Desinomics - The Hidden Logic of Indian Life

· Shreenivas Joshi
6 reviews
Ebook
90
Pages

About this ebook

Why do Indians hoard gold but ignore mutual funds?

Why do we trust godmen more than governments and sales more than salaries?

Why does every Indian family believe a degree is destiny, and an EMI is success?

Desinomics: The Hidden Logic of Indian Life is a witty, insight-rich journey into the strange, smart, and sometimes irrational ways India thinks about money, status, success, and survival.

Inspired by the style of Freakonomics but rooted in Indian reality, this book uncovers the behavioral economics of everyday India where emotion drives economy, faith fuels finance, and aspiration outpaces income.

Across fifteen sharp, story-driven chapters, Desinomics explores everything from jugaad innovation and dowry economics to Bollywood consumerism, real estate obsession, the middle-class illusion, and the booming influencer economy.

It decodes why Indians love gold more than growth, how sales and discounts trigger dopamine, why the startup hustle became modern spirituality, and how love itself turned into a data-driven marketplace.

Each chapter blends real stories, psychology, and cultural humor to reveal the logic behind India’s apparent madness and the madness behind its economic miracle.

If you’ve ever wondered why Indians:

1. Buy homes they can’t afford,

2. Worship degrees like deities,

3. Treat “free chai” as a national emotion,

Or turn Instagram fame into a financial strategy - Then this book will show you the “why” behind the “wow.”

Smart, funny, and deeply relatable, Desinomics is for readers of Freakonomics, The Psychology of Money, Atomic Habits, and The Millionaire Next Door — but written with a distinctly Indian heart, humor, and hustle.

It’s not just about economics — it’s about the emotional economy of a billion people learning to thrive between scarcity and superstition, ambition and adjustment.

Because in India, money follows emotion - not the other way around.


Why do Indians hoard gold but ignore mutual funds? Why do we trust godmen more than governments and sales more than salaries? Why does every Indian family believe a degree is destiny, and an EMI is success? Desinomics: The Hidden Logic of Indian Life is a witty, insight-rich journey into the stra...

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Ratings and reviews

6 reviews
Shreenivas Joshi
June 23, 2026
fantastic take on Behavioral Economics aspects ..Indians will find it super relevant
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About the author

Shreenivas Joshi is an authority on consumer behavior and financial technology, supported by a 25-year career as a Fintech Product Management leader at global corporations like eBay, PayPal, and PayU. With a foundation in Computer Science, he has spent his professional life analyzing vast amounts of behavioral data to inform effective product strategy. He has lived across different parts of the world, taking immense interest in local cultures, cuisine, their behavioral habits, etc.

Driven by a passion for understanding the cognitive biases that shape financial decisions, Shreenivas Joshi's writing applies the core concepts of behavioral economics to the distinctive context of Indian policy and consumer behavior. He is intrigued by the subtle ways Indian readers respond to incentives, risk, and choice, and he aims to offer insights that improve both personal finance and government policy-making.

Shreenivas Joshi resides near Mumbai, India, and dedicates his time to dissecting the "why" behind economic decisions.


Shreenivas Joshi is an authority on consumer behavior and financial technology, supported by a 25-year career as a Fintech Product Management leader at global corporations like eBay, PayPal, and PayU. With a foundation in Computer Science, he has spent his professional life analyzing vast amounts...

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