Origin of Wealth
by Eric D. Beinhocker · first published 2006
75% recommend20% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
A rethinking of economics through complexity and evolution, arguing against the rational-agent model and covering agent-based simulation and fitness landscapes. Suits non-economists wanting a fresh view.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…time. It's foolish to obsessively attribute much of the growth of the economy to one thing. For a scatterbrained, but much more interesting and less dogmatic, rethinking of economics theory I recommend Origin of Wealth by Eric D. Beinhocker.
on “Ideas Having Sex” ↗…Basically an example of diminishing returns... There is a great discussion of this (and a further mapping of fitness functions and evolutionary algorithms to a 2-dimensional "fitness landscape") in The Origin of Wealth by Eric Beinhocker - http://www.amazon.com/Origin-Wealth-Evolution-Complexity-Eco... Absolutely phenomenal exploration of complexity economics.
on “Genetic algorithm demo: finding optimal vehicle design (in Flash)” ↗…little bit of modeling would have greatly improved the opinion piece this document describes. As for Economics, it is really time to rethink the field. I rather liked Eric D. Beinhocker's book, The Origin of Wealth (http://www.amazon.com/Origin-Wealth-Evolution-Complexity-Eco...). See also his Wikipedia bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beinhocker.
on “What If We Paid Off The Debt? The Secret Government Report” ↗Non-fiction: On Intelligence - Jeff Hawkins How To Create A Mind - Ray Kurzweil The Language Instinct - Steven Pinker The Origin of Wealth - Eric Beinhocker The Signal and the Noise - Nate Silver The Money Culture - Michael Lewis Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations - David Warsh Smart Machines: IBM's Watson and the Era of Cognitive Computing…
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in 2013” ↗…http://fogbeam.blogspot.com/2013/05/10-essential-reads-for-c... http://fogbeam.blogspot.com/2013/05/essential-reading-for-it... Not on that list (I had not read it at the time), but one I'd highly recommend is Eric Beinhocker's The Origin of Wealth. http://www.amazon.com/The-Origin-Wealth-Remaking-Economics/d...
on “Recommended Reading List for Developers [pdf]” ↗…neo-classical economic thought is rooted in the idea of equilibrium, but a strong case can be made that economic systems are not equilibrium systems. Eric Beinocker covers this ground very thoroughly in The Origin of Wealth[1]. I would personally recommend this book to everyone interested in economics. Beinhocker and the other "complexity economists" present a model of economic activity as an evolutionary system with periods…
on “Peter Thiel: Competition is for losers” ↗…http://www.dougengelbart.org/library/library.html Glasshouse - Charles Stross Permutation City - Greg Egan Neuromancer - William Gibson The Shockwave Rider - John Brunner The Society of Mind - Marvin Minsky The Origin of Wealth: The Radical Remaking of Economics and What it Means for Business and Society - Eric Beinhocker The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb Fooled By Randomness - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
on “Ask HN: What are the most thought-provoking books that you have read?” ↗…essential ingredient — and governmental fiscal policy (taxation and public spending)... that's yet another thing. For the sake of reading I suggest (no offence intended) Managerial Economics For Dummies, The Origin Of Wealth (Eric Beinhocker), and The Social Atom (Mark Buchanan). P.S. On mobile so I've had to edit this a few times... sorry if you caught me in flux but it's great to have a chance to mention stuff that amuses…
on “Ask HN: How to understand economics” ↗The Origin of Wealth http://www.mckinsey.com/ideas/books/originofwealth/overview.... I thought it was very provocative, i was feeling very bored and reading it awoke my curiosity and eagerness to learn again.
on “What books would you recommend reading? Why?” ↗…bit like theology. You read it to get exposed to the ideas, learn about other people's beliefs, and be amazed by the beautifully argued but experimentally unsupported theories. I liked Eric Beinhocker, Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics.
on “Ask HN: Best book(s) to learn about the basics of economics?” ↗Economics does have some lovely mathematics, interesting ideas, but it is not really an experimental science. Eric D. Beinhocker book, The Origin of Wealth is an interesting critique of modern economics and the problems inherent in its use in modeling the real-world. From the Nobel Prize point of view, a prize makes sense because so much of modern decision…
on “The Nobel Peace Prize sucks for some.” ↗The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics http://www.amazon.com/Origin-Wealth-Evolution-Complexity-Eco... don't let the false prophets of equilibrium theory and efficient market…
on “Good books for hackers interested in quant finance?” ↗I've read a lot of books this year[1], but if I had to pick one to fit your criteria, I'd lean towards The Origin of Wealth by Eric Beinhocker. TOoW presents a case for a new view of Economics, rooted in evolution as the primary engine behind endogenous growth[2], and modeling the economy as a complex adaptive system[3].…
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2013?” ↗I recently read an absolutely fascinating book called The Origin of Wealth.[1] Nominally the topic is economics, but it's far broader than that, talking about how all components of the economic system of wealth creation (including "firms") are part of a Complex Adaptive System,…
on “Zappos says goodbye to bosses” ↗…But, for whatever reason, I didn't wind up buying a copy right then and there. Now I think I'll go back and get it and give it a read. Also, while we're talking books, I'll throw in a plug for The Origin of Wealth by Eric D. Beinhocker. It's a fascinating read for anybody interested in economics, capitalism, etc. It's not targeted at entrepreneurs per-se, but the principles in there have some interesting implications…
on “Peter Thiel's Zero to One Might Be the Best Business Book I've Read” ↗