The Economic Naturalist: Why Economics Explains Almost Everything

Editorial Reviews. Review. "After science, the other gaping hole in my education is economics. Ever since the runaway success of Steven Levitt's Freakonomics.
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My friend dropped out of her economics class after saying that economics is just common sense and that the study of it is quite useless to anyone who can think logically. I disagreed with her completely as I had just finished reading "Freakonomics," but after reading or at least getting a third of the way through this book I understand what she means.

Whereas "Freakonomics" took the laws of economics and applied it to unconventional situations and finding interesting results, this book looks a My friend dropped out of her economics class after saying that economics is just common sense and that the study of it is quite useless to anyone who can think logically.

Whereas "Freakonomics" took the laws of economics and applied it to unconventional situations and finding interesting results, this book looks at everyday situations only to come up with very obvious usually mundane answers. Jan 02, Jean rated it liked it.

Thought the book might be similar to Freakonomics-- it is, but it's more rooted in econ principles. Apparently I'm one of them as well. Book's mostly examples of why certain economics principles work in the real world and it's semi-coherent, though not easily digested. Most of the stories make you go, "Oooooh! Jan 26, Rob Dudek rated it it was ok. It'll keep you entertained for a while, if you're just too tired to read a proper book.

I'd flip through it in the library but probably wouldn't buy it.

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Aug 05, Nguyen Truc rated it really liked it. Engineers build the world and the economist helps to explain it. May 18, Ailith Twinning rated it liked it Shelves: The answers are entirely common sense once you hear them - but stop and try to think of an answer to each question before you read the one given.


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If you understand opportunity cost, skip this book. It bored me to tears because it just a few hours of practice questions. It could have been more interesting if it actually pursued reality, but that's not what economics even is. Economics is an ideology and 'theory' to short-circuit scientific investigation with apologetics, rhetoric, and maths. It's The answers are entirely common sense once you hear them - but stop and try to think of an answer to each question before you read the one given. It's just not a science.

The opportunity cost structure is quite useful for quickly thinking thru real-world situations and getting AN answer. It may or may not be the right answer, but you'll have one. Great practice for logical thinking and non-scientific critical thinking. I just don't have a whole lot of respect for non-scientific thinking outside of morality, and even then only because we simply don't have the data and experiments to provide anything but a wholly abhorrent moral structure.

And, at least this doesn't reach the sheer offensive heights Freakonomics does.

The Economic Naturalist

Mar 23, Lawrence Chen rated it liked it. Spent 2 hours to finish it at a coffee spot of La Colombe. A Chinese Edition, I have to say. It mentioned about why female clothes located at higher level but male clothes located at lower ground. It really depends, at least, in Asia. We do it in a vice versa. Besides, why not everyone use Nylon tie to tie their shoes. Well, this remind me an example when I audit an entrepreneur in Wharton. Function-improved pr Spent 2 hours to finish it at a coffee spot of La Colombe.

Function-improved product may not ever take off or the time costing can be unacceptable long. That's the reason, I think it is pointless of the original discussion at this book. In a word, not that recommed. The book is a series of cursory, plausible explanations to mostly interesting questions. Many of the answers he offers left much to be desired. Often times, I walked away preferring my own hypothesis on the topic over the one he offers.

Apr 26, Feli Surya rated it really liked it. Interesting book giving economic explanation to every day things you might or might not have thought about, such as, why milk cartons have squared bottoms and soft drink cans round ones, and why fridge lamps are out once you close the door Jul 06, Josh Clausen rated it really liked it Shelves: Fun read; especially for the know-it-alls out there to increase their knowledge reservoir! Simple but not simple. My favorite economics book.

Jul 15, Brian Truong rated it really liked it. May 09, C rated it it was amazing. You must read this. Oct 25, Ryan rated it it was ok Shelves: Frank has an admirable goal: To take economics beyond boring textbooks filled with abstract graphs and equations, and bring it into focus for the everyday world in which we live. He aims to show the world in such a way that will inspire the reader to develop an economic way of thinking.

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Through a series of one to two page explanations ranging from "Why is milk sold in rectangular containers, while soft drinks are sold in round ones? Interestingly enough however, all too often he himself fails to look through this lens enough. Where he falters most obviously is in his attempts to justify absurd laws which are the antithesis to a economic naturalist way of thinking. One example is in Frank's support for New York City's laws which support a taxi monopoly.

In part to help relieve street congestion, the city issues only a limited number of medallions, which makes fewer taxis available than there would be if entry into the market were unregulated. One result is that medallion owners enjoy a measure of market power that, unchecked, would enable them to charge rates far in excess of the actual cost of ferrying passengers. And so it is common for cities to regulate not just the number of taxis that can operate but also the fares they are permitted to charge. The aim of these regulations is not just to protect consumers from unfair treatment but to promote more efficient decisions about taxi use.

A true economic naturalist would look at the broader picture and allow for the development of the infinitely more complex yet natural economic relationships to play out. For example, if there were more taxis on the road wouldn't be likely to be competing against each other thus driving prices down and make taking a taxi more desirable? Or would this increased congestion balance lower prices out and make taking a taxi less desirable? Or to go even further: If taking a taxi were less desirable wouldn't people be less likely to travel into Manhattan and be more likely to spend their money at places closer to home thus creating and new opportunities for all kinds of businesses?

