Many of the objects we grew up with have disappeared with time -- and overall, progress is a damn good thing. But many of these lost objects also represent a different way of doing things and of living life, and some of that would have been worth holding on to.

Welcome to Episode 77 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit and Ajay share objects from their past -- and what they represented then and mean now.

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Hinduism contains multitudes -- and is contained by multitudes. Any simple story you tell about it is bound to be false.

Welcome to Episode 76 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit and Ajay put together a potted history of Hinduism that goes beyond simple narratives and acknowledges its complexity. They also try to make sense of the historical circumstances and incentives that shaped it.

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The study of humanity is the study of humanity. Everything is everything. And yet, different disciplines of study have imprisoned themselves in silos, refusing to learn from each other.

Welcome to Episode 75 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit and Ajay discuss a great paper from Biju Rao that talks about what economists can learn from anthropologists and sociologists -- and how only a multidisciplinary approach can reveal the world.

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Which Indian hasn't experienced a KYC nightmare? And yet, we have normalised it. We should instead fight it. India's KYC is not just the worst such measure in the world, it is also an infringement on our rights.

Welcome to Episode 74 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

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Should alcohol be banned? What about recreational drugs? Gambling? Hate speech?

You may disapprove of certain things, but if they do not infringe anyone's rights, then turning them into crimes tends to backfire. We should think hard about what we classify as crimes -- and also examine our own morality.

Welcome to Episode 73 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

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Songs, albums, books, films are the way they for a reason -- and those reasons are outdated. The dominant forms of creative expression evolved because of constraints that no longer apply. We should free our minds and look beyond them!

Welcome to Episode 72 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

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Finance is the lifeblood of every economy. India's financial system has taken decades to evolve to where it is today -- and we still have a long way to go. What has this journey been like? What can we learn?

Welcome to Episode 71 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma & Ajay Shah.

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India's system of competitive entrance exams is broken. There is too much pressure on kids and their families -- and we don't even get the best outcomes.

Welcome to Episode 70 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit and Ajay discuss what's broken about the system. What can we do to make the current system work better? What can we do to attack the root cause and build a better world for the generations to come? Listen in!

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The specialisation of our species is storytelling -- and yet, some people say, we are really just telling the same stories again and again.

Welcome to Episode 69 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit discusses the classic book by Christopher Booker, The Seven Basic Plots. Booker asserts that there are just seven storylines we recycle again and again -- and all of literature & Hollywood & Bollywood & Tollywood & Lollywood draw on these. What are they? Can there be more? Why should we never feel constrained as storytellers? What do Jaws, Sholay and the Russia-Ukraine war have in common?

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Inflation is a tax on the poor. High and variable inflation can shatter the fine interplay of incentives and information within an economy. And, as Milton Friedman famously said, inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.

The state is responsible -- and the central bank's one job should be to keep inflation in check.

Thankfully, we got that right with inflation targeting.

Welcome to Episode 68 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay talks about why inflation can be such a problem, and Inflation Targeting is an elegant way to keep it under control. Ajay was in the policy community in India that made it happen. Here's the inside story!

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

For magnificent, detailed, juicy show notes, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.