Strategy Boffins

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The Cost of Social Norms

Idea Almanac

“You are at your mother-in-law’s house for Thanksgiving dinner, and what a sumptuous spread she has put on the table for you! The turkey is roasted to a golden brown; the stuffing is homemade and exactly the way you like it … The festivities continue into the late afternoon. Gazing fondly across the table at your mother-in-law, you rise to your feet and pull out your wallet. “Mom, for all the love you’ve put into this, how much do I owe you?” you say sincerely. As silence descends on the gathering, you wave a handful of bills. “Do you think three hundred dollars will do it? No, wait, I should give you four hundred!”

Excerpt From: Dan Ariely. “Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition.”

Opportunities are everywhere, waiting to be discovered

Idea Almanac

“Economics imagines a world of irrepressible dynamism. People get inspired, change jobs, turn from making machines to making music, quit and decide to wander the world. New businesses get born, rise, fail, and die, are replaced by timelier and more brilliant ideas. Productivity grows in staccato leaps, nations grow richer. What was made in Manchester mills moves to Mumbai factories and then to Myanmar and maybe, one day, to Mombasa or Mogadishu. Manchester is reborn as Manchester digital, Mumbai turns its mills into up-market housing and shopping malls, where those who work in finance spend their newly fattened paychecks. Opportunities are everywhere, waiting to be discovered and grabbed by those who need them.”

Excerpt From: Abhijit V. Banerjee. “Good Economics for Hard Times.”

Mixture of wheeler-dealer and diplomat

Idea Almanac

Lakhani was a natural in the world of oil trading, equally at ease in the presidential palace of an oil-rich megalomaniac or the refined and discreet world of Swiss finance. He was born in Karachi, Pakistan, but had grown up in London and Vancouver. A natural entertainer, he hosted concerts for the diplomatic corps at his bungalow in a wealthy neighbourhood of Baghdad. Later in Erbil, in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, he would hold parties with free-flowing champagne and seafood flown in from Dubai where guests would goggle at his collection of paintings by Salvador Dali. Lakhani’s role was a mixture of wheeler-dealer and diplomat. Known variously as ‘middlemen’, ‘agents’ or ‘fixers’, men like Lakhani are hired by commodity traders for their connections and ability to make things happen in difficult parts of the world, where the traders may not have a fully-staffed office.”

Excerpt From: Farchy, Jack. “The World for Sale.”

Book Review: Reset

Book Review

This book talks about reasons for our slow growth in the past, and gives a pathway to rapid growth in the future. This Book written by renowned Economist, Politician and Lawyer, Mr Subramanian Swamy gives ways to Reset past mistakes, and achieve rapid growth.

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