Rounaq Basu is a Postdoctoral Associate at DUSP. His research interests include sustainable city planning, integrated urban systems, and relationships between mobility access and quality of life. He is particularly interested in thinking about ways to reduce auto-dependence that can enhance transportation equity and drive sustainable metropolitan growth. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Urban Science and Planning and dual Master's degrees in Transportation and City Planning from MIT, and a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from IIT Bombay with a concentration in transportation engineering and a minor in economics.

In this podcast, Rounaq talks about transportation sustainability drawing on his work on transportation in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, India, and Singapore assessing approaches to transportation planning. He advocates for an integrated approach within urban planning for transportation to include, housing, land use, and equity.

Ajay Chhibber and Ganesh Natarajan talk about the Indian budget 2023, achievements over 75 years of independence, farm reform, women’s employment, and what needs to happen in the next 25 years.

Dr. Ganesh Natarajan is Chairman of 5FWorld and Honeywell Automation India and a Board Director of State Bank of India, Global Talent Track, Hinduja Global Solutions, Lighthouse Communities Foundation and the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network.

Ganesh has led two significant public firms - APTECH and Zensar to global success and is the subject of two case studies taught at Harvard Business School. He is the author/co-author of thirteen books including his latest co-edited with Ejaz Ghani “India’s Pathways to Success: Winning in the Next Decade”

Dr. Ajay Chhibber is the Distinguished Visiting Scholar at, Institute for International Economic Policy (IIEP), George Washington University, Washington D.C, and a Senior Visiting professor at ICRIER. He served in senior positions at the UN as Assistant Secretary-General and at the World Bank where he directed the seminal World Development Report on the Role of the State.

He has a Ph. D from Stanford University, an MA from the Delhi School of Economics. He has also done advanced management courses at Harvard University and at INSEAD, France.

His latest book co-authored with Salman Soz “Unshackling India: Hard Truths and Clear Choices for Economic Revival “Harper-Collins was declared the Best New Book in Economics for 2022 in the Financial Times and was awarded the India Economic Forum Literary Award for 2022.

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This podcast is part of a two-podcast series on reforming the Bretton Woods institutions by Ajay Chhibber, drawing on his paper on reforming the Bretton Woods Institutions. Some of the issues that he highlights are that the Bretton Woods institutions are no longer fit for purpose to meet today’s global challenges because their governance structures remain more or less what was created at the end of World War II, and their size and mandate have made them less able to address today’s challenges. They are now seen primarily as institutions to help deal with problems in the developing world, and they are struggling to even do that. What is needed today are genuinely global institutions that address global problems.

The first podcast in this series focuses on reforming the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and this podcast follows up with reforming the World Bank Group (WBG). In this podcast, Ajay Chhibber lays out a key criticism of the WBG, that it is not doing enough about climate change. Moreover, he states that what the world needs today is a global institution tasked with guiding a global transformation toward a sustainable planet and promoting shared prosperity. Instead, the World Bank, which earlier adapted well to address global poverty, is now seen as a multipurpose development bank that tries to provide support to countries for their perceived needs, without much overall strategic vision. Even in that role, it has issues and problems. Key critiques of the WBG include failed structural-adjustment programs, its flawed Doing Business Index, and an excessive focus on lending at the expense of its much better acclaimed non-lending services and analytical work. It used to be a leader in thinking on economic development, but has lately fallen behind, and is often seen as a laggard in terms of how it addresses these issues. Another major critique of the World Bank Group is its insufficient focus on catalyzing private flows.

It has also been overly conservative and risk-averse in the use of its capital base. As a result, it has not been able to lend as much and leverage private capital flows for infrastructure and climate change. It has underutilized its guarantees, focused largely on loans, and has not financed insurance facilities as much as it could have. It has also been criticized for being too slow and laden with bureaucratic procedures that cause costly delays for its borrowers and make it difficult for the private sector to want to do business with it. Its country focus has improved performance but neglected its ability to meet global and regional financing needs. It needs a substantial overhaul of its objectives and much more innovative use of its capital base and financial instruments.

Dave Harden is the CEO of Q2 Impact - a firm that leverages talent, technology, and capital to help solve some of the world's most complex problems. Working with the private sector, communities, and governments, Q2 Impact seeks to promote trade and investment, develop economic opportunity, advance security, and stability, and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance at home and abroad.

Before this, he was a Minister Counselor in the Senior Foreign Service. He served as the Assistant Administrator for the US Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance in the Obama Administration. He spearheaded all USAID efforts to respond to crises and stabilization efforts – including responses in Haiti, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, the West Bank/Gaza, and Yemen.

