Bretton Goods – Details, episodes & analysis

I spoke to Pramit Bhattacharya an independent data journalist about India's statistical system. We talked about

• How did Indian statisticians adapt their statistical methods to account for India's informal sector?
• How are India's GDP numbers constructed?
• Why it's so hard to outright manipulate GDP numbers
• The case for optimism

I talked with Harry Law of the University of Cambridge and Google DeepMind about AI regulation

We talked about

• Me vs Harry on open source AI regulation
• Being humble when regulating AI
• Why a "Manhattan Project for X" is overrated

I spoke to Kartik Akileswaran who runs Growth Teams - an initiative which helps build state capacity for economic growth in developing countries. We talked about

- Why implementation is a binding constraint for economic policy

- How industrial policy helps reduce information constraints for investors

- Underrated growth reforms

I spoke to Matt Korda who works at the Federation of American Scientists on nuclear weapon policy. We have an exciting discussion about the role of nuclear weapons, their growth and the dangerous arms races that are starting

Some highlights of the show:

• The advent of “exotic” nuclear weapon systems
• China’s nuclear strategy has changed dramatically!
• Why nuclear experts are most worried about South Asia
• The new game theory of a multipolar nuclear world 

I talked to Anupam Manur, a professor of economics about India's trade policy before 1991. We talked about:

• The scarcity mindset about foreign exchange reserves
• The controversial 1966 devaluation
• How did the pre-1991 import licensing system work?
• “The financial account was almost non existent”
• “Hindustan Motors and Toyota were set up at the same time but in 15 years Toyota sold 280 times the cars”
• “Productivity growth was almost absent before 1991”

I spoke to Professor Richard Jones, about how science funding in the UK could improve. Some interesting questions we talked about are

• “Penny wise, pound foolish” in science funding
• Creating markets for technological advances
• How he’d invest a billion £ to accelerate scientific innovation?

I talked to Tiago Santos, a diplomat, about his book Why Not Parliamentarism. Tiago and I explore some questions here

• What makes parliamentary democracies superior to presidential ones?
• The creeping presidentialisation of parliamentary democracies
• The optimal rate of constitutional amendments

I talked to Amit Varma who runs one of my favourite podcasts - The Seen and the Unseen about politics, economics and public policy. We talked about

• Libertarianism within the Indian canon
• Cultivating your audience 
• Being a public intellectual
• The differences between generations 

I spoke to Jason Crawford of The Roots of Progress about the new movement of Progress Studies. We talked about

• Building a culture of economic progress
• Why are developed countries more averse to progress?
• Is there a tradeoff between economic progress and existential risk?
• What is the main constraint for the movement today?

I talked with Mayank Seksaria of Liberty Mutual Investments about investing on macroeconomic views. We talked about

• Translating macro views into investing allocations
• A bottom up view of the macroeconomy
• Evaluating macro talent
• Why does institutional research cost so much?