Nepe, I am DELIGHTED that my piece in The Nepali Times (and NOT, alas, in the Quarterly Journal of Economics) has made others think about these issues. That's really great. My attitude is: What's the point of writing columns for general readers -- columns that aim to talk about issues at the intersection of economics, public policy and law and tries to see how they relate to contemporary Nepal -- if doing so fails to make readers think, agree or disagree with my views? Other than that, temperamentally, I enjoy taking risks with ideas -- knowing fully well that half the time, even if one is wrong, that will be perfectly all right, for one can quickly process the lessons in a non-personal way and move on. The key is not to falter but to keep on at it and take objections/criticisms into account and come up with better models/arguments. That, so far as I am concerned, is how NEW KNOWLEDGE continues to get generated. In this, I draw my inspiration from the second paragraph of the following link : -http://www.freakonomics.com/blog/2005/04/06/an-ode-to-gary-becker/ *********** But it's plain that this sort of attitude is alien to you. I mean, what do you want me to do now? Throw the latest model of Econometrica, and chest-thump by saying, "My math is sexier than your math", and reduce this whole thing into a show of ego, in to some contest? And what cause will that that serve? To his credit, the anonymous student talks about the role of uncertainty in game theory. I agree with the role of UNCERTAINTY here. That means, in practical terms, we will have to wait and see how things turn out in Nepal especially given the fluidity of the situtaion and inter and intra-party dynamics in days ahead. That said, I am NOT done yet. This is just a beginning. Since I am NOT going away anywhere, I will continue to write for The Nepali Times, and will continue to study and think about economics, and I will continue to apply game-theoretic thinking to understand Nepali matters better in days ahead -- inviting criticisms, objections and disagreements so that much learning can result. Stay tuned. Other than that, I hope that my pieces in The Nepali Times will continue to make others think about these and other issues. That's the whole idea. oohi ashu