Why does opening Netflix with a thousand options often end with you watching nothing at all? In this episode, Susmita and Rajnandini unpack the paradox of choice, how too many options can leave us more exhausted, less satisfied, and stuck chasing the "perfect" pick instead of a good one. They bring in the jam experiment, opportunity cost, decision fatigue, and how social media multiplies the number of lives we feel we're choosing between. Plus, a rapid-fire choice game that proves the point better than any theory could.

What if every decision you made had to make you better off without making anyone else worse off? In this episode, Samaira and Riddhima put Pareto efficiency to the test, not as an abstract market model, but as a real seven-day personal operating system. From Delhi's daily commute chaos to household dinner disputes and workplace tea-break trade-offs, they trace how a framework built for static equilibria collapses under the weight of everyday choices. We also unpack the Kaldor-Hicks compensation principle and how Indian policy, from the Land Acquisition Act to Direct Benefit Transfers, deals with trade-offs that Pareto efficiency alone can't solve.

When platforms vanish overnight, how does a generation react? How did Gen Z turn online trends into protest, and what hidden rules might be guiding their moves?

In this episode of Zero Down, join Muskan and Rama as they unpack Nepal’s social media ban, the Nepo Kids trend that exposed political privilege, and the hidden game theory behind youth action. From viral outrage to real world mobilization, we explore how mistrust, opportunity, and strategic choices collide to shape the responses of Nepal’s digital generation navigating a world where voices are suddenly silenced.