A new lens to see
the world with.

‘A clear and engaging introduction’Vernon L. SmithNobel Laureate in Economics

‘Everything you always wanted to know about economics but were afraid to ask.’Gurcharan Das

Virat Kohli earns four times what Rohit Sharma does. How is that justified if Kohli isn’t four times better?
Why does the Government of India run hotels and sell condoms while 5 crore cases rot in our courts?

In this disarming and playful guide, Akash Kumar and Kumar Anand strip economics down to its essence. Zero jargon and (almost!) no graphs — and by the end, you’ll never read the news the same way again.

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More praise for the book

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Pause and think

Chapter 2 · Comparative advantage

More Cricket, Less Chores – a Challenge

Adithya and Prashanth are teenage twins who live with their parents in Bengaluru. Every Sunday evening, they have to do household chores – laundry and dishes – and that too when IPL matches are telecast on TV.

Here’s the thing: Adithya is simply faster at everything. He can finish ironing his shirts in 30 minutes and washing his dishes in 60 minutes. The younger Prashanth takes 120 minutes to do the ironing and 90 minutes to do the dishes.

None of them wants to miss seeing Virat Kohli bat. Prashanth has a lightbulb moment. ‘Bro,’ he says to Adithya, ‘what if we trade our chores?’

Adithya laughs. ‘Maga, I’m faster at everything. How would this help?’

Pause and think: Before reading on, can you solve their puzzle? How can both brothers save time?

Decide who does each chore. Can both brothers get to the TV sooner?

90 minAdithya on his own: 90 min

210 minPrashanth on his own: 210 min

What’s inside

Every chapter opens with a Bollywood song.

1
What Is Economics Really?The Seen and the Unseen
p. 1
2
Why Doing Everything by Yourself Is a Terrible Idea?Exchange, Specialization and Trade
p. 15
3
What Are Prices Trying to Tell You?Prices as Signals
p. 34
4
Why Do Things Keep Getting More Expensive?Money and Inflation
p. 60
5
Why Do Some Countries Get Rich While Others Stay Poor?GDP, Economic Growth and Institutions
p. 76
6
Why Do Some People Get Rich While Others Stay Poor?Innovation, Inequality and Entrepreneurship
p. 102
7
What Happens When Politics Meets Economics?Public Choice Theory
p. 130
8
Who Should Do What?Parivaar, Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar
p. 154

Play the book’s soundtrack on Spotify

Reader love

Hachette India · the publisher, on X“QC Economics: For Every Indian is now the #1 bestseller in THREE categories on Amazon and sits within the Top 50 overall books ranking!”

Where to buy

Order online

MRP: ₹499
Pages: 208
Publisher: Hachette India
ISBN: 978-93-5731-340-7

Signed copies available at

The authors

Akash Kumar

Akash Kumar grew up in Motihari, Bihar. When he spent a school year in the United States as part of the KL-YES Programme of the US Department of State, he could not stop asking why some places stay poor while others get rich. That question never left. He studied at IIT Madras, led academic programmes for Students For Liberty across South Asia and had a short stint working with the Chief Minister’s Office of Maharashtra. He has written for Hindustan Times, Deccan Herald and News18, among others. Today he is co-founder and CEO at Raaz MD. When not building Raaz or arguing about economic policy, he is usually hunting for a good cup of specialty coffee.

@aye_kaash akashkumar.co

Kumar Anand

Kumar Anand grew up in Saharsa, Bihar. It might explain why two people from small-town Bihar ended up writing a book about why prosperity is so unevenly distributed. Kumar is an economist and public policy professional with over fifteen years of experience working on questions of Indian economic growth, economic history and public policy at organizations including Asianomics Limited, the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Free A Billion and the Centre for Civil Society. He has written for publications including The Hindu, Rajasthan Patrika and the French weekly Le Point. He studied economics at the University of Delhi and the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune.

@kumaranand kumaranand.com

Book events

We wrote this book because we believe that change would only come through a change in ideas we believe in as a society. It begins when you pause to ask: ‘But what about the unseen?’ Because economics, really, is the art of seeing what most miss.

NOW GO SEE.