Best Arjun Rai Podcasts (2026)

1
Snigdha Poonam on the Political Economy of Transnational Scams 1:27:59

Play Pause

9d ago1:27:59

1:27:59

Today my guest is Snigdha Poonam who is a journalist and writer. She is the author of the new book Scamlands and also the author of the 2018 award winning book Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World. We talked about the scam industrial complex in different states like Jharkhand, Assam and Tamil Nadu in India, the interaction between t…

1
2025 in Review 1:10:36

19d ago1:10:36

1:10:36

Shruti and Ideas of India producer Dallas Floer sit down for the 2025 end-of-year episode. They look back at key themes and top episodes from the past year, address listener questions, and look forward to what's in store for Shruti and the show in 2026. Recorded December 16th, 2025. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Learn more abo…

1
Ammu Lavanya on How Foreign Capital Changed Indian Bank Lending 54:10

1M ago54:10

54:10

Our seventh and final scholar in the series is Ammu Lavanya, a PhD candidate in Economics at George Washington University. Her research is in the areas of International Finance, Monetary Economics, Empirical Banking and Financial History. We spoke about her job market paper titled International Financial Flows, Credit Allocation and Productivity. W…

1
Nayantara Biswas on Demand- and Supply-Side Interventions in India's Maternal Health Policy 47:31

2M ago47:31

47:31

Our sixth scholar in the series is Nayantara Biswas is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She received her Ph.D. in economics from Clark University. Her research focuses on health equity impact evaluations of small-scale interventions and large-scale public policies. We spoke about dissertation titled, The I…

1
Karthik Narayan on Measuring the Effects of Unscheduled vs. Scheduled Monetary Policy Announcements 48:54

2M ago48:54

48:54

Our fifth scholar in the series is Karthik Narayan, who is a doctoral candidate in Economics at Nuffield College and at the Department of Economics, University of Oxford. His research focuses on monetary policy, macroeconomics and finance in developing countries. We spoke about his job market paper titled, Macroeconomic Effects of Scheduled and Uns…

1
Asad Tariq on Electoral Redistricting and Public Goods Provision in India 42:49

3M ago42:49

42:49

Our fourth scholar in the series is Asad Tariq, who is a doctoral candidate in Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. His research focuses on the political economy of development, with a particular interest in religion, politics and public service delivery in India. We spoke about his job market paper titled, Constituencies of …

1
Chetana Sabnis on The Intimacy Contract and the Indian State 51:24

3M ago51:24

51:24

Our third scholar in the series is Chetana Sabnis, who is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Political Science at Yale University. Her research focuses on how states regulate intimate relationships and construct hierarchies of familial belonging. We spoke about her job market paper titled, The Intimacy Contract in Action: How Indian Courts D…

1
Sunny Rai on Using Large Language Models to Understand the Depiction of Shame and Pride in Bollywood versus Hollywood 38:01

4M ago38:01

38:01

Our second scholar in the series is Sunny Rai, who is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Computer and Information Science University of Pennsylvania. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from University of Delhi. Her research focuses on misinformation, mental health and cross-cultural variations in human language. We spoke about h…

1
Kartik Srivastava on Referral-Based Hiring, Caste Networks, and Breaking Barriers in India's Labor Markets 47:41

4M ago47:41

47:41

Our first scholar in the series is Kartik Srivastava, who is a PhD candidate at the Kennedy School at Harvard University. Before this, he received his bachelor's degree from Yale University, where he majored in Economics and Engineering Sciences. His research focuses on development economics, labor economics, and political economy. We spoke about h…

1
Narayani Basu on K. M. Panikkar: India's Impossible Man 1:20:03

5M ago1:20:03

1:20:03

Today my guest is Narayani Basu, who is a historian and the author of the latest book, A Man for All Seasons: The Life of K. M. Panikkar. Her last book was a biography of V.P. Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India. We talked about KM Panikkar, his comparison with VP Menon, the Indian nationalist movement in the interwar years, the origins of …

