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The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, And The Common Good (2011)

by Robert H. Frank(Favorite Author)

3.7 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0691153191 (ISBN13: 9780691153193)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Princeton University Press

review 1: This book refutes key ideas of libertarian thought. What I found quite refreshing is that it doesn't do so through the usual method of citing statistics or studies (which authors carefully weed to make their points), but through a series of intriguing thought experiments. Frank's key insight is that even perfectly competitive markets can lead to very undesirable outcomes because what benefits the individual is often detrimental to the group, just as in biology runaway sexual selection has give peacocks enormous tails that hamper their movement.
review 2: There are some aspects of this book I really did not like: most notably, the insistence on the "silver bullet" insight that ranking are what matters most to economic agents. While of course I do agree that this... more is the case in many instances, in many others which are economically relevant the absolute distance in the ranking does matter (which may work either reinforcing or weakening Frank's line of argument, depending on context). More in general, the fervour with which Frank insists on the primacy of relative positions as the key to understanding the role of government smacks of ideological fervour as much as the libertarian doctrines against goverment that Frank is trying to counter.Having said this, and with this caveat, Frank's central argument is compelling, and his justifications for taxation and heterogeneity in a society intriguing, insightful and convincing. less

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