The Undercover Economist |
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Tim Harford
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Pages: 288 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0349119856
Pub: Abacus
Pub date: 2007-05-03
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3563
Reader Reviews:
Not what it claims to be...utilise market forces and buy something else (0/0 people found this helpful)
This book has been marketed as a British "Freaknomics", but it is really a completely different beast.
In reality it is a basic introduction to free market economics and it does a reasonable job of that. Mr Harford is not so undercover when it comes to his unfailing belief that global free trade is a good thing; his consideration of any counter-argument is curtly dismissive.
There is an interesting chapter about the auction of "3G" mobile phone licenses which is worth reading, but the rest falls far short of the illumination that the quotes on the back of the book promise. I can see little evidence of any unique insights, and neither is the writing style sufficiently polished to make up for this short-coming.
If you are looking for a basic introduction to economics then perhaps this would be OK. However, I was disappointed to find that it was not the book that it was trying desperately to be.
A nice well founded review of what it is all about. If only the reponsible people at Lehman had read this book (0/1 people found this helpful)
I am amazed at how clear things become after this real insight into the basics of what makes a good economist. Transparency, honesty and the basic value of what you are negotiating.
Worth Reading... (0/1 people found this helpful)
I would Rate Tim Harford a league higher than Dubner ...and this book is more sensible than SuperFreaknomics ....yes in the same league as Freakonomics
Nothing new (0/2 people found this helpful)
Having read Freakonomics, I was hoping for something more in depth,
but thisbook proved to be about basic economic principles, often repetative,
and far less entertaining.
Really poor (4/6 people found this helpful)
He scrupulously avoids the words supply or demand otherwise you would know that you have read all this before in about ten pages.
There was little insight here and it degenerated quite quickly into why the free market is great. Which is fine but beyond letting me know how you feel it doesn't tell me much more about the world around me from an economists point of view.
Plus some odd examples, banks need impressive buildings to convince people to give them money ? Maybe in the 19th century tim but now i hear internet banks are quite popular.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Business, Finance & Law -> General AAS
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback
Books -> Refinements -> Font Size (format_browse-bin) -> Regular Size