Sarthak Pradhan

Assistant Professor, Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru, India

Sarthak Pradhan is an Assistant Professor at the Takshashila Institution, where he teaches economic reasoning and public finance. His research interests span geoeconomics, innovation policy, complexity, and intergovernmental finance. He has collaborated closely with Indian state governments to provide actionable policy recommendations on fiscal strategies. Before his foray into the public policy space, he was a faculty and content consultant for edu-tech startups. He has also worked as a senior software engineer with the Samsung Research and Development Institute. Sarthak completed the postgraduate program in public policy from the Takshashila Institution and holds a bachelor's in electrical and electronics and master's in physics from BITS Pilani.

Mexico

Mexico’s Long War: Drugs, Crime, and the Cartels
Violence continues to rage some two decades after the Mexican government launched a war against drug cartels.

Backgrounder by CFR.org Editors February 21, 2025

United States

How the U.S. Asylum Process Works
Asylum has become a central part of the U.S. immigration debate in recent years after border crossings reached a record high in fiscal year 2023. Here’s how the asylum process works.

Backgrounder by Diana Roy February 19, 2025

China

China’s Environmental Crisis
China’s mounting environmental crisis is endangering the pace of its economic growth and threatening the legitimacy of the ruling party.

Backgrounder by Eleanor Albert and Beina Xu February 12, 2025

Top Stories on CFR

Ecuador

Ecuador’s Next President Will Face Debt, Drought, and Gangs
April’s runoff election could decide whether Ecuador continues a descent into instability and violence, or charts a new course.

Expert Brief by Will Freeman February 20, 2025

RealEcon

Donald Trump Wants Reciprocity in Trade: Here’s a Closer Look
The president’s plan for reciprocal tariffs sounds good in theory. But there was a reason the United States abandoned the approach a century ago. The gains would be few and the costs enormous.

Article by Edward Alden and Jennifer Hillman February 14, 2025 RealEcon

China Strategy Initiative

India, the United States and the Future of the International Trade Order
India has enjoyed bipartisan support in the U.S. as a critical economic counterbalance to China, but the United States still has a tenuous grasp on its interests. In this series, three experts examine India’s position on digital trade, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and industrial policy.

Article by Manjari Chatterjee Miller February 10, 2025 China Strategy Initiative