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Armchair Economist: Economics & Everyday…
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Armchair Economist: Economics & Everyday Life (original 1993; edition 1995)

by Steven E. Landsburg (Author)

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6991032,447 (3.63)4
"Seat belts cause accidents because well-protected drivers take more risks. This widely documented fact comes as a surprise to most people, but not to economists, who have learned, perhaps better than most, to take seriously the proposition that people respond to incentives in complicated ways. In The Armchair Economist, Steven E. Landsburg shows how economic thinking illuminates the entire range of human behavior. But instead of focusing on the workings of financial markets, international trade, and other topics distant from the experience of most readers, Landsburg mines the details of daily life to reveal what the laws of economics tell us about ourselves." "As Landsburg shows, some behavior that strikes most people as utterly unremarkable is quite extraordinary when seen through economists' eyes. Why, for example, does popcorn cost so much at the movie theater? The "obvious" answer is that the theater owner has a monopoly. But if that were the whole story then he would charge a monopoly price for use of the restrooms as well. When a sudden frost destroys much of the Florida orange crop and prices skyrocket, journalists often point to "obvious" evidence of monopoly power. Economists see just the opposite: If growers had monopoly power, they wouldn't have to wait for a frost to raise prices." "Why do restaurants earn higher profits on liquor than on food? Why are some goods sold at auction and others at pre-announced prices? Why don't concert promoters raise ticket prices even when they sell out months in advance? Why do box seats at the ballpark sell out before bleachers do? Why do corporations confer huge pensions on failed executives? Landsburg wields the tools of the economist's trade to solve these puzzles, often reaching conclusions that are at odds with our intuition." "After revealing economic principles in readily apparent phenomena of everyday life, Landsburg applies these same principles to newspaper and media accounts of public issues. Contesting the widely held views of pundits, critics, and public officials, he shows us how reducing urban pollution need not make city dwellers any happier, how sex scandals are not necessarily bad for politicians, and how free agency doesn't always help the wealthiest baseball teams. By deducing principles from his observations of the things that surround us, he explains many of the main ideas of modern economics, through chapters that read more like detective stories than textbook lessons." "Logically rigorous but never technically demanding, this refreshing new book will give readers a guided tour of the familiar, filtered through a decidedly unfamiliar but insightful lens. This is economics for the joy of it."--Jacket.… (more)
Member:thatwordnerd
Title:Armchair Economist: Economics & Everyday Life
Authors:Steven E. Landsburg (Author)
Info:Free Press (1995), Edition: 50523rd, 256 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:read in 2016, 1990s, economic theory, economics, economy, environment, essays, everyday life, finance, freakonomics, investing, markets, microeconomics, popular economics, social science, social theory, sociology, sociology theory

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The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life by Steven E. Landsburg (1993)

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Showing 1-5 of 10 (next | show all)
I generally enjoy books that cover Economics topics for laymen, but I didn't like this one very much. The basics of the field are presented in a clear way, but the examples were often oversimplified to the point that they were distracting. His focus on economics isolated from all other aspects of society lead to him saying ridiculous things like, "taxes have no effect on the economy".
( )
  wishanem | May 27, 2021 |
reflections on human behavior from economist's point of view
  ritaer | Apr 18, 2021 |
"Guided by the right theory of cornflakes - which is that families buy cornflakes in order to eat them and won't buy more than they want to eat - he might have realized that letting the government do people's shopping would not make them any hungrier."

Amusing and though-provoking. Still, apparently it only takes five pages of economics to put me to sleep. ( )
  Pascale1812 | Apr 16, 2020 |
pages to note: pages 89-91 talks about "economics of safety"

Chapter 24 on Environmentalists was very good
p. 226 ritual of recycling
page 227: (top of page) I might be willing to pay $50 a year to preserve [lions]. If lions mean less to you than they do to me, I accept your difference and will not condemn you as a sinner.
p. 229 sacrifice some wilderness in exchange for the luxury of not having to sort your trash. ( )
  gaturbev | Dec 6, 2012 |
What I enjoyed most about this book was that the examples were so clear that I felt like I actually understood some of the basic principles of economy - and some of the things Mr. Landsburg said were very surprising to me. I also enjoyed his depiction of economists and how they are always trying to figure out the reasons behind problems that seem very simple on first glance (why does popcorn cost so much in the theater?). Very readable. ( )
  tjsjohanna | Oct 27, 2012 |
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"Seat belts cause accidents because well-protected drivers take more risks. This widely documented fact comes as a surprise to most people, but not to economists, who have learned, perhaps better than most, to take seriously the proposition that people respond to incentives in complicated ways. In The Armchair Economist, Steven E. Landsburg shows how economic thinking illuminates the entire range of human behavior. But instead of focusing on the workings of financial markets, international trade, and other topics distant from the experience of most readers, Landsburg mines the details of daily life to reveal what the laws of economics tell us about ourselves." "As Landsburg shows, some behavior that strikes most people as utterly unremarkable is quite extraordinary when seen through economists' eyes. Why, for example, does popcorn cost so much at the movie theater? The "obvious" answer is that the theater owner has a monopoly. But if that were the whole story then he would charge a monopoly price for use of the restrooms as well. When a sudden frost destroys much of the Florida orange crop and prices skyrocket, journalists often point to "obvious" evidence of monopoly power. Economists see just the opposite: If growers had monopoly power, they wouldn't have to wait for a frost to raise prices." "Why do restaurants earn higher profits on liquor than on food? Why are some goods sold at auction and others at pre-announced prices? Why don't concert promoters raise ticket prices even when they sell out months in advance? Why do box seats at the ballpark sell out before bleachers do? Why do corporations confer huge pensions on failed executives? Landsburg wields the tools of the economist's trade to solve these puzzles, often reaching conclusions that are at odds with our intuition." "After revealing economic principles in readily apparent phenomena of everyday life, Landsburg applies these same principles to newspaper and media accounts of public issues. Contesting the widely held views of pundits, critics, and public officials, he shows us how reducing urban pollution need not make city dwellers any happier, how sex scandals are not necessarily bad for politicians, and how free agency doesn't always help the wealthiest baseball teams. By deducing principles from his observations of the things that surround us, he explains many of the main ideas of modern economics, through chapters that read more like detective stories than textbook lessons." "Logically rigorous but never technically demanding, this refreshing new book will give readers a guided tour of the familiar, filtered through a decidedly unfamiliar but insightful lens. This is economics for the joy of it."--Jacket.

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