The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma Ep 442: A Masterclass on Regulation (and Deregulation)
Bootleggers And Baptists Explain Perverse Alliances
- Bootleggers and Baptists explains odd alliances behind regulation: moral advocates provide cover while commercial beneficiaries profit.
- Shruti uses Sunday alcohol bans and pesticide firms opposing GMOs as examples.
BT Cotton Satyagraha Forced Policy Reversal
- Sharad Joshi led farmers' satyagraha to save illegal BT cotton crops from destruction and forced policy change.
- The protest triggered policy reversal; BT cotton later spread to ~90% of Indian cotton farmers, raising incomes and exports.
Transitional Gains Trap Locks In Bad Rules
- Tullock's transitional gains trap explains why removing rents is politically hard: privileged rents become capitalized and defenders resist change.
- Shruti uses taxi medallions and MSP/APMC protections as examples of entrenched vested interests.
We keep using the terms 'regulation' and 'deregulation' -- and now it's time for a primer. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 442 of The Seen and the Unseen go discuss first principles AND get into the weeds. What is regulation? When do we need it? When do we not? What's India's journey been like? And finally, why is deregulation both important and difficult? (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Shruti Rajagopalan on Twitter, Substack, Instagram, her podcast, Ideas of India and her own website. 2. Emergent Ventures India, which is run by Shruti. 3. The 1991 Project. 4. Shruti Rajagopalan Remembers the Angle of the Light -- Episode 410 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 6. Shruti Rajagopalan Dives Into Delimitation -- Episode 336 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. All past episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Shruti Rajagopalan, in reverse chronological order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. 8. Urinal regulation in the Factories Act, 1948. 9. Four Seasons in Rome -- Anthony Doerr. 10. Premature Imitation and India's Flailing State — Shruti Rajagopalan & Alexander Tabarrok. 11. Elite Imitation in Public Policy -- Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 12. The Curse of Knowledge. 13. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma. 14. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything. 15. The Wealth of Nations -- Adam Smith. 16. The Double 'Thank You' Moment — John Stossel. 17. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 18. Traffic -- Tom Vanderbilt. 19. Tonight Is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel -- Barenaked Ladies. 20. Driving in a Foreign Country -- My Italian Diaries: 7 -- Amit Varma. 21. Marching For Salt -- Amit Varma. 22. The Transitional Gains Trap -- Gordon Tullock. 23. Interventionism: An Economic Analysis -- Ludwig von Mises. 24. Mises's dynamics of interventionism: Lessons from Indian agriculture -- Shruti Rajagopalan. 25. Gandhi -- Richard Attenborough. 26. Anton Howes on Trade, Innovation, and the Forgotten History of Salt -- The Ideas of India podcast. 27. Age of Invention, by Anton Howes. 28. A People's Constitution -- Rohit De. 29. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 31. The Life and Times of the Indian Economy -- Episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 32. The Road to the 1991 Industrial Policy Reforms and Beyond: A Personalized Narrative from the Trenches -- Rakesh Mohan. 33. The Use of Knowledge in Society -- Friedrich Hayek. 34. Four Papers That Changed the World -- Episode 41 of Everything is Everything. 35. A Sixth Of Humanity -- Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian. 36. Entry and Exit in Agriculture -- Episode 1 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath and Karthik Shashidhar). 37. Bootleggers and Baptists-The Education of a Regulatory Economist — Bruce Yandle. 38. Farmers, Technology and Freedom of Choice: A Tale of Two Satyagrahas -- Amit Varma. 39. The State of Our Farmers — Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil). 40. Talking to an Empty Room -- Sharad Joshi's speeches in the Rajya Sabha. 41. Raees: An Empty Shell of a Gangster Film — Amit Varma. 42. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 43. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 44. Public Choice Theory -- Episode 121 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. Blendjet. 46. The Whole Truth Foods protein powder that Amit has. 47. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal — Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 48. The Bad and Complex Tax -- Episode 74 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 49. India's Supreme Court -- Episode 123 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 50. Restaurant Regulations in India — Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon). 51. India's MSME Landscape — Some Useful Frameworks -- Episode 419 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sudhir Sarnobat and Naren Shenoy). 52. What Ails Indian Manufacturing? -- Episode 104 of Everything is Everything. 53. Commands and controls: Planning for Indian industrial development, 1951–1990 -- Rakesh Mohan and Vandana Aggarwal. 54. Futures Markets in Agriculture -- Episode 12 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Shashidhar). 55. Naushad Forbes Wants to Fix India — Episode 282 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 58. The Economics of Derivatives -- TV Somanathan and V Anantha Nageswaran. 59. Sorry, Wrong Number -- Shruti Rajagopalan. 60. Reforming Agricultural Land Conversion Laws in Indian States -- Shruti Rajagopalan, Shreyas Narla, Ankita Dinkar, Kadambari Shah and Ankit Bhatia. 61. The Case for Nuclear Electricity -- Episode 78 of Everything is Everything. 62. Nuclear Power Can Save the World -- Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist & Steven Pinker. 63. The Right to Property — Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 64. India's Agriculture Crisis — Episode 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra and Kumar Anand). 65. Economics in One Lesson — Henry Hazlitt. 66. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat. 67. The Candlemaker's Petition -- Frédéric Bastiat. 68. Marginal Revolution University. 69. Public Choice – A Primer — Eamonn Butler 70. Micromotives and Macrobehavior -- Thomas Schelling. Amit Varma runs a course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. And have you read Amit's newsletter? It's madly active right now! Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It's free! Also check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: 'The Regulated' by Simahina.