Vaibhav Rathi on Political Influence on Bureaucratic Priorities & its Impact on Investment in India

This is the 2026 job market series, where I speak with young scholars entering the academic job market about their latest research on India. I spoke with Vaibhav Rathi who is a doctoral candidate in economics at Stockholm University. We discussed his job market paper titled, "Political Influence, Bureaucratic Priorities, and Capital Accumulation in India." We talked about bureaucratic state capacity in India, the role of bureaucrats in approving large infrastructure projects, whether politicians use their influence to distort administrative priorities, the impact of these processes on private investment and much more. Recorded September 15th, 2026. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Prefer to watch this episode, see the full length video here. Connect with Ideas of India Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Follow Vaibhav on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:26 - Bureaucratic Priorities, Political Influence, and "Distortion without Corruption" 00:06:53 - The Queue Metaphor 00:09:03 - India's Bureaucratic State Capacity 00:14:28 - The Procedural Context for Large Investment Projects 00:17:25 - Political Alignment and Project Prioritization 00:20:35 - Measuring Bureaucratic Activity 00:25:58 - Understanding Changes in Politicians' Influence 00:32:38 - Findings of the Study 00:36:14 - Why Central-Government Projects Get Bumped in the Queue 00:39:00 - Implications for India's Political Economy 00:45:19 - Outro