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Loading... The undercover economist : Exposing why the rich are rich, the poor are… (2005)by Tim Harford
None. Economics is NOT my gig. Accounting? Probably. Finance? Okay. Business? So so. (  ) Julie_Brock | Apr 12, 2013 |  Interesting viewpoints on several everyday economic topics. walterqchocobo | Apr 8, 2013 | fourth pop-econ & the weakest: Cole, Friedman, Whalen all better-Cole most basic, Friedman most rigorous, Whalen best structure, most entertaining FKarr | Apr 5, 2013 | Although not as easy-to-read or entertaining as the Freakomomics from Levitt and Dubner, still a great introduction to economics. It raises interesting questions such as why are poor countries poor? What is the secret of China? The chapter about stock markets was a bit boring for me but I rather enjoyed the chapters about free markets and globalisation. (  ) TheCrow2 | Aug 4, 2012 | Economics seems to be full of jargon, but once you get drill down to the fundamentals, it is about who gets what.(or at least thats what Tim Harford says) The Undercover Economist is what a book about a complex subject should be clear, lucid and well written and once you read it you will never look at the world the same way again. He talks about how companies price their goods(Different from how you think it works). Who gains most when Starbucks sells you a coffee near a metro station and he talks about the power of scarcity. He takes problems and manages to distill their essence so that at once you understand how things work. He talks about why poor countries remain poor and how China became rich. He deals with why its hard to buy a good used car. There is a section on auctions that is breathtaking. Economic terms come and go but they don't fly over your head. I actually understood most of what was being conveyed. Its really an effortless read. Now that I have had a chance to think about it, the thing that Harford does really well is talk about when Economists get things wrong sometimes to the detriment of the profession and the government. He does this most memorably with the auctions section where he talks about why certain auctions failed. Tim Harford takes a subject which I quite frankly thought to be a purely academic one, breathes new life into it and turns it into an absolute page turner. ( ) kaipakartik | Jul 25, 2012 |
 Harford’s book “leads the reader to the point” where seemingly “outrageous” statements by economists seem sensible, says Tim Worstall in The Daily Telegraph. Anyone confused by “how the world works” will benefit from reading it.
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