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 economics correspondent in the London office. We spoke about various aspects of covered in a recent six-part special report on India’s economy written by Arjun and Tom.

Recorded May 2nd, 2024.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:01:03) - The India Express and its Future

(00:01:57) - Reasons for Optimism and Pessimism Over India’s Future

(00:14:45) - Long-Run Economic Growth

(00:18:51) - Is India Prepared to be a Capitalist Country?

(00:29:37) - Unemployment vs. Informal Labor Market in India

(00:47:17) - India and Education

(00:51:21) - State Capacity Problems

(01:02:11) - Concrete Ceilings for Indian Businesses

(01:08:24) - The Binding Constraint

(01:13:30) - Industrial Policy

(01:31:53) - Future of Economic Journalism

(01:44:50) - Outro