Behavioral Economics: What can we learn from the Shiva Sutras?

Behavioral Economics, which essentially studies psychology, cognition and emotion in the context of economics, has proved that economics in the real world is not always with mathematical accuracy, predictability and clockwork precision. In an attempt to categorize the driving influences and biases underlying decisions made by people, the present article takes a leaf out of the Shiva Sutras, which essentially group the 51 Aksharas (Alphabets) of the Sanskrit language, each Akshara signifying a concept or mode of operation, into 14 categories or ‘worlds’. Essentially, the Aksharas form ‘alignments’ that drive people toward making economic and other decisions. Consequently, such a listing can be quantified using matrices and appropriate weights, thus bringing Behavioral Economics a step closer to becoming a quantifiable, deterministic study