Public Choice

Understanding why governments do what they do, from subsidies and stalled reforms to why good policies fail in practice

Syllabus

Books

  1. Fault Lines — Raghuram Rajan
  2. That Which Is Seen, and That Which Is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat

Academic Papers

  1. The Use of Knowledge in Society (1945) — Friedrich Hayek
  2. Cost Overruns in Infrastructure Projects — Bent Flyvbjerg, Johns Hopkins
  3. CD Deshmukh Memorial Lecture (2017) — Vijay Kelkar, on the marginal cost of public funds

Legal Statutes

  1. Article 311, Constitution of India
  2. Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988
  3. Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009

Reports

  1. Public Enterprises Survey 2023-24 — Department of Public Enterprises
  2. State of State Finances 2023-24 — PRS Legislative Research
  3. Flash Report, March 2024 — Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, on central project overruns
  4. Research on incumbency and turnover in Indian elections — Carnegie Endowment
  5. Department of Personnel and Training report (2017), on disciplinary action against IAS officers

Articles & Blog Posts

  1. A Market Failure Framework for Evaluating Public Sector Undertakings — Arjun Krishnan, LEAP
  2. BMS Holds Protests Pan-India Against Govt's Privatisation Policy — PSU Watch
  3. Subsidy Bill Shoots Up in 2023-24 to Rs 5.62 Lakh Crore — Deccan Herald
  4. Delhi Elections 2025: Who Is Offering More Money, Freebies — Livemint
  5. Incumbency and Churn II: India's First-Time MPs More Than Its Most Peers — Business Standard
  6. Explained: How Free Farm Power Drains Punjab's Coffers and Water Reserves — Indian Express
  7. In Relief to Truckers, Govt Opens Highway Repair Shops, Dhabas — Hindustan Times
  8. How IAS Officers Can Let Off Their Colleagues Officially — Times of India
  9. ODF Status: Claims vs Reality — Swachh Bharat Mission — ORF