Ideas of India

Today my guest is Gaurav Chiplunkar, who is an Assistant Professor in the Global Economies and Markets group at the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia.
We talked about labor market frictions in India, understanding the reasons for low female labor force participation in India, the importance of information flows and networks, the role of middlemen, and much more.
Recorded July 8th, 2026.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
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Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:15 - Examining Female Labor Force Participation in India
00:08:38 - Broad Patterns in Female Employment
00:14:15 - Barriers to Entrepreneurship for Indian Women
00:21:50 - Well-Intended Labor Policy and Unintended Consequences
00:29:20 - Female Employment After Career Breaks
00:35:52 - Female Labor Force Participation and Economic Growth
00:46:02 - The Trouble with Piecemeal Reforms
00:50:40 - Frictions in the Job Market
00:57:04 - Rivalry, Information Flow, and the Nerd Effect
01:05:11 - Challenges to Placement and Retention
01:18:31 - On the Potential of Job Portals and Leapfrogging
01:27:08 - Defining the Goalposts
01:30:38 - Outro

Today my guests are my colleagues Shreyas Narla and Kadambari Shah. Shreyas is a research scholar and Kadambari is a research associate at the Mercatus Center with the India program. We talked about completing five years of the 1991 Project, how it started, it's scope, the oral histories of the reformers in 1991, papers, essays, fellowships and much more. 
Recorded July 10th, 2026.
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Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:44 - The Origin Story
00:11:07 - Launching the Oral Histories Initiative
00:20:47 -Documentation and Memory
00:37:47 - Building the Repository
00:46:18 - The 1991 Project Website
00:58:11 - Walking with Giants
01:06:45 - Where are all the Women?
01:11:27 - Making Economic Reforms 'Sexy' Again
01:22:43 - The Importance of Intergenerational Interaction
01:34:33 - Incubating New Talent
01:41:39 - Gratitude and Acknowledgments
01:53:19 - Outro

Today my guest is M.R. Madhavan, co-founder and president of PRS Legislative Research.
We talked about the role and purpose of the Rajya Sabha, treatment of money bills in a Westminster system, how the anti-defection law and party whips have hollowed out parliamentary function, parliamentary procedure, the role of the governor, and much more.
Recorded June 24th, 2026.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
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Timestamps
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:01:33) - The Role and Purpose of the Rajya Sabha
(00:14:46) - Money Bills, No-Confidence Motions, and Design Flaws
(00:22:47) - GST and Constitutional Design
(00:30:33) - One Country, One Tax System?
(00:35:31) - The Problem with Anti-Defection Laws and Whips
(00:43:55) - Who Will Bell the Cat?
(00:50:53) - Parliamentary Pressures: Constitutional vs. Constituent Expectations
(01:02:04) - Challenges Faced by State Legislatures
(01:15:37) - Reforming the Office of Governor
(01:27:18) - The Role of PRS in Parliamentary Functioning
(01:35:13) - Outro

Today my guest is once again Rahul Sagar, who is a Global Network Associate Professor of Political Science at New York University Abu Dhabi.
We talked about his new book The Birth of Indian Liberalism, the recovery of the forgotten nineteenth-century thinker Mama Parmanand, why his Letters to an Indian Raja counts as the first work of Indian political theory, how Indian liberals had to justify building a state out of chaos rather than restraining one that already existed, their fight against the social tyranny of caste, clergy, and family, the case for binding the ruler and educating the citizenry before extending the vote, the divergence between British India and the princely states, religion as a moral resource, the roots of Hindu nationalism, and much more.
Recorded June 9th, 2026.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
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Timestamps
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:02:37) - A Complete Unknown
(00:08:53) - The Historical Context of Emerging Indian Liberalism
(00:15:47) - Features of Parmanand's Liberal Project
(00:21:36) - The Princely States vs. British India
(00:27:47) - Religion and the Development of Indian Liberalism
(00:37:05) - Neither Scientific Nor Divine
(00:46:33) - What Constitutes a Work of Political Theory?
(00:51:27) - The Ethics of Parmanand's Anonymity
(01:02:50) - Outro

Today my guest is Sajjid Chinoy, managing director and chief India economist at J.P. Morgan. He is also currently serving as a part-time member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. Sajjid previously served on the Advisory Council to India's 15th Finance Commission and has served on a number of expert committees of the Reserve Bank of India.
We talked about India's current balance of payments and capital account challenges, the constraints holding back private investment, why employment and exports have become first-order policy priorities, rupee depreciation, shrinking FDI, and much more.
Recorded May 21st, 2026.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
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Timestamps
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:01:18) - Taking Stock of the Indian Economy
(00:11:26) - Factors Dragging on Aggregate Demand
(00:15:46) - Changing Policy Priorities for Indian Economic Growth
(00:22:13) - Rethinking Fiscal Architecture in a Shock-Prone World
(00:33:44) - Let the Rupee Depreciate
(00:42:46) - Coping with Shrinking Capital Flows
(00:50:00) - Improving India's Pull Factors
(00:54:12) - Export-Led Growth and Improved Resilience
(01:00:53) - Navigating Choke Points While Avoiding Autarky
(01:07:33) - India's Trilemma
(01:14:55) - Positive Signs of Resilience in the Indian Economy
(01:18:41) - Outro