Book Reviews
Libertarian Paternalism
Sunday, January 25th, 2009I just finished Nudge, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. These University of Chicago professors advocate “libertarian paternalism” which recognizes that people often act irrationally and recommends that governments “nudge” people to make better choices. In their own words: Libertarian paternalism is a weak, soft, and non-intrusive type of paternalism because choices are not blocked […]
Two Books Worth Reading
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008The Logic of Life, Tim Harford: Harford uses rationality to explain everything from the Cold War to increased divorce rates. If you read many economics blogs, you will undoubtedly be familiar with some of the academic work he references. Nevertheless, what the book lacks in novelty is more than compensated by Harford’s articulate writing. And, […]
The Insufficiency of Efficiency
Friday, February 8th, 2008I recently came across the book No One Makes You Shop at Wal-Mart, by Tom Slee. I didn’t purchase it, but read the first chapter which is available for free at Slee’s website. Slee’s title is a bit misleading. He argues that while no one makes you shop at Wal-Mart, it is very possible that […]
Rediscovering My Inner Economist
Tuesday, November 20th, 2007The anticipation was too much. Discover Your Inner Economist, by Tyler Cowen, wasn’t available through interlibrary loan and I couldn’t wait. I went ahead and bought a used copy off Amazon. My expectations were really high going in. I had read and listened to a number of favorable book reviews and am a big fan […]
Rabbits on the Cover…
Friday, November 2nd, 2007…caught my attention when I was looking through the Economics section at Barnes and Noble last May. The book was More Sex is Safer Sex, by Steven Landsburg. In the bookstore, I made it through the first chapter which uses economic logic to support the title’s provocative claim. Landsburg argues that when conservative people with […]