The markets

If you want to se capitalism don’t go to Wall street, come to India. For markets to function properly economists make certain assumptions. Some of these are that everyone is rational, everyone is looking out for themselves and themselves alone, that everyone has perfect information about products and prices etc. and fourth that there is perfect competition. These assumptions are always wrong. But economists cant be bothered working out by how much so they just assume that their assumptions are true and then use these assumptions to guide public policy and make predictions. Genius isn’t it.

But yesterday I went to a place where these assumptions are more right that anywhere else I have ever seen. I asked my friend rickshaw driver to take me to Paithan Gate, the most crowded shopping district in Aurangabad, and from there I walked around without any particular purpose.

When I got to the outskirts I came across a shop called “Sham electronic repairs” (Sham is a common Indian name). I thought my non Indian friends would get a kick out of the pun so I took out my camera to take a photo. As soon as I did two cute children ran up to me and asked me to show them the picture I took. They looked at my picture and then looked at the shop and started laughing. I took a picture of the boy and showed it to him and he got all excited, but then his big sister pushed him out of the way and told me to take one of her. I took one of her and she had a similar reaction. These kids had no shoes and were literally wearing rags but they were just as happy as any other kids I’ve seen. That made me happy too.

Nerrala bazaar, means different market in Hindi, and it was the next place I stumbled across. Goats, pigs, people, cows, dogs all cramped into this tiny open space between two meanders of the river. Each product was sold by at least four different people who were all located next to each other. They each had their little spot on the ground with their products, such as fruits or clothes spread neatly on a thin sheet on the dirt. They all shouted prices and if I went to talk to one of them about price it instantly became an auction between the four. If they tried to collude amongst themselves they new that a new person would set up shop tomorrow and undercut them. Thus, there was perfect competition. All the products were there for you to see and touch and the going price was well established by the shouting salesmen, thus there was perfect information.

But the, flaws of capitalism were also clearly on display. Since there was no government interference, there were no regulations on child labor and children who seemed just old enough to talk were carrying things for their parents or putting things in bags for me. Also, publicly owned resources like the air and the environment were being grossly exploited. The stench of smoke and dust and feces was more than noticeable and the river was worse than a sewer, flowing with trash and oil, with pigs wallowing in the mud and people urinating and defecating on nearby rocks.

Nevertheless, this market feeds thousands provides a steady income for thousands more, although the environment suffers it keeps kids in school and parents in work, we just have to figure out a way to stop if from being one or the other.