The Undercover Economist
by Tim Harford
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.92 You Save: $8.03 (54%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.32 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Undercover Economist
Book Review: Globalizations is Green
Summary: 4 Stars
While I agree that economic prosperity leads to purchase costlier but cleaner products like cars, I don't think that is entirely true. For example, Land Transport New Zealand has found that while cars are 30% cleaner, economic prosperity means people have gone for bigger cars. Which means their net carbon footprint remains the same.
Which leads us to the next question. Are developed countries really friendlier to the environment compared to developed countries? While it may be true that developed countries do posses cleaner technologies, if you look at nett carbon emissions and emissions per person, they are both higher in developed countries. This could be explained by the previous observation that with economic prosperity, people will go for cleaner technologies like cars, but then they compensate for that with more of the cleaner technology.
If the argument given in the book is true, why then is the world wanting US, the most developed and prosperous country, to be the first to reduce their emissions and they are not so much after India and China? The answer is, in spite of their prosperity and cleaner technology, they have not reduced their emissions level.
Again, with India and China developing at a fast rate, their environment should be getting cleaner. That is not the case. Since the economic boom, China's emissions have shot up, contrary to what the book says. So also in the case of India.
This seems to go against the argument that economic prosperity will lead to reduced emissions and so better environment.
Sridhar Ekambaram
Wellington, New Zealand.
Book Review: Economics for Non-Economists
Summary: 4 Stars
This book should be a fun read both for non-economist and for the professionals. The author uses interesting real life examples to communicate certain ideas which are usually very confusing to non professionals. For example the question of randomness in stock markets and whether it is possible to make money on it. Mr. Harford compares stock markets to supermarkets and profits from share trading to length of the queues at the checkouts (bigger profit at the market equals shorter queue). In the supermarkets, just like in the stock markets, if it is obvious which queue is the quickest, people would already have joined it and it would not be quickest anymore. Therefore the best strategy for shoppers would be to stand in any queue and not worry about it. However, precisely because people do not worry, they just join the first queue they encounter after existing the aisle and since shoppers usually exit the aisles which are located across the store from the entrance, smart, agile and experienced shoppers will be quicker by joining the queue nearest to the entrance. Such analogies are very helpful for non-economist to get a hold on some of the usually very confusing concepts. However, the professionals might find the book frustrating at times. Often the author introduces very important and controversial ideas but when it is time to to explain them, he barely scratches beneath the surface. This has often left me with a lot of questions and bitter taste in my mouth. However, the book suffered too from the many times it hit the wall after it was thrown at it by non full filed and at times frustrated answer-seeker.Book Review: Making economics obvious
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was great! Harford takes major economic ideas (rent-pricing, taxes, incentives in health care, China's opening economy, environmentalism, comparative advantage were some of the biggest) and presents them in relevant, funny ways.
He starts by talking about coffee stores, pointing out reasons for some ubiquitous trends in coffee stores and then delving into where the profit really goes. Using this as an example, he's able to discuss who really sets prices in our market, a common theme throughout the book. This technique of grabbing an everyday example is leaned on heavily and serves his writing style quite well as ideas are introduced in this easy-to-understand manner before moving to bigger, more abstract theories. This isn't like Freakonomics, where economics is applied to interesting stories, rather this is a book that attempts to explain broader ideas about markets using easy to grasp examples.
The author follows the perfect rule of leaving your audience wanting more. The book is short, and since each chapter feels like its own story it never seems to drag out in any section. As a columnist, you can tell he's used to covering ideas in concise ways to a broad audience, but here he gets a bit more room to really back up his points.
I'd recommend this for any age and intellect, as an Economist-reading grad student I loved the light-hearted approach to some weighty issues but I could easily see this being a good read to a curious high school students or my parents. A number of friends have already lined up to borrow my copy!
Book Review: Stimulating but Misguided Arguments
Summary: 1 Stars
One would think Tim Harford's book, the Undercover Economist, is about economics incentives, and how the markets work. Instead, and unfortunately, this book is about "market failures," "inside information," and "lemons" in the market. In one particular part of the book, Harford heavily relies on research done in 1970 by George Akerlof.(a bigwig?)
The market for used car "doesn't work," according to Harford. Sellers with good cars want to hold out for a good price, but they can't prove these are good cars. And in the end, only "lemons" are traded. Well, it's time for writers like Harford to wake up and smell the coffee (maybe Starbucks coffee). In these days of BlackBerry, Internet, Ebay, Google, Yahoo, CarFax, AutoCheck, and You Tube, one can confidently say "inside information" is a thing of the past. Or at least, the level of information accessibility is something the guru Akerlof would never have imagined. We are now a society of information overload - inside information is now (to use an economics term) a scarcity. "Inside Information", even for cars, can be revealed and beaten with some diligence. And to pop Harford's balloon, location is not everything, even for companies like Starbucks. Significant advantage of a business location can be easily erased by well-connected, shrewd tourists in our infomation age. In the end, not only is location important, but quality counts too. Times have changed since 1970, and yes, used car markets are here to stay on Ebay.
Book Review: A great primer on economic theory and policy ...
Summary: 5 Stars
The more I read about the strain developing countries are placing on natural resources and global food supplies, the more interested I have become in economic theory and policies. Unfortunately, my knowledge of such is limited to basic introductory courses in college. For that reason, I am glad I picked up this book; it has answered many of my questions and has shed light on many interesting topics for future reading!
Mr. Hartford uses the first few chapters to introduce fundamental concepts such as supply and demand, scarcity, marginal costs, market efficiency, externality charges, and price targeting.
However, the fun doesn't stop there! Mr. Hartford then uses those concepts to explain a broad array of interesting topics: these topics include the health insurance industry, the stock market, auctions, free trade and globalization, tariffs and taxes, subsidies, pollution, government corruption, poverty, and China.
I must say that I am very impressed with this book. It wasn't too hard of a read, but it does make you think. In fact, in the later more advanced chapters, I often found myself going back and re-reading certain sections. Still, I enjoyed the book and found his writing style to be very good and easily digestible.
I really enjoyed the last chapter, which goes into great depth explaining how China has grown as a country and as a future economic powerhouse.