The Undercover Economist
by Tim Harford
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Book Reviews of The Undercover Economist
Book Review: Economics 101
Summary: 5 Stars
Economics is that one branch of the sciences where everyone claims to be an expert. If you're a doctor or an engineer, no lay person would question your hard earned knowledge. But, in the case of economics, everyone's an expert. Everyone has some half baked solution for the world's woes. Harford's book works to dispel these "solutions" by outlining the basis of modern economics in a clever and simple style. His technique is brilliant.
Economics is not a difficult field of study but it does require an acceptance that markets, when left to work their own mysteries, will always produce a better outcome than that proposed by a bureaucrat. Put simply, why is North Korea a basket case yet nearby Japan or Singapore economic miracles? It can't be attributed to natural resources. North Korea has plenty of these while Japan and Singapore have none. No, it is simply that North Korea has chosen to tread the path of economic lunacy and, as a consequence, its people are suffering horribly.
Harford outlines economics wonderfully. His book is a treat to read. Do yourself a favour and read it yourself!
Book Review: Dry, but worth a second read
Summary: 4 Stars
I grabbed this book from my local bookstore after being drawn in by the title. I've always had an interest in economics as whole, but never took the time to really dig myself into some reading material (besides the voluminous textbook I was forced to trudge through in college).
Mr. Harford does a satisfactory job of trying to explain the devil in the details behind many of society's microeconomic transactions. Like a few of the other reviewers, I did find the text to be a bit dry, but maybe it's a cultural thing (I believe he is English). That being said, I think it's fair to say that after a second reading, one should be able to have a fairly strong grasp of the ideas the author puts forward. Tim takes us through economic ideas such as marginal value, externalities and scarcity and presents multiple examples of these in action. I particularly enjoyed his challenges put forth to a lot of popular ideas (Anti-Globalization, Environmentalism), based on standard economic thought.
I believe this book is an excellent starting point for further study of the world of economics.
Book Review: Objective, entertaining, if inot narrow in scope and flawed in areas
Summary: 4 Stars
Among social science literature I try to detect bias -- this book obviously contains bias, but relative to other books in this category it is refreshingly objective and based on empiricism, fact, logic.
For example, the authors expose environmental abuses, leftist attacks on 3rd world working conditions, while at the same time offer an empirical defense of abortion as a primary causal mechanism for the decades long reduction in crime.
without offering my personal bias and logical objection to many of the assertions made by the authors, as i have done in other reviews, I will simply note that it is rare that an author attacks extremist environmentalism, defends "sweat shops in china" and defends abortion in the same book.
I would recommend this book for any objective, independent thinking, and rational reader.
Book Review: Better than I thought!
Summary: 4 Stars
Being a manager for 15 years, I thought I know quite a bit about economics, so I bought the book with a portion of skepticism, looking for an easy plane-ride read and somewhat encouraged by other reviewers.
Turns out it is irrelevant how much you already know about economics, even well known concepts are explained with always entertaining and occasionally even amusing examples. I never thought about the reason behind the random sales at my local supermarket, and now I know - but I won't tell you, so you won't skip over on a great chapter.
In the second half it gets a bit less entertaining but more substantial, when Harford shatters a couple of popular myths about the dangers of globalization, exploiting multinationals and the reasons for poor nations to become even poorer.
Book Review: Witty, engaging and informative
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a fun book. Hartford treats his topic in a lighthearted way that keeps the reader engaged. I also appreciate his ability to take complex economic theories and make them easy to understand thru the use of clear examples.
Sometimes, Hartford gets overly detailed. Those passages are a drag on the book. In addition, Hartford's discussion of rich/poor countries does not capture the incredibly complex systems that make up a national economy. The whole comparison of Cameroon and China is a bit too simplistic and his argument misses the mark.
On the plus side, his explanation on the pricing of cappuccino is must reading....it'd be a great first lecture for an Econ 101 class!
A highly enjoyable book.