Gaurav Chiplunkar on the Frictions in India's Labor Market

Today my guest is Gaurav Chiplunkar, who is an Assistant Professor in the Global Economies and Markets group at the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia.

We talked about labor market frictions in India, understanding the reasons for low female labor force participation in India, the importance of information flows and networks, the role of middlemen, and much more.

Recorded July 8th, 2026.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Prefer to watch this episode, see the full length video here.

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:15 - Examining Female Labor Force Participation in India
00:08:38 - Broad Patterns in Female Employment
00:14:15 - Barriers to Entrepreneurship for Indian Women
00:21:50 - Well-Intended Labor Policy and Unintended Consequences
00:29:20 - Female Employment After Career Breaks
00:35:52 - Female Labor Force Participation and Economic Growth
00:46:02 - The Trouble with Piecemeal Reforms
00:50:40 - Frictions in the Job Market
00:57:04 - Rivalry, Information Flow, and the Nerd Effect
01:05:11 - Challenges to Placement and Retention
01:18:31 - On the Potential of Job Portals and Leapfrogging
01:27:08 - Defining the Goalposts
01:30:38 - Outro