Dave also ran for public office and in a two-part series for Policy Chatters he talks about his career in the foreign service and his experience running for public office in rural Maryland in the US. Listen to the podcast on aid and conflict here. This podcast focuses on his experience running for public office in rural Maryland.

Dave Harden is the CEO of Q2 Impact - a firm that leverages talent, technology, and capital to help solve some of the world's most complex problems. Working with the private sector, communities, and governments, Q2 Impact seeks to promote trade and investment, develop economic opportunity, advance security, and stability, and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance at home and abroad.

Prior to this, he was a Minister Counselor in the career Senior Foreign Service. He served as the Assistant Administrator for the US Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance in the Obama Administration. He spearheaded all USAID efforts to respond to crises and stabilization efforts – including responses in Haiti, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, the West Bank/Gaza, and Yemen.

Dave also ran for public office and in a two-part series for Policy Chatters he talks about his career in the foreign service and his experience running for public office in rural Maryland in the US. This podcast focuses on his work in the foreign service and implementing aid programs in conflict-affected areas.

https://www.pcf-p.com/projects/international-monetary-fund-headquarters-2/

In this podcast, Ajay Chhibber draws on his paper on reforming the Bretton Woods Institutions and focuses on the IMF. Some of the issues that he highlights are that the Bretton Woods institutions are no longer fit for purpose to meet today’s global challenges because their governance structures remain more or less what was created at the end of World War II, and their size and mandate have made them less able to address today’s challenges. They are now seen primarily as institutions to help deal with problems in the developing world, and they are struggling to even do that. What is needed today are genuinely global institutions that address global problems.

The IMF is accused of having failed at two of its major functions—to warn the world of impending global crises and do adequate surveillance of the global monetary and financial system.

Myra Strober is a labor economist and Professor Emerita at Stanford University. She was the founding director of the Stanford Center for Research on Women (now the Clayman Institute for Gender Research) and the first chair of the National Council for Research on Women. You can find more information on her latest book MONEY AND LOVE: An Intelligent Roadmap for Life’s Biggest Decisions at https://www.moneylovebook.com/

We are often told that love and money decisions need separate approaches; we should leave romantic decisions to our hearts and make financial choices with our heads. However, in their new book MONEY AND LOVE: An Intelligent Roadmap for Life’s Biggest Decisions (HarperOne, January 10, 2023), Stanford professor Myra Strober and social innovation leader Abby Davisson argue that relationship decisions involve money and career as well as love, and career decisions affect family.

Take the money and love quiz!

The authors provide a reassuring framework, the 5Cs, to ensure that readers consider all aspects of love and money decisions–vital decisions that determine the course of their lives. Should you move in with your partner, have another child, move to a new city, accept a career promotion? The 5Cs framework offers a simple approach to making complex choices.

1. Clarify what’s important to you: to make an effective decision you must first understand what you truly want and what you don’t

2. Communicate: as you clarify what you want, open up a two-way dialogue with others involved in the decision

3. Consider a Broad Range of Choices: few decisions are strictly either/or, and one key to better decision-making is broadening your alternatives

4. Check-in with Friends, Family, and Other Resources: sharing your thought process or reaching out to others can bring new insights

5. Explore Likely Consequences: weigh the short-term and long-term consequences of different choices before you make a final decision

This book is the perfect guide we all need as we grapple with the dramatic shifts in relationship and career roles in today’s post-pandemic era.

For the series Heterodox Approaches.

Dr. Raees Mohammed comes from an Arundhatiyar family in Kotagiri, Nilgiris District, Tamil Nadu. After finishing his Doctoral Thesis on “Sanitation Workers in South India” from Indian Institute for Advance Studies in Shimla, he finished a post-doctorate from the University of West Cape, South Africa. Raees was active in anti-caste politics in his student days at Hyderabad Central University. He founded Dalit Camera – a YouTube channel in 2011 – which has reached 90,300 subscribers. Dalit Camera reports on and critically engages with issues around caste from the perspective of Dalit, Bahujan, Adivasi and other minorities living in India.

He also was one of the founders of the Nilgiris Sanitation Workers Union, the first registered trade union of sanitation and allied workers. Following the collapse of a 20 feet wall that was erected to keep Dalits out in Mettupalayam – which killed 17 people including 10 women and 3 children – Raees shed his previous identity as Ravichandran Bathran and converted to Islam adopting the name Raees Mohammed “in order to leave the caste system”. Raees works on the ground mobilizing sanitation workers and ekes his livelihood by running a small shop and operating a septic tank cleaning truck.

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