1
Yamini Aiyar Schools Us on Education Policy in India 1:29:25

5M ago1:29:25

1:29:25

Today my guest is Yamini Aiyar, who is currently a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia at Brown University and the author of the recent book Lessons in State Capacity from Delhi's Schools. Her main research interests are contemporary politics, state capacity, welfare policy, and federalism. We talked about the ch…

1
Rathin Roy on How India Slices the Fiscal Pie 1:28:44

5M ago1:28:44

1:28:44

Today my guest is Rathin Roy, who's a Distinguished Fellow at the Kautilya School of Public Policy and a Visiting Senior Fellow at ODI Global. His main research interests are political economy, public finance, and development economics, and he also served on the 13th Finance Commission. We talked about India's fiscal resources are distributed acros…

1
Chitrakshi Jain and Prashant Reddy T. on the Dysfunction in India's District Courts 1:37:48

6M ago1:37:48

1:37:48

Today my guests are legal scholars Chitrakshi Jain and Prashant Reddy T, the authors of the recent book Tareekh pe Justice, Reforms for India's District Courts. We talked about the dysfunction in India's lower courts, opacity in the evaluation of district court judges, the problems with judicial data, and much more. Recorded July 1st, 2025. Read a …

1
M.R. Sharan Examines Decentralization and Local Representation in India 1:22:00

6M ago1:22:00

1:22:00

Today my guest is M.R. Sharan, an assistant professor in the department of agricultural and resource economics at the University of Maryland College Park. He is the author of numerous papers and the book Last Among Equals: Power, Caste, & Politics in Bihar's Villages. His main research interests are development economics and political economy. We t…

1
Rakesh Mohan Reflects on Dismantling the License Permit Raj 1:47:11

7M ago1:47:11

1:47:11

Today my guest is Rakesh Mohan. He is the President Emeritus and Distinguished Fellow at Center for Social and Economic Progress in New Delhi. He has previously served as Executive Director on the Board of the International Monetary Fund and as Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. We talked about his work with the Government of India since…

1
Ramachandra Guha on the Origins of Indian Environmentalism 1:20:29

7M ago1:20:29

1:20:29

Today my guest is environmental scholar, historian and biographer Ramachandra Guha. He is the author of a number of books, including a two-volume biography of Gandhi and the award-winning book "India After Gandhi." We talked about his latest book, "Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism." We spoke about global versus local com…

1
Rajmohan Gandhi on Revenge and Reconciliation in South Asia 1:18:15

8M ago1:18:15

1:18:15

Today's episode is the second part of my conversation with Rajmohan Gandhi, a historian and biographer involved in efforts for trust-building and reconciliation and author of more than fifteen books, of which the most recent is Fraternity: Constitutional Norm and Human Need. He taught history and politics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Cha…

1
Rajmohan Gandhi Reflects on India's Founding Fathers 1:39:25

8M ago1:39:25

1:39:25

Today my guest is Rajmohan Gandhi, a historian and biographer involved in efforts for trust-building and reconciliation and author of more than fifteen books, of which the most recent is Fraternity: Constitutional Norm and Human Need. He taught history and politics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1997 until his retirement in …

1
Taking Stock of the Indian Economy with Prachi Mishra 1:25:20

9M ago1:25:20

1:25:20

Today my guest is Prachi Mishra, who is a Professor in the Department of Economics, and Director and Head of Isaac Center for Public Policy at Ashoka University. Prior to joining Ashoka, Prachi was Chief of the Systemic Issues Division and Advisor in the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund. We spoke about the current state of the…

1
Sajith Pai on India's Digital Divides 1:23:09

9M ago1:23:09

1:23:09

Today my guest is Sajith Pai, who is a Partner at Blume Ventures, an early stage Indian venture fund. He is also a well known writer, and the author of the annual Indus Valley Report. We spoke about the trends in the latest Indus Valley Report, the stratifications in Indian consumer markets, investor sentiment, policies and infrastructure to foster…

