columbia University. From January 2015 to August 2017, he served as the first Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog, Government of India in Prime Minister Modi's Cabinet. His primary research is international trade policy, economi...
Jan 28, 2021•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 16
This episode is the sixth and final installment of a series in which Shruti speaks with doctoral candidates and postdoctoral scholars about their research as they enter the job market and the world of academia. The first episode featured Vaishnavi Surendra, the second episode featured Rohit Ticku, the third episode featured Tanu Kumar, the fourth episode featured Proma Ray Chaudhury, and the fifth episode featured Vaidehi Tandel . In this episode, Shruti talks with Kunal Mangal about his researc...
Jan 14, 2021•33 min•Ep. 15
The fifth scholar in our young scholars series, Dr. Vaidehi Tandel . She is an economist specializing in urban political economy and policy in India. I spoke with Vaidehi about her work on urban economics in India, in particular, her paper on " What's in a definition? A study on the suitability of the current urban definition in India through its employment guarantee programme. (with Komal Hiranandani and Mudit Kapoor) and her paper titled paper, " Too slow for the urban march: Litigations and r...
Jan 07, 2021•27 min•Ep. 14
The fourth scholar in our young scholars series is Proma Ray Chaudhury , a PhD Candidate at the School of Law and Government in Dublin City University under the EU Marie Curie ETN Global India Project, working on gender and women's political participation in contemporary India. I spoke with Proma about her paper titled, " The Political Asceticism of Mamata Banerjee: Female Populist Leadership in Contemporary India ," where she studies representation of female political leaders, in particular, Ma...
Dec 31, 2020•32 min•Ep. 13
For the next few weeks I will be speaking to young doctoral and post-doctoral candidates entering the academic job market and the policy world about their newly minted research on Indian political economy. The third scholar in our young scholars series, Dr. Tanu Kumar is a postdoctoral fellow at William and Mary's Global Research Institute . She is a political scientist studying urban politics and service delivery. I spoke with Tanu about her paper, " Home-Price Subsidies Increase Local-Level Po...
Dec 24, 2020•28 min•Ep. 12
For the next few weeks I will be speaking to young doctoral and post-doctoral candidates entering the academic job market and the policy world about their newly minted research on Indian political economy. The next scholar in our young scholar series is of Dr. Rohit Ticku . Rohit is a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for the Study of Religion, Economics, and Society at Chapman University . He is working on religion, culture and identity from an economic point of view. I spoke with Rohit abou...
Dec 17, 2020•26 min•Ep. 11
For the next few weeks, I will be speaking to young doctoral and post-doctoral candidates entering the academic and policy works about their newly minted research on Indian political economy. The first scholar in our young scholars' series is Dr. Vaishnavi Surendra . Vaishnavi is a post-doctoral scholar at University of California, Berkley. She is a development economist working in the area of household finance and her research is focused on studying credit markets in rural India. Today I'll be ...
Dec 10, 2020•28 min•Ep. 10
Shruti talks with Adam Auerbach about competition, creative problem-solving, and formalizing political activity in India's urban slums. In this episode, Shruti spoke with Adam Auerbach about his 2019 book, Demanding Development: The Politics of Public Goods Provision in India's Urban Slums . Auerbach is an assistant professor in the School of International Service at American University. His research interests include local governance, urban politics, and the political economy of development, wi...
Nov 26, 2020•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 9
Today's guest is Rohit De, who is an associate professor of history at Yale University. His recent book, A People's Constitution: The Everyday Life of Law in the Indian Republic , is an excellent look at how the constitution actually transformed the daily lives of citizens in profound and lasting ways. Rohit details how those on the margins of society, like butchers and prostitutes, or drinkers and traders, made claims using the constitution after India's founding and shaped India's constitution...
Nov 12, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 8
Today my guest is Vijayendra Rao, or as he's known, Biju Rao, a lead economist in the Development Research Group at the World Bank. His recent book coauthored with professor Paromita Sanyal called Oral Democracy: Deliberation in Indian Village Assemblies , is an excellent study of citizens voice in India's Gram Sabhas, or village assemblies, which are also the largest deliberative institution in human history. I had a chance to speak with Biju about deliberative democracy in India, federalism an...
Oct 29, 2020•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 7
Today's guest is Viral Acharya, who is the C.V. Starr Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at New York University's Stern School of Business. His recent book, Quest for Restoring Financial Stability in India is an excellent introduction to the problems of autonomous central banking in the face of fiscal dominance by the ever-expanding Indian state. The book contains a series of Viral's lectures given during his tenure as Deputy Governor at the Reserve Bank of India. This conversat...
Oct 15, 2020•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 6
My guest today is Sriya Iyer , a Bibby Fellow and College Lecturer at St Catharine's College and Affiliated Lecturer and Janeway Fellow at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Cambridge. Her recent book, The Economics of Religion in India is an excellent survey of her work on religion in India, from the economic point of view, studied using the tools of economics. In this book Sriya analyzes provisioning of religious and non-religious services by religious organizations in India, ethnic...
Oct 01, 2020•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 5
Anuj is a professor at the Jindal Global Law School. And his recent book, Courting the People: Public Interest Litigation in Post-Emergency India is an excellent account of the development and failure of the Public Interest Litigation movement. In this book Anuj details the big PIL cases in the last few decades – concerning pollution of the Taj Mahal, pollution of river Ganges, as well as cases dealing with vehicular pollution, deindustrialization and slum demolitions in Delhi. His analysis brin...
Sep 17, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 4
Dinyar Patel an Assistant Professor of South Asian History at the SP Jain Institute of Management & Research and a research affiliate at the Mittal Institute at Harvard University. His latest book, Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism , is an excellent biography of Dadabhai Naoroji, a foundational figure in the building of modern-day India. I had a chance to speak with Dinyar about the trajectory of Indian nationalism, the ideas that influenced Naoroji, the difference between Naoroji and h...
Sep 03, 2020•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 3
