Book Review: Games Indians Play

The book is written by V. Raghunathan, ex-chairman of the PGP programme at IIM-A (http://www.vraghunathan.com/home.html) and impressed on me. Business school made me cognizant of systematic cognitive biases and heuristics in decision making (read shortcuts). This book takes it one step further and qualifies the generalization in the Indian context and attempts to explain "why we are the way we are".

I like the book because it works its way up from first principles to identify the root of all inefficiencies, bureaucracy and red tape in India. The author uses an economics 101 Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) setting and game theoretic framework to make his point.

Read more on PD here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma

Below is an example of the payoff matrix in a PD setting:

The equilibrium in a PD setting, is defect-defect. While A & B's actions are individually optimal, the collective result (defect-defect) is socially sub-optimal or inferior. The author claims that real life scenarios are akin to an iterative PD problem where a defect-defect loop will spiral into systemic chaos due to negative reinforcement.

The 'intelligent Indian' interpretes real life scenarios as a one-shot PD. Say A & B refer to people waiting on either side of a traffic light. On both sides, people stray to the wrong side of the road to rush past the rest. In other words, they defect. And so do the others on the opposite side. When the light turns green, the only possible result is a traffic jam.

When results or consequences depend upon actions of the past and the present, a defect strategy will not work. We see this today in the parliament and in most day to day situations in the country.

The book is a good way to educate oneself to do the right thing because it tells you the consequences of not doing so. So it answers the why question. It's an easy read and is only 150 pages.

The 'intelligent Indian' will continue to exhibit defect-defect behavior and won't bother with this book and will question the generalization that it makes sense to do the right thing without worrying about others' actions. I hope he doesn't.