1
Jasti Chelameswar on Constitutional Interpretation and Judicial Independence 1:16:24

10M ago1:16:24

1:16:24

Today my guest is Justice Jasti Chelameswar, who is a former justice of the Supreme Court of India. Prior to his elevation, he served as chief justice in High Courts in Gauhati and Kerala and as a justice in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. We spoke about his judgments on electoral qualifications, judicial conduct, transparency in judicial appointmen…

1
Akshay Jaitly on India's Energy Sector Challenges, Reforms, and Future Pathways 1:18:07

10M ago1:18:07

1:18:07

Today my guest is Akshay Jaitly, one of the founders of Trilegal, one of India's leading law firms. He specializes in advising on energy and infrastructure projects. His research interests include power sector reform, the energy transition and public-private contracting. We talked about the top-down nature of electricity regulation and pricing in I…

1
Christopher Coyne on War, Conflict, and the Quest for a Stable Peace 1:45:49

11M ago1:45:49

1:45:49

Today my guest is Christopher J Coyne, who is a Professor of Economics at George Mason University, the Associate Director of the F.A. Hayek Program at the Mercatus Center. We talked about the economics of conflict and peace, history of the US security state, the US intervention in Afghanistan, domestic consequences of militarism abroad, and much mo…

1
Katherine Schofield on The Hidden History of Music in Mughal India 1:19:05

11M ago1:19:05

1:19:05

Today my guest Katherine Butler Schofield who is a professor of South Asian Music and History at King's College London. She is the author of the recent book Music and Musicians in Late Mughal India: Histories of the Ephemeral, 1748–1858. She also hosted a podcast series called The Histories of the Ephemeral on the same theme. We talked about the hi…

1
Anton Howes on Trade, Innovation, and the Forgotten History of Salt 1:48:33

12M ago1:48:33

1:48:33

Today my guest is Anton Howes head of innovation research at The Entrepreneurs Network, and the historian-in-residence at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. He is the author of Arts and Minds: How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a Nation and the excellent Substack Age of Invention. We talked about salt tr…

1
Anant Sudarshan on Market Solutions to Air Pollution, Energy Policy, and Ecological Disruption 1:39:31

12M ago1:39:31

1:39:31

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 sp…

1
2024 in Review 1:19:13

1y ago1:19:13

1:19:13

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 l…

1
Pravin Krishna on the Political Economy of Multilateral and Preferential Trade Agreements, Trade Liberalization, and the Future of Global Trade 1:31:41

1y ago1:31:41

1:31:41

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 agreem…

1
Deepti Sharma on Survey Methods and the Hidden Biases in Economic Data 36:48

1y ago36:48

36:48

Subscribe to Grand Tamasha on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. I spoke with Deepti Sharma, who's an Assistant Professor at Ahmedabad University. She completed her PhD in public policy from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Management of Health Services at …

1
Kushagr Bakshi on Constitutional Interpretation and the Transformation of Federalism 54:17

1y ago54:17

54:17

Subscribe to Grand Tamasha on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. I spoke with Kushagr Bakshi is a Michigan International and Comparative Law Scholar and an SJD candidate at the University of Michigan Law School, where he also received his LLM. He received his first law degree from NUJS in West Bengal. We discussed a ch…

1
Aarushi Kalra on Digital Polarization and Toxicity, Understanding User Behavior, Social Media Algorithms, and Platform Incentives 49:45

1y ago49:45

49:45

Subscribe to Grand Tamasha on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. I spoke with Aarushi Kalra Ph.D. candidate in Economics at Brown University. We discussed her job market paper, "Hate in the Time of Algorithms: Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment on Online Behavior." We talked about the demand and supply of toxicity …

