Today my guest is Anant Sudarshan, an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Warwick and a Senior Fellow at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC). We talked about air pollution in India, crop burning, subsidizing electricity, depleting ground water, the impact of the collapse of keystone species and much more.

Recorded November 11th, 2024.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:01:52) - Air Pollution in India

(00:06:00) - Causes of Pollution in Delhi

(00:07:32) - Addressing Crop Burning as a Source of Pollution

(00:14:11) - Regulatory Frameworks for Pollution in India

(00:18:16) - Creating a Market for Pollution

(00:39:52) - Vehicular Pollution and Rationing

(00:53:56) - How Subsidies Complicate the Pollution Problem

(01:02:44) - Pigouvian Subsidies

(01:08:19) - Electricity as a Right

(01:26:04) - The Near-Extinction of Vultures in India

(01:38:41) - Outro

Today the roles are reversed. Producer Dallas Floer interviews Shruti for the annual end of year episode where they look back at key themes and episodes from the past year, address listener questions, discuss the job market series, and share some questions from previous guests.

On behalf of Shruti and the entire Ideas of India team, thank you for listening to the podcast this year. We’re excited to bring you more episodes in 2025.

Recorded November 26th, 2024.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:01:23) - Listener Questions

(00:02:27) - Essential readings on the Indian economy

(00:04:19) - The economy of eastern India from 1970 to today

(00:06:18) - Achieving a “Developed India”

(00:09:20) - Alternate paths for economic students

(00:014:56) - Suggested dissertation topics for PhD students

(00:18:57) - Revising stances on COVID shutdowns

(00:24:42) - Problematic TV news programs in India

(00:27:57) - Predicting the economic impact of AI

(00:30:11) - The South Korean chaebol model

(00:38:24) - Karthik Muralidharan: reimagining state capacity

(00:41:02) - Aparna Chandra: institutional checks on judicial bias

(00:44:03) - Arjun Ramani and Thomas Easton: critical reforms to maintain growth

(00:47:29) - Ruchir Sharma: the state of American capitalism

(00:51:00) - The Job Market Series

(00:54:01) - Questions from Past Guests

(00:56:59) - Shifting stances on schooling and drugs

(01:02:11) - Law and economics

(01:05:36) - “Home” when living in many cultures

(01:09:44) - Next up for The 1991 Project

(01:11:31) - Personal goals for 2025

(01:16:26) - Thanks and Good Wishes

(01:18:29) - Outro

Today my guest is Pravin Krishna is the Chung Ju Yung Distinguished Professor of International Economics and Business at Johns Hopkins University, at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and Department of Economics. We talked about history of preferential trade agreements, India’s approach to trade liberalization, whether such agreements are trade creating or diverting, and much more.

Recorded November 12th, 2024.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:00:59) - Essential Components of the Postwar Multilateral Trade System

(00:04:38) - India’s Role in the GATT and the Special Status of Developing Countries

(00:06:31) - India in the Global Trade System After 1991

(00:09:10) - The Decline of the WTO and New Trade Dynamics

(00:17:45) - Understanding the Small Percentages of Preferential Trade

(00:20:19) - Indian Trade Liberalization and Alliances from 2010–2020

(00:26:18) - Viner: Trade Creation and Trade Diversion

(00:33:35) - More Optimistic View of Equilibrium

(00:38:46) - Foreign Lobbies in Domestic Markets

(00:49:3) - Just pick a number

(00:55:21) - The Impact of Trade Liberalization

(01:04:05) - Labor Elasticity in Relation to Trade Openness

(01:11:17) - Predicting the Near Future Impact of U.S. Trade Tariffs

(01:19:52) - How the New Administration’s Plans Might Impact India

(01:25:58) - Future Trade Relations Between India and China

(01:30:52) - Outro