Where Has All the Infrastructure Gone? | Episode 55 | Everything is Everything

It is considered a truism that building infrastructure is always great for the economy. Roads, ports, airports & bridges always have huge positive externalities. But is this truism true? Yes -- and no. There is a good story; and there is a bad story.

Welcome to Episode 55 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay talks about how infrastructure enabled a services revolution in India -- but did not move the needle when it became to goods. What's more, while big infrastructure projects once gave us great bang for the buck, that is no longer true. We need to think about why that is the case -- and where our money is best spent.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
00:00 Packaging
00:13 Introduction: Out of the Comfort Zone
05:25 Chapter 1: Why Infrastructure Matters
12:20 Chapter 2: Our Services Boom
19:07 Chapter 3: The Bad Story is the Goods Story
29:35 Chapter 4: The Road to Roads to Nowhere
50:11 Chapter 5: What Is the Core Problem?
55:20 Chapter 6: Ajay Recommends
59:56 Chapter 7: Amit Recommends

USEFUL RESOURCES:
1. Amit on Twitter:   / amitvarma  
2. Ajay on Twitter:   / ajay_shah  
3. The Seen and the Unseen -- Amit's audio podcast: https://seenunseen.in/
(Also on all podcast apps. And YouTube, though less than 1% of listens come from here:    / @theseenandtheunseen  )
4. Ajay's organisation, XKDR Forum, on YouTube:    / @xkdr  
5. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah: https://amzn.eu/d/hwGILb3
6. The Art of Clear Writing -- Amit's writing course: https://indiauncut.com/clear-writing/
7. The India Uncut Newsletter -- Amit's newsletter at https://indiauncut.substack.com/
8. A Deep Dive Into Education -- Episode 54 of Everything is Everything:    • A Deep Dive Into Education | Episode ...  
9. The Four Quadrants of Conformism -- Paul Graham: https://www.paulgraham.com/conformism...
10. The Life and Times of Chess -- Episode 52 of Everything is Everything:    • The Life and Times of Chess | Episode...  
11. How Family Firms Evolve -- Episode 34 of Everything is Everything:    • How Family Firms Evolve | Episode 34 ...  
12. From Imperial to Adaptive Firms -- Episode 37 of Everything is Everything:    • From Imperial to Adaptive Firms | Epi...  
13. Graduating to Globalisation -- Episode 48 of Everything is Everything:    • Graduating to Globalisation | Episode...  
14. The Long Road to Change -- Episode 36 of Everything is Everything:    • The Long Road to Change | Episode 36 ...  
15. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything:    • Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH...  
16. That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen -- Frédéric Bastiat: http://bastiat.org/en/twisatwins.html
17. Public Finance at XKDR: https://www.xkdr.org/field/public-fin...
18. Where Has All the Education Gone? -- Lant Pritchett: https://tinyurl.com/mrxxh787
19. Young Rural Women in India Chase Big-City Dreams -- Ellen Barry: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/wo...
20. Follow-Up: A New Ending in Tale of Young Woman From Rural India -- Ellen Barry: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/in...
21. Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a Difference — Episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen:    • Ep 380: Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a D...  
22. The Odd Woman and the City -- Vivian Gornick: https://amzn.in/d/0hxh7mnV
23. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya):    • Ep 259: The Loneliness of the Indian ...  

Produced by Amit Varma
Shot by Vaishnav Vyas and Nomsita MS Haritashya:   / vaishnav.vyas  
Edited by Nomsita MS Haritashya:   / nomsitaharitashya  
Thanks to Gaurav Chintamani for helping with sound:   / gaurav_chintamani  
Chapter image by Simahina:   / i_am_simahina