Description

Tyler Cowen – Discover Your Inner EconomistUse Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your DentistBook DescriptionPublication Date: October 1, 2007In Discover Your Inner Economist, one of America’s most respected economists presents a quirky, incisive romp through everyday life that reveals how you can turn economic reasoning to your advantage-often when you least expect it to be relevant.Like no other economist, Tyler Cowen shows how economic notions-such as incentives, signals, and markets-apply far more widely than merely to the decisions of social planners, governments, and big business. What does economic theory say about ordering from a menu? Or attracting the right mate? Or controlling people who talk too much in meetings? Or dealing with your dentist? With a wryly amusing voice, in such chapters as “How to Control the World: The Basics” and “How to Control the World: Knowing When to Stop,” Cowen reveals the hidden economic patterns behind everyday situations so you can get more of what you really want.Readers will also gain less selfish insights into how to be a good partner, neighbor, and even citizen of the world. For instance, what is the best way to give to charity? The chapter title “How to Save the World-More Christmas Presents Won’t Help” makes a point that is every bit as personal as it is global.Incentives are at the core of an economic approach to the world, but they don’t just come in cash. In fact, money can be a disincentive. Cowen shows why, for example, it doesn’t work to pay your kids to do the dishes. Other kinds of incentives-like making sure family members know they will be admired if they respect you-can work. Another nonmonetary incentive? Try having everyone stand up in your next meeting if you don’t want anyone to drone on. Deeply felt incentives, like pride in one’s work or a passing smile from a loved one, can be the most powerful of all, even while they operate alongside more mundane rewards, such as money and free food.Discover Your Inner Economist is an introduction to the science of economics that shows it to be built on notions that are already within all of us. While the implications of those ideas lead to Cowen’s often counterintuitive advice, their wisdom is presented in ordinary examples taken from home life, work life, and even vacation life. How, for example, do you get a good guide in a Moroccan bazaar?Editorial ReviewsFrom Publishers WeeklyPerhaps mindful that the procession of Freakonomics-inspired pop-economics books is becoming a blur, blogger Cowen aims to not hit the reader over the head with economic principles. Indeed, in his chatty disquisitions, economics often recedes into near invisibility. Few readers will hold it against this charming guide on how to get more of the good stuff in life. An engaging narrator, Cowen offers idiosyncratic strategies for appreciating museum art, for building family trust and cooperation, for writing a personal ad, for reading classic novels that seem boring on first inspection, for surviving torture, for properly practicing self-deception and for most effectively giving to beggars in Calcutta. In the book’s most passionate and practical chapter, on food, Cowen explains how, with planning and tactics, we can eat much better meals at home and in restaurants, here and abroad. Throughout the book, the author’s advice is less counterintuitive than simply surprising (he argues that the committed foodie should look to regions where some people are very rich and others are very poor). Even if you don’t agree with all of Cowen’s cheerfully offered opinions, it’s a pleasure to accompany him through his various interests and obsessions. At the least, you’ll pick up some useful tips for what to order at upscale restaurants. (Sept.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.ReviewThe book is fast, furious, and fun, with great examples of how to apply economic thinking to nontraditional subjects… — Stephen Dubner at Freakonomics.comTyler Cowen is a rare bird: an economist who’s a wonderfully entertaining writer but also a deeply humane thinker. Discover Your Inner Economist will certainly change the way you think about an array of subjects, ranging from ethnic food to marriage to our never-ending quest for novelty. But even more important, it’ll give you a sense of the real possibilities the world has to offer, and show you how thinking better can actually help you live better. — James Surowiecki, author of The Wisdom of CrowdsTyler Cowen is an economist, culture vulture, restaurant critic and the best blogger in the world. All roles are on display in Discover Your Inner Economist. It’s charming, smart and very, very creative. And it will change your life in the best way: in small steps. — Tim Harford, author of The Undercover Economist, columnist and editorial writer for The Financial TimesTyler Cowen is an economist, culture vulture, restaurant critic and the best blogger in the world. All roles are on display in Discover Your Inner Economist. It’s charming, smart and very, very creative. And it will change your life in the best way: in small steps. — Tim Harford, author of The Undercover Economist