Conversely, in this natural economic world might there not even be a net increase in congestion? Perhaps more taxis at cheaper rates would create fewer incentives for people to drive their own cars in the city. This would not only reduce the cars on the street but also the vast parking garages and lots used to store those cars when they sit idle. The point is, who knows exactly how it would play out but however it did, there would be a natural economic balance.

Unfortunately these are the kinds of questions Frank fails to ask. In too many of his examples Frank seems content to agree with the extent to which the natural economic world has been allowed to develop. He seems less concerned with analyzing what the world could be if truly natural economic conditions were allowed to play out. But what makes this most disappointing is that the result is a book whose detail and explanations are good for cocktail party conversations but little more. If his aim is to captivate the next generation of would be economists he'll have to do more than that.

Oct 30, Jeff Kessler rated it liked it. Instead, the book acts more like a poetry compilation that contains numerous collections of poems. Each chapter begins with a short introduction by the author. After the introductions, each chapter lists numerous questions and essays.


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    8. While this format is unconventional, it makes sense when compiling numerous graduate-student essays. Each essay is short, none is more than words, and contains a brief background of a common economics question. While these intriguing questions are often interesting, they never focus on the economic principles behind the story. Overall, the book is better served as a reference book one that should be used only when there is a specific question and not as an economics book as the author proudly proclaims. When looking for a similar format with a higher description of economic factors, purchase a copy of Freakonomics!

    A book akin to freakonomics except that freakonomics is told in lengthy flow akin to a storybook, and slowly unfolding. What's more terrifying is that the facts potrayed in freakonomics are terrifyingly true, such as why drug dealers live with their mother, why crime rate drops in the early , what makes a children intelligent? Unwanted pregnancy is common in the west, but it wa A book akin to freakonomics except that freakonomics is told in lengthy flow akin to a storybook, and slowly unfolding. Unwanted pregnancy is common in the west, but it was considered illegal to abort the pregnancies even during the early stage, in the early days.

    So mothers are sometimes burdened with unwanted children, and they tend to neglect those unwanted children. Economist naturalist attempted to answer some daily events recurring in our lives, such as 1. The book provides interesting insight views on how economics make the world goes round. The author segmented the questions, and make the explanation as short as possible. Even the questions that are answered in this book are posed by his students. Still a good book to read..

    The Economic Naturalist: Why Economics Explains Almost Everything - Robert H. Frank - Google Книги

    I "polli contro balene" del titolo italiano di questo libro si riferiscono a una delle domande a cui viene data risposta nel libro: In altri capitoli, come l'economia del design, il gioco di domanda e offerta, il mondo del lavoro, le risposte alle domande mi sembrano piuttosto questionabili. I'm having trouble deciding whether to give this book two or three stars. It's an easy and fairly interesting read, and communicates some of the key lessons of economics, and how it can be useful.

    Harford, however, dismisses Homo economicus as a "crude caricature". Rational choice theory doesn't require that we conceive of human beings, implausibly, as always thinking explicitly in terms of rational self-interest. It's enough that their behaviour conforms to the model. We are most of us, he says, "unconscious" calculators; just as a talented snooker player is an unconscious geometer, who plays as if he were an expert in differential equations. Whether our calculations are conscious or not, for rational choice theory the preferences we express are always self-interested and utility-maximising.

    Frank devotes a chapter to so-called "behavioural economics", which disputes this view. Behavioural economists are interested in cognitive errors, especially in so-called "preference reversals", where the introduction of an apparently irrelevant extra option can have a decisive effect on the preference expressed. Homo economicus would never change his preference for a roast beef sandwich over chicken salad just because the waitress remembers they've also got tuna on the menu. This may seem to imply a fairly radical revision of the rational choice framework, but, according to Stephen A Marglin, it's not radical enough.

    Marglin is a professor of economics at Harvard, but The Dismal Science reads like the confession of an apostate from the guild. One turns to it with relief after the stiflingly triumphalist atmosphere of The Logic of Life. Marglin is a recovering economist, you might say, who sees in the behavioural approach a missed opportunity for a "trenchant critique" of the "assumptions about people that form the core of economics".

    Marglin argues that to think about people as always rationally calculating their self-interest is at odds with the way non-economists think about people. Non-economists know that people can sometimes be virtuously motivated to do things that benefit others. Your rating has been recorded.

    Write a review Rate this item: Preview this item Preview this item. Robert H Frank Publisher: English View all editions and formats Summary: Have you ever wondered why there is a light in your fridge but not in your freezer? Or why hour shops bother having locks on their doors? Or why soft drink cans are cylindrical, but milk cartons are square? Robert Frank shares the most intriguing and bizarre questions and the economic principles that answer them. Allow this favorite library to be seen by others Keep this favorite library private.

    Find a copy in the library Finding libraries that hold this item Popular works Document Type: Robert H Frank Find more information about: Now in this bestselling book, he shares the most intriguing - and bizarre - questions and the economic principles that answer them to reveal why many of the most puzzling parts of everyday life actually make perfect economic sense. User-contributed reviews Add a review and share your thoughts with other readers.

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