Between the Buyer and the Seller

"Karthik Shashidhar takes us on a brisk analytical journey that is as informative as it is entertaining. From football transfer markets to fairy tale start-ups gone wrong, this is a revealing work holding important lessons for all who wish to navigate the evolving markets of today's times" - Shashi Tharoor, Politician and Author

"Karthik Shashidhar’s interesting and well-written (almost in the style of newspaper columns) collection of stimulating essays is on efficiently functioning markets, or their lack. Excellent to read, irrespective of whether you agree or disagree" - Bibek Debroy, Economist

Why is it difficult to find Feta Cheese in Bangalore, or mango pickles in Barcelona? Why are tourists encouraged to bargain? Why do startup platforms provide heavy incentives to their users? And why is it difficult to find the right date using dating apps? The answer to any of these questions rests with a mysterious entity, who quietly exists between the buyer and the seller.
In this absorbing account, quant and management consultant Karthik Shashidhar uses concepts from economics and financial markets to explore this entity's complex behaviour. From medieval bazaars to modern “two-sided marketplaces”, the book explores why markets are structured the way they are, and how they can be designed in order to ease transactions between the buyer and the seller.