1
Abishek Choutagunta on Federalism, President's Rule, and Constitutional Design 54:07

1y ago54:07

54:07

Subscribe to Grand Tamasha on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. I spoke with Abishek Choutagunta, who received his PhD in economics from the Institute of Law and Economics, University of Hamburg. He is also an EV India fellow at the Mercatus Center. We discussed his paper "President's Rule in India: State Emergency or…

1
Atanu Chatterjee on Governance and Design in Slum Rehabilitation 58:20

1y ago58:20

58:20

Subscribe to Grand Tamasha on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. I spoke with Atanu Chatterjee, a PhD candidate in geography at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, and a lecturer at the School of Human Settlements, XIM University Bhubaneswar. We discussed his dissertation examining the in situ slum rehabilitation scheme t…

1
Steven Brownstone on Agricultural Subsidies, Mechanization, and Historical Land and Labor Institutions in India 46:53

1y ago46:53

46:53

Subscribe to Grand Tamasha on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. I spoke with Steven Brownstone, a PhD candidate in economics at the University of California, San Diego. His research focus is on the fields of development economics, agricultural economics, and political economy. We discussed his job market paper, Labor …

1
Deepika Padmanabhan on Language, Identity, and Nation-Building in South India 46:03

1+ y ago46:03

46:03

Subscribe to Grand Tamasha on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. I spoke with Deepika Padmanabhan, who's a PhD candidate in political science at Yale University. Her research focuses on nationalism, language and self-determination with a regional focus in South Asia. We discussed her job market paper, everyday impositi…

1
Sukrit Puri on the Entanglement between Business and Politics in India 57:59

1+ y ago57:59

57:59

Subscribe to Grand Tamasha on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. This is the 2024 job market series where I speak with young scholars entering the academic job market about the latest research in India. I spoke with Sukrit Puri, who is a PhD candidate in political science at MIT and an Elinor Ostrom fellow at the Merca…

1
Rolly Kapoor on Group Travel and Women's Job Search Behavior in India 40:15

1+ y ago40:15

40:15

Subscribe to Grand Tamasha on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app. We are kicking off the 2024 job market series, where I speak with young scholars entering the academic job market about their latest research on India. Our first scholar in the series is Rolly Kapoor, who is a PhD candidate at the Department of Economics …

1
Ruchir Sharma on America's Debt and the Future of Capitalism 1:18:52

1+ y ago1:18:52

1:18:52

Today my guest is Ruchir Sharma, who is the Chairman of Rockefeller International, a columnist with the Financial Times, and the author of the recent book, What Went Wrong with Capitalism. We talked about American debt levels, US monetary policy, regulation and cronyism, industrial policy, the Indian economy under Modi, and much more. Recorded July…

1
Amol Agrawal on the Bankers who Built Modern India 1:24:24

1+ y ago1:24:24

1:24:24

Today my guest is Amol Agrawal, who is the author of History of Private Banking in South Canara District (1906-69). He teaches economics at Ahmedabad University and blogs at the excellent blog Mostly Economics. We spoke about the colonial and post-colonial history of banking in India, the unique features of the South Canara district, and its banker…

1
Amartya Lahiri and Devashish Mitra on Trade and Manufacturing-Led Economic Growth in India 1:36:16

1+ y ago1:36:16

1:36:16

Today my guests are Amartya Lahiri and Devashish Mitra who are joining me to discuss their latest paper for the 1991 project titled India's Development Policy Challenge. Amartya Lahiri is the Royal Bank Research Professor in the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Devashish Mitra the Gerald B. and Daphna Crame…

1
Anirudh Burman on Rethinking India's Land Regulation 1:29:33

1+ y ago1:29:33

1:29:33

Today my guest is Anirudh Burman. He is an associate research director and fellow at Carnegie Endowment India, and prior to that, he worked at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and the Centre for Policy Research, both in New Delhi. He has his master's in law from Harvard Law School. We spoke about the dysfunctional land markets an…

