Ideas of India

4.5 (35)
Social Sciences
Updated Biweekly

Through conversations with top thinkers in the social sciences and beyond, economist Shruti Rajagopalan explores the ideas that will propel India forward.

3d ago

Kishen Shastry on the Political Economy of Hindu Monastic Institutions (Mutts) in Karnataka

This is the 2026 job market series, where I speak with young scholars entering the academic job market about their latest research on India. On this episode, I spoke with Kishen Shastry who is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Judge Business School. He received his Ph.D. in economics in 2026 at the University of Cambridge where his research focus was economics of religion and informal institutions. We discussed his job market paper titled, "The Political Economy of Informal Institutions in India." We talked about the economics of religion, the role of long standing monastic institutions in India, how they are regulated by the state, and their impact on education, structural transformation, political competition in India, and much more. Recorded August 25th, 2026. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Prefer to watch this episode, see the full length video here. Connect with Ideas of India Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Follow Kishen on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:32 - Hindu Mutts and Their Relationship to Structural Transformation 00:07:33 - Understanding Mutts 00:16:25 - Mutts in the Education Marketplace 00:22:45 - Mutts and the Regulatory Regime 00:27:47 - Stitching Together the Data 00:33:03 - Mutt Autonomy and Adjustment to Market Demands 00:37:30 - The Propagation Effect of Mutts 00:40:40 - Parsing Effects 00:43:10 - Mutts' Impact on Political Competition 00:46:05 - The Intersection of Mutt's "Club Goods" and Political Influence 00:52:37 - Outro
Sep 24

Nisha Vernekar on Night-shift Reforms and Women's Work in India

This is the 2026 job market series, where I speak with young scholars entering the academic job market about their latest research on India. On this episode, I spoke with Nisha Vernekar who is a PhD Candidate in Economics at University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Her research focus is at the intersection of gender, education, labour economics and development economics. We discussed her job market paper, (coauthored with Karan Singhal) titled, "Breaking the Night Barrier: Night-shift Reforms and Women's Work in India." We talked about the regulatory frictions in the labor market in India, in particular the gendered restrictions imposed by the Shops and Establishments act, how labor demand changes after deregulation, how it affects overall labor force participation, India's structural transformation, and much more. Recorded August 25th, 2026. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Prefer to watch this episode, see the full length video here. Connect with Ideas of India Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Follow Nisha on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:33 - India's Labor-Market Puzzle 00:06:40 - The Roots and Rollback of India's Gendered Labor Restrictions 00:10:31 - The Chicken and the Egg: Disentangling Night-Work Restrictions and Women's Willingness to Work 00:15:21 - Formality and the Impact of Reforms and Women's Labor-Force Participation 00:18:13 - Measuring Women's Work 00:21:17 - What PLFS Data Can't Tell Us 00:25:49 - Indian Women Workers: Exotic—or Homo Economicus? 00:30:01 - Relaxing Gender Restrictions Without Significant Displacement 00:34:45 - Implications for Gender Equality 00:39:54 - Opportunities for Improvement in the Manufacturing Sector 00:43:57 - The Case for Gender-Agnostic Regulations 00:45:52 - Outro
Sep 10

Aishwarya Kekre on Land Fragmentation and Its Impact on Structural Transformation

This is the 2026 job market series, where I speak with young scholars entering the academic job market about their latest research on India. We are launching our series with Aishwarya Kekre, who is a PhD Candidate in Economics at the University of Virginia. Her research focus is at the intersection development, trade and spatial Economics. We discussed her job market paper, "Barriers to Structural Transformation: The Role of Agricultural Land Fragmentation." We talked about the reasons for land fragmentation in India, its impact on manufacturing enterprises, on employment in both agriculture and manufacturing, profitability of small farms, how it impacts overall structural transformation, and much more. Recorded August 21st, 2026. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Prefer to watch this episode, see the full length video here. Connect with Ideas of India Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:36 - Land Fragmentation and Structural Transformation: Surprising Trends 00:08:10 - Understanding Land Fragmentation 00:15:17 - Measuring the Impact of Land Fragmentation 00:21:13 - The Effect of Declining Farm Size on Manufacturing 00:26:30 - Measuring Fragmentation 00:31:11 - The Magnitude of the Distortions 00:36:20 - Impacts on Manufacturing Employment 00:39:45 - Modeling This Problem 00:49:04 - Potential Policy Implications 00:56:07 - Outro
Aug 27

Rana Hasan on Harnessing the Economic Potential of Indian Cities

Today my guest is Rana Hasan who is the Director, Centre for Economic Growth at NCAER and Senior Affiliate Scholar at the Mercatus Center. Prior to this he was the Regional Lead Economist at the Asian Development Bank. We talked about how to classify and define a city, coordination problems in urban governance, their potential as engines of growth and employment, land use regulation, and how cities are the mother of all general equilibrium problems, and much more. Recorded July 23rd, 2026. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Prefer to watch this episode, see the full length video here. Connect with Ideas of India Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:23 - Thinking Differently About Cities 00:13:15 - Fixing India's Land Use Regulation and Coordination 00:23:18 - Strategies for Nurturing Urban Growth 00:33:19 - The Mother of All General-Equilibrium Problems 00:38:41 - The Potential Benefits of Devolving Power to Local Governments 00:45:49 - Making India a Global Economic Player 00:49:38 - Balancing Security for Workers and Flexibility for Firms 00:58:29 - India's Missed Growth Opportunities 01:06:05 - Hurdles to Global Integration and Opportunities for Local Empowerment 01:12:46 - Outro
Aug 13

Gaurav Chiplunkar on the Frictions in India's Labor Market

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. Prefer to watch this episode, see the full length video here. Connect with Ideas of India Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Follow Gaurav on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. 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
Jul 30

Shreyas Narla and Kadambari Shah on the 'The 1991 Project'

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. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Prefer to watch this episode, see the full length video here. Connect with Ideas of India Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Follow Shreyas on X Follow Kadambari on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. 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
Jul 16

M.R. Madhavan on Party Power and the Decline of India's Legislatures

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. Connect with Ideas of India Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. 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
Jul 2

Rahul Sagar on the Birth of Indian Nationalism

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. Connect with Ideas of India Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Follow Rahul on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. 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

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4.5

out of 5

35 Ratings

Passionate Guests and Host

08/17/2024

SomaTekumalla

This is a great source of quality information about India. I am thoroughly impressed by the knowledge and passion exhibited and the sincerity of their ideas Thank You. These learned guests seem to care a lot about unemployed youth in India and are cautioning us to avoid a demographic curse.
Shruti is exceptional

12/30/2023

Dwight Schrute 69

Almost every episode is fascinating and enlightening. Thanks for sharing and teaching.
Long and boring

08/15/2020

brx12345

Very little interesting information unless you have DEEP ties to India.
Can be better

08/08/2020

xyzlisten

Ajay Shah as always is brilliant, lucid and his clarity of thoughts is absolutely phenomenal. Host seems more interested in showing off her own knowledge than breaking down ideas from the guests.

Through conversations with top thinkers in the social sciences and beyond, economist Shruti Rajagopalan explores the ideas that will propel India forward.