Customer Reviews
Tim does it again! - By: A. I. Mackenzie, 21 May 2008 
Tim Harford has again managed to write a book on Economics that I readin a weekend (well Thursday to Saturday, but weekends are stretchy!). Give that I've tried & failed to finish the Black Swan & wasn't really all that impressed with Freakonomics that's a pretty big recommendation.
In this book Harford dwells more on how cities can be more amenable to live in, rational prostitutes & race & sex roles. You can tell he's started a family since the last book as a lot of the topics focus on 'quality of life' issues.
Again underlying the book is that we make rational choices within our limitations & that we respond to incentives with surprising deftness. Other reviewers have been quite critical of this thesis but Harford defends it really well. He explains why if I go to a playgroup with my son why I'm likely to be one of the only men there, why cities end up segregated because of relatively mild preferences & why it's rational under certain circumstance for a prostitute not to use a condom (no really!).
I really enjoy these books, it's just a shame he doesn't write for the Independent (as I'd get to read his weekly column).
Dr Pangloss rides again - By: Chuck E, 05 May 2008 
Hmmm... The whole edifice of classical economics is baed on the premise that individuals will always make rational choices based on their self-interest, to the ultimate benefit of society as a whole. Of course, anyone who takes the odd glance outside the study at the real world will be a bit nonplussed by this contention, because it appears as if many people make rather irrational choices, with some difficult implications for a theory that assumes the optimum allocation of resources.
It's the kind of 'heads I win, tails you lose' defence of market fundamentalism that looks increasinlgy threadbarein the post-LTCM, sub-prime world of market failure, as central bankers desperately try to shore up the capital marketsin the wake of an excess of rationality. However, if you can show that all those 'irrational' choices are,in fact, perfectly rational, then the edifice survives intact & there is no need for reform - all is for the bestin the best of possible worlds.
Dissaponting, but makes a good door stopper - By: Laurence D. Greig, 01 May 2008 I have not read The Undercover Economist, & I certainly don't plan to after I've read this book, that is if it's as bland & obvious as the logic of life. I stuck with the book after 150pages then put it down feeling disappointed & conned after reading some of the reviews. I imagined that I'd be intellectually inspired or intrigued by some of the theories Harford postulates. Ocassionally, i let out a tiny grubble at some mildly interesting anecdotes. Overall, a book wholly committed to rationalising pretty much everything is fraile with limited attributes.
Boring !!
Math Applied to Common Decisions - By: Donald Mitchell, 23 Apr 2008 
Many of the popular books about economics seek to convince you that human beings are wildly illogical. Why? Because the dollars & sense of what people say & do don't always match up well. Tim Harford gets past that problem by mostly ignoring the academic studies that seem far removed from reality by emphasizing what people do when they are new to something.
The book is at its best when he's explaining how systemic biases can create large shiftsin human behavior. For instance, a slight preference for having neighbors who are like oneself can lead to quite substantial segregation along race, religion, education, & economic lines.
For me, the book lacked any big "gotcha" like the finding that abortions may have contributed to lowering crime.
In almost every section, I thought that Mr. Harford was arguing (or at least haranguing) beyond the limits of his evidence.
When he moves beyond being an observer into someone trying to convince you what people are like, I found he was often offensive. There's a section about how those who aren't native to Africa "solved" the problem of dying from malaria by transferring slaves from Africa to milder climates that's insensitive at best.
To Mr. Harford's eye, we are so much creatures of economics, comfort, & the pursuit of gain that there's no role for any other human motives. That's a too limited view of people . . . & hardly an uplifting one.
Unless you are addicted to Mr. Harford's writing, skip this book. It won't tell you much that you need to know.
Math Applied to Common Decisions - By: Donald Mitchell, 23 Apr 2008 Many of the popular books about economics seek to convince you that human beings are wildly illogical. Why? Because the dollars & sense of what people say & do don't always match up well. Tim Harford gets past that problem by mostly ignoring the academic studies that seem far removed from reality by emphasizing what people do when they are new to something.
The book is at its best when he's explaining how systemic biases can create large shiftsin human behavior. For instance, a slight preference for having neighbors who are like oneself can lead to quite substantial segregation along race, religion, education, & economic lines.
For me, the book lacked any big "gotcha" like the finding that abortions may have contributed to lowering crime.
In almost every section, I thought that Mr. Harford was arguing (or at least haranguing) beyond the limits of his evidence.
When he moves beyond being an observer into someone trying to convince you what people are like, I found he was often offensive. There's a section about how those who aren't native to Africa "solved" the problem of dying from malaria by transferring slaves from Africa to milder climates that's insensitive at best.
To Mr. Harford's eye, we are so much creatures of economics, comfort, & the pursuit of gain that there's no role for any other human motives. That's a too limited view of people . . . & hardly an uplifting one.
Unless you are addicted to Mr. Harford's writing, skip this book. It won't tell you much that you need to know.
