Midway through the iconic sci-fi thriller, The Matrix, Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, cheekily informs his interlocutors, “Once you figure out the matrix, it all gets much easier”. The matrix, in this blockbuster film, refers to a computer programme that defines the terms for action; the system itself, however, remains open to being entirely gamed. Sudipta Sarangi’s lucidly written and engaging The Economics of Small Things invokes a similar reality. Economic decision-making, we learn, can yield desired outcomes if we play within the rules as well as bend and scramble the game.