Positive-sum game
Topic: Market Structures, Market Failure and Competition · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
A positive-sum game is a situation where cooperation can raise the total gain, so all participants can be better off at the same time. One person's gain does not have to be another's loss. This idea explains why exchange and joint effort create wealth instead of just moving it from one person to another.
Example
Voluntary trade is positive-sum. When an Indian IT firm sells software services abroad and India imports machinery, both countries get something they value more than what they give up. Joint research between firms is another example. Mercantilism made the mistake of treating trade as a contest where one nation's gain is another's loss.
Don't confuse with
- Zero-sum game: one side's gain exactly equals the other side's loss, so the total stays fixed. Examples are poker and fixed-pie bargaining. In a positive-sum game, the total itself can grow.