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 The Economic NaturalistIn Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmasby Robert Frank May 21, 2007
DescriptionWhy do the keypads on drive-up cash machines have Braille dots? Why are round-trip fares from Orlando to Kansas City higher than those from Kansas City to Orlando? For decades, Robert Frank has been asking his economics students to pose and answer questions like these as a way of learning how economic principles operate in the real world--which they do everywhere, all the time. Once you learn to think like an economist, all kinds of puzzling observations start to make sense. Drive-up ATM keypads have Braille dots because it's cheaper to make the same machine for both drive-up and walk-up locations. Travelers from Kansas City to Orlando pay less because they are usually price-sensitive tourists with many choices of destination, whereas travelers originating from Orlando typically choose Kansas City for specific family or business reasons. The Economic Naturalist employs basic economic principles to answer scores of intriguing questions from everyday life, and, along the way, introduces key ideas such as the cost benefit principle, the "no cash left on the table" principle, and the law of one price. There is no more delightful and painless way of learning these fundamental principles. Reviews...The Economic Naturalist will add momentum to the overdue campaign to take economics back from the mathematicians and root it in everyday lives of consumers, workers, investors and entrepreneurs. Frank’s new book shows that, when you ask students to look around, they see interesting things; and, sure enough, basic economic concepts can usually give a plausible account of actions and outcomes. This is an excellent way for students to learn economics. To tell the truth, it is also a useful correction to the rest of us.
Fun and fascinating! At times it'll remind you of a Seinfeld routine —‘Did you ever wonder why baseball managers wear uniforms but basketball coaches wear suits?’ — except that Bob Frank also gives you the real answers.
As amusing to read as one of Jay Leno’s joke books, but Bob Frank’s questions and answers are not jokes. They represent pithy observations about our economic lives that will give readers an appreciation of the real substance of economic reasoning.
With his usual wit and style, Robert Frank has written a book that explains why a host of puzzling phenomena in daily life make perfect (economic) sense. Fans of Freakonomics will be fans of Frank’s book too.
Fascinating, mind-expanding, and lots of fun.
Smart, snappy and delightful. Bob Frank is one of America's best writers on economics.
Selling TerritoryWorld Excluding UK & Commonwealth, European Union |
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