Gentle Leviathan

Dispatch #113: Mancur Olson and the puzzle of collective action in urban India

This dispatch explores why collective inaction keeps our cities flooded, our policies stalled, and our public goods underbuilt.

Sep 20 • 

Apurva Kumar

2

July 2025

Dispatch #112: The Mission State- Why India excels in spectacle but fails in service?

This dispatch unpacks why the Indian state performs brilliantly during high-profile missions like the Kumbh Mela but struggles with everyday governance.

Jul 27 • 

Apurva Kumar

4

1

June 2025

Dispatch #111: When good intentions backfire - Rethinking incentives in public policy

This dispatch explores how misaligned incentives in governance can derail policy outcomes and how smarter, context-aware design can fix them.

Jun 21 • 

Apurva Kumar

1

Dispatch #110: Why better policies need smarter states?

This dispatch argues that the state capacity must be understood in terms of its alignment with specific policy design tasks such as analytical…

Jun 15 • 

Apurva Kumar

3

1

May 2025

Dispatch #109: What makes a policy work? Connection, not complexity

This dispatch unpacks why well-designed policies fail—and how a state’s ability to connect policy-making with implementation through Vertical Policy…

May 17 • 

Apurva Kumar

6

1

April 2025

Dispatch #108: Crossing the river by feeling the stones

A deep dive into China’s policy experimentation machine—how it learns, where it falters, and why even "feeling the stones" can sometimes lead…

Apr 19 • 

Apurva Kumar

6

4

Dispatch #107: When good intentions backfire: The unseen cost of India's labor law reform

This dispatch unpacks how a well-meaning labor law in India backfired—driving more workers into informal jobs—and offers lessons on how thoughtful…

Apr 13 • 

Apurva Kumar

6

1

Dispatch #106: Why public policy students need public choice theory—Even if they don’t like it

This post explores why public choice theory—despite its relevance to real-world governance—remains missing or misunderstood in public policy curricula.

Apr 6 • 

Apurva Kumar

11

6

March 2025

Dispatch #105: Escaping the middle-income trap

In this dispatch, we explore the World Development Report 2024 and its insights on the middle-income trap.

Mar 9 • 

Apurva Kumar

11

2

February 2025

Dispatch #104: India’s evolving consumer economy: Lessons from the Indus Valley report

This dispatch explores how India's consumption patterns are evolving, from the rise of premiumization to the dominance of gated communities, with…

Feb 23 • 

Apurva Kumar

5

Dispatch #103: Markets, knowledge, & the power of decentralization: Revisiting Hayek

This dispatch explores Friedrich Hayek's timeless essay The Use of Knowledge in Society, breaking down his argument on decentralised knowledge & the…

Feb 15 • 

Apurva Kumar

10

1

January 2025

Dispatch #102: 'Bande Mein Tha Dum'

This dispatch dives into Prakash Magdum’s book 'The Mahatma on Celluloid' and four films that bring the Mahatma to life on screen.

Jan 30 • 

Apurva Kumar

1