#89 Uncovering The Recovery🎧

<em>This newsletter is really a public policy thought-letter. While excellent newsletters on specific themes within public policy already exist, this thought-letter is about frameworks, mental models, and key ideas that will hopefully help you think about any public policy problem in imaginative ways. It seeks to answer just one question: </em><strong><em>how do I think about a particular public policy problem/solution?</em></strong><br/><br/><em>Welcome to the mid-week edition in which we write essays on a public policy theme. The usual public policy review comes out on weekends.</em><br/><br/><em>PS: If you enjoy listening instead of reading, we have this edition available as an audio narration on all podcasting platforms courtesy the good folks at </em><a target="_blank" href="https://www.ad-auris.com/"><em>Ad-Auris</em></a><em>. If you have any feedback, please send it to us.</em><br/><br/><em>- RSJ</em><br/><br/>Are we done with the pandemic in India? While the case counts have seen a renewed surged in a few states and there’s been partial lockdowns and travel restrictions imposed, the markets are crowded, traffic is back on the roads and industry leaders are claiming everything is back to pre-Covid levels. Like most things in India, we follow rules while simultaneously not following them. So, we have found a way to pay our respect to the virus (wearing a mask) while getting on with life (pulling the mask over our chin while dealing with others). <br/><br/>This is the kind of contradiction we revel in. Unsurprisingly, our economy is following suit.  <br/><br/>Newspaper headlines would indicate we are seeing a robust recovery. Hardly a day passes when you don’t come across an interview of a business leader who announces their business volumes are back to pre-Covid levels. The message from the economic advisors to the government and from the officials of the Finance Ministry is upbeat. Apparently, the worst is behind us and the reforms initiated during the pandemic have set the stage for growth in future. <br/