The Undercover Economist

The Undercover Economist is essentially an economics book, written by an Oxford-educated economist (Tim Harford) who, according to himself, intends to show its readers the world as viewed by an economist. Given this description, the book might appear to be a very boring book, filled with discussions on abstract stuff like monetary policies and other things typically associated with economics.

That impression, however, would be totally wrong.

Starting the book by wondering about the price of a cup of coffee at London's Waterloo Station, Harford proceeds to show how concepts such as scarcity, price discrimination, externality, adverse selection, and comparative advantage comes into play in our everyday life. With an engaging writing style, he presents case studies from a wide range of topics -- some big, some small -- ranging from air pollution due to traffic to things like state of development in some third-world countries.

However, Harford does not simply provide a possible explanation on how things may be working according to economic principles. He also provides relevant data and references to related works of other economists, making his already strong analyses more convincing. At times, he shows how ideas in “classic” works in the field (such as David Ricardo's analysis on scarcity) are still useful in modern context while also showing the caveats. Further, when applicable, he also explores possibilities to apply economics principles to improve an existing “inefficient” situation (such as the state of health care in US and UK), and specific examples where such approaches have worked.

Overall, as Steven Levitt's comment quoted on the paperback edition's cover, The Undercover Economist “brings the power of economics to life”. Its thorough explanation on various aspects of economics makes it very useful as some kind of introductory course to economics, while its writing style and wealth of real-world examples will keep readers engaged throughout. Verdict: Highly recommended.

The Logic of Life

I bought Tim Harford's The Undercover Economist quite some time back, and, finding the book very interesting, I didn't hesitate to buy his latest book, The Logic of Life, when I saw it. Similar to The Undercover Economist, in this book Harford utilizes various economic principles and tools such as game theory to analyze various aspects of daily life. However, instead of simply presenting the analyses, throughout the book Harford also tries to show how even seemingly bizarre decisions that may be involved usually result from rational behavior on the participants' part. The premise is that subconsciously, people are able (and have tendency) to respond to perceived potential cost/benefit in a logical manner. This is because we tend to do things we are already familiar with, and with increasing familiarity, comes increasing ability to make relevant judgement -- like how we learn to throw and catch thrown objects without consciously working out the physics calculations involved.

Using engaging, well-written stories, Harford discusses a wide range of topics, such as racial discrimination, poker, addiction, marriage, politics, and pay structure in the workplace. He also demonstrates how rational behavior by each individual could produce irrational results for society, and how minor actions by individuals, like moving to neighbourhood in where there are more people from their own ethnic group, could produce very significant changes in the society. Backed up by facts and notes on relevant research works by other economists, the arguments tend to be quite convincing. Still, I feel that Harford's previous book is much better in this respect, and that the strength of the analyses in The Logic of Life varies in much greater degree than ones in The Undercover Economist. For example, the analysis on why ancestors of modern human succeeded (whereas Neanderthals failed) feels oversimplified, whereas the one on racial discrimination and segregation is much stronger. Nevertheless, readers who intend to delve deeper into the topics discussed can always proceed to the rather extensive bibliography, or put the various works mentioned throughout this book in their reading lists.

Overall, I'll rate this book as worth buying. It's a quick read, and, despite appearing to oversimplify things at times, The Logic of Life is also quite thought-provoking, and encourages its readers to consider various things in everyday life in a different light.

Fired!

There are a lot of books containing experiences of famous and successful people. There are also a lot of books specifically written to provide valuable tips on how to succeed in one's career. However, Annabelle Gurwitch's "Fired!" is different – it compiles people's experiences of getting fired.

Despite the subject matter, the experiences in the book are written not in gloomy, despairing tone. In fact, the contributors' sense of humor often made the stories hilarious. Instead of treating being fired a sign of incompetence, or discussing it as some kind of “end of the world” event, Fired! shows that people, even successful and talented ones, can and do get fired, sometimes due to very trivial reasons outside their control. In fact, it can immediately be seen from the way the contributions are organized into these following chapters:

1. The Job So Terrible You Can Only Hope to be Fired

2. The Firing You Didn't See Coming

3. The Time You Deserved To Be Fired

4. The Time Getting Fired Leads You to Something Better

5. The Time You Had to Fire Yourself

The stories in the book are those contributed by showbiz personalities, although the specific experiences vary from failed major gigs to more mundane ones like a problematic temporary job much earlier in the contributor's life. Gurwitch's own story was about the time she was let go by none other than Woody Allen himself, during a reading for a new play of his. Other people who contributed their experiences to this book include those such as Tim Allen, Bob Saget, Felicity Huffman, Harry Shearer, and Jill Soloway.

I think this book is interesting in two ways – firstly, it provides entertaining real-life stories on a seldom-discussed topic. In addition, I suppose this could also be a good read for people who had been retrenched, for example to show that they don't have to take it too hard, and that many people had similar experience, managed to shrug it off, and proceed to build a successful career. As Felicity Huffman said in her story:

But when I got fired that first time, Bill Macy, my husband, said to me, "Oh, you popped your cherry. Everyone gets fired." And it's true, you do feel like a show business veteran once you've been fired.