Prediction Time —RSJ In a year when countries as diverse as India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Taiwan, Pakistan and Palau go for their elections, it is tempting to go for an overarching theme for the year while looking ahead. Unfortunately, like these aforementioned elections and the many others that will see about 50 per cent of the human population exercise their democratic choice, there seems to be only a messy mix of political signals emerging from them. Illiberal...

Happy New Year — RSJ Happy 2024, dear readers!  We hope 2023 was good for all of you. If it wasn’t, we are glad that it’s behind you. We didn’t have too bad a 2023 ourselves. This newsletter went along swimmingly (or so we think) and we had our book ‘Missing in Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy’ published on 23 January 2023. Why haven’t you bought it yet? Anyway, it seems to be doing well based on the modest expectations we had of it. I’m yet to see the pirated versions of it...

India Policy Watch #1: Like a Kid in a Candy Store Insights on current policy issues in India — Pranay Kotasthane In the previous edition, I asked you to name your favourite sports policy to date. I don’t have a great answer myself. Nevertheless, my candidate would be liberalising FDI in retail. When posed with such questions, we often get anchored to the way governments are organised. The best sports policy can only be made by the sports ministry; the best education policy can only be made...

Course Advertisement: Admission to Takshashila’s Graduate Certificate in Public Policy (GCPP) programme is now open. Start your 2024 with a course that will equip you with the tools to understand the world of public policy. Check all details here. India Policy Watch: In Search Of Growth Current policy issues in India — RSJ A quick macro update. The RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met this week and, as was widely expected, kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent for the fifth...

Read the full text here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

Full text here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

The full text is here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

The full text is here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

Read the edition here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

Read the edition here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

Financial Regulation of Private Firms + Emigration of Indian Talent This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

India Watch #1: Of Protests and Perfect Tricks Insights on issues relevant to India — RSJ For nearly a month now, some of India's top wrestlers, who between them have earned over 25 medals in various global competitions, have been protesting against the conduct of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh. This is not an ordinary protest. The allegations in the FIR against Singh are quite serious, including a couple of instances of demanding sexual favours as...

Being Pragmatic about ESG Norms, Lessons for India's Semiconductor Strategy, and Challenging Common Wisdom about India's Constitution-making. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

India Policy Watch #1: Silly Season Is Upon Us Insights on issues relevant to India — RSJ Late on Friday this week, the RBI issued a circular withdrawing the circulation of ₹2000 denomination banknotes. The RBI clarified that these notes would continue to serve as legal tender, so this isn’t another demonetisation. Here’s the Indian Express reporting: THE RESERVE Bank of India (RBI) Friday announced the withdrawal of its highest value currency note, Rs 2,000, from circulation, adding that the...

Global Policy Watch: Much Ado About De-dollarisation Reflections on global policy issues — RSJ This week, Donald Trump urged Republican lawmakers to let the U.S. default on its debt if the Democrats don’t agree on massive budget cuts. Trump likened the people running the U.S. treasury to ‘drunken sailors’, an epithet I can get behind. Default is not something Janet Yellen, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, can even begin to imagine. As CNBC reported, Yellen chose strong words to express her views...

Global Policy Watch: Chronicle Of A Crisis Foretold Reflections on global policy issues — RSJ A major state election (Karnataka) is coming up this week. But there’s hardly anything worth analysing. The Congress seemed to have a slight edge in the early opinion polls, but that’s wearing thin. The BJP, always with its ears to the ground, has cranked up its poll machinery in the last couple of weeks drawing upon the star power of the PM in the urban areas of the state. The friendly media...

India Policy Watch #1: How Not to Let the Opportunity Slip Away Insights on issues relevant to India — RSJ A strange thing happens when you are away on a break. One week you are sitting and wondering how many different things you can write about because of the flurry of events around you. US banks getting into trouble, Rahul Gandhi being denied bail, more curbs on US companies doing business in China, frenetic moves in semiconductor politics - you get the picture. And then you take a break....

India Policy Watch #1: Don’t Concentrate Insights on issues relevant to India — RSJ In one of the recent editions on the Hindenburg short-selling saga, I had written about how easily the Adani group had spread itself into a diverse range of sectors. The group was highly leveraged because it was so keen on getting into newer sectors and then winning bids in them with metronomic efficiency. Generally speaking, it is difficult to run a conglomerate of different businesses. You might argue that...

India Policy Watch: Those Mind Games Insights on issues relevant to India — RSJ Regular readers might have noticed the absence of posts analysing the political economy and politics in general in our editions of late. This isn’t intentional. There’s not much to write about. There is a strange sense of stasis all around. Every move, every act is a chronicle of a future foretold. This inertness stems from a complete absence of ferment in the political landscape. The external factors that could...

Global Policy Watch: Bailout Pe Bailout Pe Bailout Insights on global policy issues relevant to India — RSJ Where do I start this week?  Maybe with a spot of self-promotion. Pranay and I were guests on the popular Hindi podcast Puliyaabazi. I have been a long-time fan, so it was nice to be a guest there. Pranay usually co-hosts this with Saurabh and Khyati, but this time, he was on the other side. I felt a bit like Uday Chopra, who is only in the film because he is the producer’s brother....

Global Policy Watch: Accident Ho Gaya Insights on global policy issues relevant to India — RSJ I must admit there are times when I have made a big deal about writing this newsletter. Not about the content, mind you. I’m not that vain yet. But the regularity of it all. Getting about 4000 words out between the two of us every week isn’t trivial stuff. But then there are weeks I ask myself if it is really a big deal. I mean, there are weeks when there’s so much happening in policy, politics and...

India Policy Watch #1: Why We Don’t Care About Growth Insights on burning policy issues in India — RSJ Earlier this week, Pranay and I recorded an episode with Shruti Rajagopalan for her podcast Ideas of India. I have been following Shruti’s columns and the podcast for a while now, and I will recommend you subscribe to both her podcast and her newsletter. She’s always insightful, curious and uses first principles to probe issues. This means you cannot get away with the usual stock answers....