1
Kadambari Shah and Shreyas Narla on Continuing the Reform Agenda 1:21:16

1+ y ago1:21:16

1:21:16

Today my guests are Shreyas Narla and Kadambari Shah, who are my colleagues at the Mercatus Center and research scholars working with me on the 1991 Project. We spoke about the kinds of policy change we would like to see in the coalition government led by Modi's in his third term. We talked about the research Shreyas, Kadambari and I have been work…

1
Sajith Pai Unpacks the 2024 Indus Valley Annual Report and the Changing Indian Consumer 1:24:19

1+ y ago1:24:19

1:24:19

Today my guest is Sajith Pai, who is a partner at Blume Ventures and he is a long-time media executive turned VC. At Blume, Sajith supports investments in media, ed tech and e-commerce, while simultaneously helping Blume building a research and knowledge platform. We spoke about the 2024 Indus Valley Annual Report. written by Sajith and his co-auth…

1
Anne Krueger Reflects on 50 Years of Rent-Seeking, Trade, and Economic Development 1:14:11

1+ y ago1:14:11

1:14:11

Today my guest is Anne O Krueger. She is a Senior Fellow at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, and the Herald L. and Caroline Ritch Emeritus Professor of Sciences and Humanities in the Economics Department at Stanford University. She served World Bank's Chief Economist from 1982 to 1986, and the first deputy man…

1
Karthik Muralidharan Examines the State of the Indian State 1:57:34

1+ y ago1:57:34

1:57:34

Today my guest is Karthik Muralidharan. He is the Tata Chancellor's Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of the recent book Accelerating India's Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Effective Governance." We talked about the lacking state capacity in India, about improving the quality of public expendi…

1
Arjun Ramani and Thomas Easton Decode India's Changing Economic Landscape 1:45:34

1+ y ago1:45:34

1:45:34

Today my guests are Tom Easton and Arjun Ramani from The Economist. Tom Easton is Mumbai bureau chief. He joined The Economist in 2000 at the New York bureau and was appointed the Asian business editor in 2007. Arjun Ramani is on an extended stint in Mumbai and Delhi bureaus covering the Indian economy. Before this, he was the global business and e…

1
Rohit Lamba Reimagines India's Economic Policy Emphasis 1:19:22

1+ y ago1:19:22

1:19:22

Today my guest is Rohit Lamba, an assistant professor of economics at Pennsylvania State University and a visiting assistant professor of economics at New York University Abu Dhabi. We spoke about his recent book Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India's Economic Future which he has coauthored with Raghuram Rajan. We spoke about their argument to shi…

1
Rasheed Griffith Explores the Complexities of the Caribbean 1:31:39

1+ y ago1:31:39

1:31:39

Today my guest is Rasheed Griffith, who is the CEO of the Caribbean Progress Studies Institute, the host of the podcast the Rasheed Griffith Show, and one of my favorite writers on Substack. He also directs the Emergent Ventures Africa-Caribbean grants program at the Mercatus Center. We spoke about whether the former colonizers owe reparations to t…

1
Badri Narayanan and M. Krishnan Navigate the Choppy Waters of Fisheries Negotiations 1:00:35

2y ago1:00:35

1:00:35

Today my guests are M. Krishnan and Badri Narayanan Gopalakrishnan. M. Krishnan is an economist based in Chennai and Singapore, and specializes in agriculture education systems, fisheries, and aquaculture research. He is currently an advisor at Infinite-Sum Modeling Inc and was a distinguished scientist of the Agricultural Research Service of the I…

1
Aparna Chandra Puts the Supreme Court on Trial 1:35:02

2y ago1:35:02

1:35:02

Aparna Chandra is a constitutional scholar and associate professor of law at the National Law school in Bangalore. She is the coauthor, along with Sital Kalantry and William Hubbard of the recent book Court on Trial: A Data-Driven Account of the Supreme Court of India. We spoke about the problem of pendency across all courts in the Indian judiciary…