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The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich are Rich, the Poor are Poor--and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car! (Paperback)

by Tim Harford (Author) "I would like to thank you for buying this book, but if you're anything like me you haven't bought it at all ..." (more)

3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Anchor Canada (Jan 30 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385663390
ISBN-13: 978-0385663397
Product Dimensions: 20.2 x 13.3 x 1.7 cm
Shipping Weight: 214 g

Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #29,287 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Popular in these categories:

#19 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Business Management > Marketing & Sales > Consumer Behavior
#19 in	Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Consumer Behavior
#46 in	Books > Nonfiction > Economics > Economic History

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Nattily packaged-the cover sports a Roy Lichtensteinesque image of an economist in Dick Tracy garb-and cleverly written, this book applies basic economic theory to such modern phenomena as Starbucks' pricing system and Microsoft's stock values. While the concepts explored are those encountered in Microeconomics 101, Harford gracefully explains abstruse ideas like pricing along the demand curve and game theory using real world examples without relying on graphs or jargon. The book addresses free market economic theory, but Harford is not a complete apologist for capitalism; he shows how companies from Amazon.com to Whole Foods to Starbucks have gouged consumers through guerrilla pricing techniques and explains the high rents in London (it has more to do with agriculture than one might think). Harford comes down soft on Chinese sweatshops, acknowledging "conditions in factories are terrible," but "sweatshops are better than the horrors that came before them, and a step on the road to something better." Perhaps, but Harford doesn't question whether communism or a capitalist-style industrial revolution are the only two choices available in modern economies. That aside, the book is unequaled in its accessibility and ability to show how free market economic forces affect readers' day-to-day.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From AudioFile

This delightful behind-the-scenes look at basic economics should be required listening for anyone who's looked up at a Starbucks menu and asked, "Why am I paying four dollars for a cup of coffee?" Robert McKenzie reads with an educated English accent that entertains as well as enchants, and he makes a point to be both clear and challenging in his delivery. The author's take on money is laugh-out-loud funny, and listeners who tune in for the entertainment value will find themselves educated in the ways of the economic world. Magnificently written and read, this book solves some of the mysteries of everyday life with wit and style. R.O. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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I would like to thank you for buying this book, but if you're anything like me you haven't bought it at all. Read the first page

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3.4 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Lively Look at Beginning Economic Theory, Jul 15 2006

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor--and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car! (Hardcover)

The Undercover Economist successfully avoids mind-numbing equations, boring examples and abstruse subjects.

Using ten themes, Mr. Harford provides a popular platform for the latest thinking on economics.

In Who Pays for Your Coffee? he looks at how a desire for quick access to caffeine allows landlords along commuter routes to charge high rents for take-out coffee locations.

In What Supermarkets Don't Want You to Know? he explores how item choices and pricing are used to create the appearance of competitiveness while encouraging the price insensitive to pay as much as they like. He also explains the theory of why you pay so much more for fancier coffee drinks . . . and even possibly for fair trade coffee.

Perfect Markets and the "World of Truth" considers how economic policy can influence how people make decisions and allocate resources more efficiently such as by raising taxes on fuel while subsidizing the poor with a "head start".

Crosstown Traffic looks at the ways that social problems can be solved by a judicious use of fees, such as by charging for the right to pollute.

The Inside Story examines how imperfect information causes costs and prices to soar . . . as those who know what's good and bad take advantage of those who don't. People sell used cars that are lemons and hold on to ones that are peaches. Those who need health insurance because they are sick buy it while those who are well avoid the cost.

Rational Insanity describes talks about irrationality in economic decisions such as the recent Internet bubble.

The Men Who Knew the Value of Nothing is about describes the brilliant and not so brilliant auctions that economists set up to sell radio spectrum for new services around the world.

Why Poor Countries are Poor contains an unforgettable tale of what it's like in Cameroon and why the economy isn't likely to get better anytime soon.

Beer, Fries and Globalization makes the case for free trade.

How China Grew Rich is a nice study in government policy in China and how it overcame the worst problems of being a centralized economy.

If you know economics, all that will be new in most of these chapters will be the examples, which are fairly new and interesting.

