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Dear Undercover Economist: Priceless Advice On Money, Work, Sex, Kids, And Life's Other Challenges (2009)

by Tim Harford(Favorite Author)

3.57 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0812980107 (ISBN13: 9780812980103)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Random House Trade Paperbacks

review 1: Who would have thought an advice column by an economist would work? There's this brilliant but cheeky economist who has a column in the Financial Times where he answers readers' questions about losing odd socks, splitting a bill, waking up late, having an affair, applying for leave during Christmas season - all using economic theories and studies. This book is a compilation of all the best letters and his responses.I wish this book (and Freakonomics) came out when I was still in college, getting my degree in Economics. I would have paid closer attention to stuff like game theory and prisoner's dilemma, seeing how they can apply to everything. And maybe I would have written a thesis about something more interesting than the fluctuation of foreign exchange rates.Here are som... moree of my favourites:As a response to a sports fan proposing that football authorities should put a cap on the total value of players to level the playing field among different teams:"In short, you have the wrong objective, suggest the wrong rule to achieve it, and are blind to the side-effects. Any banking regulator in the world would be proud to give you a job."As a response to an economics professor who grades on a curve and is worried that his students are planning to slack off simultaneously so that everyone can get decent grades with minimum effort:"If you, an economics lecturer, cannot outwit a student cartel, then they had little to learn from you in any case."
review 2: A fantastic book for anyone who enjoys reading Harford and for anyone who wants a book with some economic theory but not to much theory. The book is a collection of letters and responses sent to Harford's column "Dear Undercover Economist" in the FT. The chapters are built according to topic of letter - love life and dating, family life, career and etc. Some of Harford's replies to his writers are hilarious when looking at the question posed to him (especially in the dating and love life section). The questions raised to Harford by his readership- worldwide and of all ages, show us how economic rules can be applied to all walks of life and hence the important role that economics considerations and models play in our life, even if we do our best to ignore it. Like physics and biology in the natural world - economics exists everywhere in the social world, there is no escaping from it - so best to read and learn about it, and Harford proves yet again what a good economic sage he is. less

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