Indian Political Economy
In 1950, Indians embraced the political freedoms guaranteed by their Constitution. In 1991, Indians took a giant leap toward economic freedom by liberalizing large parts of India’s controlled economy. Preserving and enhancing these freedoms is today’s challenge.
This program engages with the ideas and importance of these economic and political freedoms, through academic research, policy outreach and advocacy, mentoring, public engagement and communication, and by building a network of academic scholars, technocrats, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and students.
India experienced tremendous economic growth in the last three decades, lifting over a quarter of a billion people out of extreme poverty. However, substantial challenges remain as Indians face flagging economic growth, inadequate access to education and healthcare, environmental degradation, social and economic disenfranchisement of various groups, corruption, stifled entrepreneurship, and lack of state capacity. Our mission is to foster a deeper understanding of the structural issues in India’s democratic politics, constitutional constraints, and markets, that stand in the way of a freer and more prosperous India.
Ideas of India Podcast is a fortnightly podcast hosted by Dr Shruti Rajagopalan. She engages top thinkers working on Indian political economy, history, culture, and beyond to examine the ideas that can propel India forward.
The podcast also provides, for doctoral and postdoctoral candidates working on the most pressing questions facing India, a platform to present their research to a wider audience.
The 1991 Project is an effort to revive the discourse on economic growth-centered reforms in India by focusing on economic ideas. Our team will publish essays, data visualizations, lecture series, podcasts, and policy papers demystifying the Indian economy in the coming months. It will also create a public history repository comprising policy documents, event timelines, and biographical accounts of the reformers who made these changes possible.
Oral Histories Initiative: An important part of The 1991 Project is to understand the political economy of policy reforms. It is essential to preserve the institutional memory of the active participants in the process to understand and learn how India might continue to address its structural problems. Our goal is to speak with the technocrats, bureaucrats, politicians, and economists, who worked on India’s liberalization and record their experiences in the form of oral histories.
Latest work in Indian Political Economy
- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Vanisha Sharma on the Effects of Internet Expansion in Developing Communities

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Duncan Webb on Reducing Anti-Transgender Discrimination in India

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Amit Ahuja and Devesh Kapur on the Complexity of Violence and Fragility of Order in India

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Shreyas Narla and Kadambari Shah on Why Women Economic Policy Makers Matter

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Saurabh Kirpal on the Constitutional Case for Marriage Equality in India

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Pete Boettke on Austrian Economics and the Knowledge Problem

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Aditi Mittal on On Being a Comedian

- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
Ideas of India: On Being a Female Comedian
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
Shruti Rajagopalan Dives Into Delimitation | "The Seen and Unseen"
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Demography, Delimitation, and Democracy | Get Down and Shruti
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Why Women Bureaucrats Lose Out on Senior Posts | The Indian Express
- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Rohini Nilekani on Society, State and Markets

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Amit Varma on The Creator Economy

- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
Ideas of India: The Creator Economy
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
The Rahul Gandhi Defamation Case | The "Soul Searching" Podcast
- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Rahul Sagar on Finding India's Hidden 19th-Century History

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Mapping the Journey of Policy Reform with a Policy Reformer

Latest work in Indian Political Economy
- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Vanisha Sharma on the Effects of Internet Expansion in Developing Communities

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Duncan Webb on Reducing Anti-Transgender Discrimination in India

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Amit Ahuja and Devesh Kapur on the Complexity of Violence and Fragility of Order in India

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Shreyas Narla and Kadambari Shah on Why Women Economic Policy Makers Matter

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Saurabh Kirpal on the Constitutional Case for Marriage Equality in India

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Pete Boettke on Austrian Economics and the Knowledge Problem

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Aditi Mittal on On Being a Comedian

- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
Ideas of India: On Being a Female Comedian
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
Shruti Rajagopalan Dives Into Delimitation | "The Seen and Unseen"
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Demography, Delimitation, and Democracy | Get Down and Shruti
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Why Women Bureaucrats Lose Out on Senior Posts | The Indian Express
- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Rohini Nilekani on Society, State and Markets

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Amit Varma on The Creator Economy

- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
Ideas of India: The Creator Economy
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
The Rahul Gandhi Defamation Case | The "Soul Searching" Podcast
- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Rahul Sagar on Finding India's Hidden 19th-Century History

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Mapping the Journey of Policy Reform with a Policy Reformer

Latest work in Indian Political Economy
- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Vanisha Sharma on the Effects of Internet Expansion in Developing Communities

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Duncan Webb on Reducing Anti-Transgender Discrimination in India

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Amit Ahuja and Devesh Kapur on the Complexity of Violence and Fragility of Order in India

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Shreyas Narla and Kadambari Shah on Why Women Economic Policy Makers Matter

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Saurabh Kirpal on the Constitutional Case for Marriage Equality in India

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Pete Boettke on Austrian Economics and the Knowledge Problem

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Aditi Mittal on On Being a Comedian

- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
Ideas of India: On Being a Female Comedian
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
Shruti Rajagopalan Dives Into Delimitation | "The Seen and Unseen"
- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Rohini Nilekani on Society, State and Markets

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Amit Varma on The Creator Economy

- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
Ideas of India: The Creator Economy
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
The Rahul Gandhi Defamation Case | The "Soul Searching" Podcast
- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Rahul Sagar on Finding India's Hidden 19th-Century History

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Mapping the Journey of Policy Reform with a Policy Reformer

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Sajith Pai on Startups and Venture Capital

- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
- | Ideas of India Ideas of India
Chakravarthi Rangarajan on Monetary Policy After Liberalization

- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
Ideas of India: Monetary Policy After Liberalization | Ideas of India
Latest work in Indian Political Economy
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Demography, Delimitation, and Democracy | Get Down and Shruti
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Why Women Bureaucrats Lose Out on Senior Posts | The Indian Express
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Padma Desai, Economist, 1931-2023 | The Financial Times
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Ideas of India: Individuals and the Indian State
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
The Burden That Women Bear | The Hindu
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Ideas of India: How the World Became Rich
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
The oft-forgotten beneficiary of digitisation is the frontline govt employee | The Week
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Towards Fuller Capital Convertibility | The Financial Express
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary