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 shift the focus from industrial and trade policy towards a services and education policy, how India can and should decentralize, if India can scale education and health, India’s growth rate numbers, and much more.

Recorded April 19th, 2024.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:05:21) - Zooming into Indian States

(00:20:25) - Why not Decentralization?

(00:26:28) - Scaling Education

(00:51:14) - Educating the Global South

(00:53:22) - Picking Winners and Losers

(01:10:22) - India's Growth Rate

(01:18:44) - Outro

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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 the Caribbean people, economic divergence in post-colonial Caribbean countries, Caribbean music, homophobia, VS Naipaul, West Indian cricket team, and much more.

Recorded April 4th, 2024.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:09:37) - Do Former Colonizers Owe Reparations to the Caribbean People?

(00:22:29) - The Counterfactual for Caribbean Colonies

(00:35:48) - India, Caribbean and Scale

(00:40:52) - Is Saint Lucia the Best at Spotting Talent?

(00:49:37) - Caribbean Civil Rights Movement

(00:58:01) - Innovation in Caribbean Music

(01:03:59) - Homophobia

(01:13:10) - Most Underrated Caribbean Island?

(01:19:05) - V.S. Naipual

(01:30:57) - Outro

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Today my guest is Pranay Kotasthane who is the deputy director of the Takshashila Institution and chairs the High Tech Geopolitics Programme.

Pranay co-writes Anticipating the Unintended, a newsletter on public policy ideas and frameworks, and co-hosts Puliyabaazi, a popular Hindi-Urdu podcast on politics, policy, and technology. He is the co-author of - Missing in Action: Why Should You Care About Public Policy, and the graphic nonfiction narrative We, the Citizens. He has co-edited India’s Marathon: Reshaping the Post-Pandemic World Order.

Today we are discussing his most recent book, When the Chips Are Down, coauthored with Abhiram Manchi. We spoke the evolution of the semiconductor industry, industrial targeting, Moore’s law, Rock’s law, Taiwan’s Comparative advantage, whether India can lead in semiconductor chips and more.

Recorded March 12th, 2024.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:08:35) - Moore's Law

(00:14:08) - Rock's Law

(00:21:41) - Geopolitics of the Semiconducter Industry

(00:27:46) - Metacritical Technologies

(00:38:49) - Geographical Concentration

(00:48:34) - Zelenograd

(00:59:44) - Unease of doing Business in India

(01:09:45) - Industrial Targeting in Taiwan

(01:30:57) - Outro

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