If you don't know economics, you probably won't follow some of the chapters such as Beer, Fries and Globalization.

So this book will be most appealing to those who know a lot about economics and will be interested to see how key ideas can be explained more simply and in a livelier way.

For those who don't know economics, it's a lot better than my economics professors in explaining key ideas. But you may end up learning more than you wanted to know. Many of the chapters are of more interest to economists than the typical non-economist reader. I suggest you selectively read the chapters to focus on the ones that seem interesting to you.

I thought that the last chapter on China had the most interesting material and explained it very well.

Some people will compare this book to Freakonomics. That's a peculiar comparison to make. That book uses economics to provide new perspectives on old problems. This book, instead, tries to teach economics. The two books have substantially different purposes and perspectives as a result.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Basic Economic Principles Applied to Real Life, Nov 2 2008

By	Steve S. (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

The science behind this book is, in the end, a dumbed-down version of what you would learn in Economics 1 at any college or university. The author explains basic principals such as externalities and Adam Smith's "unseen hand"; there are no break-through insights here.

On the other hand, this is no college textbook. It is much more fun to read and much more accessible. There are no formulas or math. The concepts are explained in simple English, and then immediately applied to everyday life situations such as the price of coffee at Starbucks, health care and traffic. Whether or not you know anything about economics, you won't be bored.

Most importantly, this book helps people think in rational terms about hot-button issues like free trade and the environment. The author has his own views -- we all do -- but his approach to issues is rational. He encourages us to think critically, rather than simply reacting emotionally. For that reason, if no other, this is a worthwhile book and the world would be a better place if everyone read it.

Note: my undergraduate degree is in economics, although that was a long time ago and I have not studied economics, nor used it in my job, for about 20 years.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Economics is Simple and this book makes it more interesting, Jul 3 2008

By	J. Tupone (Saskatchewan) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor--and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car! (Hardcover)

This is an entertaining and interesting book by Tim Harford: a man who is part of what I like to call the New Generation Economists. Many people interested in economics are familiar with the likes of Milton Friedman, John Maynard Keynes, Friedrich Hayek or the fathers of economics Adam Smith and David Ricardo; individuals who explained several macro economics concepts that tend to affect societies more so than individuals. The new generation economists are people like Steven Levitt, John Lott and Tim Harford (to name a few) who look at things that happen in our world and affect us regularly as individuals and create ramifications for the societies we make up.

This book is essentially an introduction to micro and macro economics, with a greater emphasis on microeconomics I would say. For those who have never studied economics it will require more concentration than a relaxing pulp fiction novel but as you get into the groove of Harford's writing style you will find that the book flows nicely and is easy to follow. People who have taken economics will understand things more clearly and pick up some interesting, practical examples for explaining economic theory; Harford spares us any discussion of manufacturing and selling widgets, for example and is effective in avoiding the one product universe to explain supply and demand.

This book moves beyond an introductory economics course in that it uses more qualitative elements to explain why things are the way they are. In my experience (as an economics major), undergraduate economics tends to analyze the world using equations and simple graphs. While that can be quite useful and relevant, it's difficult to find it as interesting as a discussion about scarcity put into terms that pretty much any western consumer can relate to; e.g. Hartford uses expensive coffee (e.g. Starbucks et al) bars as an example of how scarcity causes high prices.

Some readers may not agree with what Harford has to say about why things are the way they are. Fair enough. That doesn't change the fact that Harford does an excellent job of communicating economic principles without using rather dry and fairly asinine examples like the manufacture of widgets and simple graphs to explain how supply and demand of widgets affects their price. There is room for disagreement and whether you agree with Harford's explanations or not, this book is well written and quite original.

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1.0 out of 5 stars An undergrad view of economics
Alas, I had to stop reading part way through -- the book is merely a collection of undergraduate thought experiments regarding eocnomics of everyday activities -- a bunch of... Read more

Published 14 months ago by G. MCKENNA

3.0 out of 5 stars Overly Simplistic and rightist view of ecomonics
Frankly anyone who has taken introduction to college economics will find this book redundant, oversimplified and dull. Read more

Published on Nov 21 2007 by Rebecca Wilkinson