The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

As the recent sexual harassment case indicates, all is not well with the Supreme Court of India. Constitutional economist Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 123 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why the Supreme Court has gone wrong on both ends of the tradeoff between Independence and Accountability. Also read: Justice Is Dead, Long Live the Justices -- Shruti Rajagopalan Imagine No Possessions -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen Fixing Our Judicial System -- Episode 62 of The Seen and the Unseen Ek Baar Jo Maine Commitment Kar Di -- Amit Varma Where Have All the Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios

Elections in India are madly complex, and defy simple explanations. Sadanand Dhume joins Amit Varma in episode 122 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the Age of Modi, and what these elections mean for India, the BJP and the Congress party. Also check out: Sadanand Dhume's bio and archives The Questions That Election 2019 Leaves Us With -- Amit Varma Beware of the Useful Idiots -- Amit Varma Amit Varma's writings+podcasts on DeMon, in one twitter thread The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- ep 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel) Modi's Lost Opportunity -- ep 119 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Salman Soz) The BJP's Magic Formula -- ep 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha) Rajesh Jain's Journey to Dhan Vapasi -- ep 94 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajesh Jain) The Paradox of Narendra Modi -- ep 102 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shashi Tharoor) Why Both Modi and Trump are Textbook Populists -- Amit Varma You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios

Governments consist of people, and people respond to incentives. For this reason, there is no better way to understand government than through the tools of economics. Episode 121 of The Seen and the Unseen is a rerun of an old episode of The Pragati Podcast, in which Amit Varma introduces Pavan Srinath to the mindblowing insights of Public Choice Theory. Also check out: What Does It Mean to Be Libertarian? -- ep 64 of The Seen and the Unseen Public Choice: A Primer -- Eomonn Butler Politics Without Romance -- Amit Varma's monthly column on Public Choice for Bloomberg Quint Parkinson's Law -- C Northcote Parkinson The Calculus of Consent -- James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock Bureaucracy and Public Economics -- William A Niskanen Urban Governance in India -- ep 31 of The Seen and the Unseen Restaurant Regulations in India -- ep 18 of The Seen and the Unseen Of Endings and Beginnings -- Amit Varma's goodbye editorial for Pragati

Conventional wisdom holds that there are three ways to respond to injustice by the state: we may leave, complain, or comply. Philosopher Jason Brennan joins Amit Varma in episode 120 of The Seen and the Unseen to argue that there is a fourth option: to resist. Also check out: When All Else Fails -- Jason Brennan The Milgram Experiment You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios

Despite being a Congress spokesperson, economist Salman Soz was hopeful in 2014 that the Modi government would be good for India. As the title of his new book indicates, that turned out to be quite The Great Disappointment. Soz joins Amit Varma in episode 119 of The Seen and the Unseen to elaborate on the many economic failures of the Modi government. He also tackles tough questions on the Congress party. Also check out: The Great Disappointment -- Salman Soz India's Lost Decade -- Ep 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra) DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- Ep 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan) The Bad and Complex Tax -- ep 74 of The Seen and the Unseen ( w Shruti Rajagopalan) The Fraud of Indian Education -- ep 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra) The Importance of Cities -- ep 108 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Reuben Abraham & Pritika Hingorani) The State of Our Farmers -- ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil) Beware of the Useful Idiots -- Amit Varma A Manifesto for Progress -- Amit Varma You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios

The Indian economy has the seeds of a horror film, with zombies stalking the landscape. Air India is one. Jet could have been another had it been rescued. Economist Ajay Shah joins Amit Varma in episode 118 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain the importance of creative destruction, and why failing firms should be allowed to die. Also discussed: price controls and market failure. Do check out: Making Sense of Airline Troubles -- Ajay Shah Lessons from the RCom Mess -- Ajay Shah A Great Churning -- Ajay Shah Bankruptcy Process and the Utilisation of Assets -- Ajay Shah Using the Bankruptcy Code for Privatisation -- Ajay Shah What Happens to Private Airlines When Air India is Privatised? -- Ajay Shah The Price is Right -- Amit Varma You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios

In a sense there have always been but two political philosophies: liberty and power." David Boaz. author of The Libertarian Mind, joins Amit Varma in episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain what libertarian thinking stands for, and to bust some of the misconceptions around it. Also check out: The Libertarian Mind -- David Boaz The Libertarian Reader -- edited by David Boaz What Does It Mean to Be Libertarian? -- ep 64 of The Seen and the Unseen (w. Amit Varma) Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma The Evolution of Everything -- ep 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w. Matt Ridley) The World is Getting Better -- ep 101 of The Seen and the Unseen (w. Steven Pinker) The Right to Property -- ep 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w. Shruti Rajagopalan) Public Choice, Voting and Governance -- ep 92 of The Pragati Podcast (w. Amit Varma) The Kim Kardashian Liberal -- Amit Varma I, Pencil -- Leonard Read You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios

In 2008, India was growing at 8.8% and was described as a miracle economy. It all went downhill in the next 10 years. Puja Mehra, author of The Lost Decade, joins Amit Varma in episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe the random events, political imperatives and human dramas that collided to bring us to the brink of a crisis. Also check out: The Lost Decade -- Puja Mehra DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- ep 85 of The Seen and the Unseen Most of Amit Varma's writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread Narendra Modi Takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma Demonetisation -- Ep 2 of The Seen and the Unseen The Bad and Complex Tax -- Ep 74 of The Seen and the Unseen (on GST) Is KitKat a Chocolate or a Biscuit? -- ep 28 of The Seen and the Unseen (on GST) The State of Our Farmers -- ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (in Hindi) Where Are the Jobs? -- ep 87 of The Seen and the Unseen You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios

The ideology of Hindutva dominates our political and cultural landscape today. How did it begin, and what is it precisely? Aakar Patel, author of the forthcoming book Our Hindu Rashtra, joins Amit Varma in episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen to shed light on three important Hindutva thinkers. Also check out: Hindutva – VD Savarkar Bunch of Thoughts – MS Golwalkar Integral Humanism – Deendayal Upadhyay Ayodhya: The Dark Night – Dhirendra Jha and Krishna Jha The Coffeehouse of Surat – Leo Tolstoy Why I Write – Saadat Hasan Manto (translated by Aakar Patel) The Story of Our Ancestors – Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen The BJP's Magic Formula – Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios

Why is crime ubiquitous in Indian politics? Why is your neta also a dada? Political scientist Milan Vaishnav joins Amit Varma in episode 114 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about the incentives in play that have brought us to this place. Also check out: When Crime Pays -- Milan Vaishnav The Grand Tamasha -- Milan Vaishnav's podcast You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios