The undercover economist
by Tim Harford · first published 2012
75% recommend25% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Accessible, pleasant introduction to how economists think, drawing real principles from everyday things like coffee, queues and used cars; suits newcomers and Freakonomics fans wanting a more grounded companion.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…reduces "scarcity" driving down prices, regardless of paying going rate. It simply keeps rates from going up which would bring more Americans into the "silicon valley" tech labor pool. See Tim Harford's "Undercover Economist" for TL;DR style of understanding economics: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007NIDW1Q/ If Zuckerberg's is trying to satisfy a labor shortage then he should go to where the labor wants to live, as…
on “Immigration reform in America” ↗…see the NY Daily News op-ed, "Build Big, Bill." Also, Financial Times Columnist who has a BS and MS in Economics, Tim Harford, had written an enjoyable and brief book about Microeconomics called, "The Undercover Economist."
on “Can Tech Tools Make Apartment-Hunting in New York Affordable?” ↗Singapore - arguably the most efficient healthcare system in the world. Tim Harford talks about it in his excellent book "The Undercover Economist" (worth commenting that he's not rampantly free market - he spends time putting the boot into the US system too as well as praising the UK's NHS). Basically everyone has to maintain a fund (the government…
on “Money Won’t Buy You Health Insurance” ↗Let's see: Mankiw is ok, even if a bit "snippy" and political at times. Marginal Revolution Econlog Economist's View (Mark Thoma - in Eugene, Oregon:-) Oxonomics The Undercover Economist or anything else by Tim Harford is pretty good The Economist's Free Exchange.
on “Ask YC: euro vs dollar vs export?” ↗How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins The Undercover Economist by Tim Hartford
on “Ask HN: Books That Gratify One's Intellectual Curiosity?” ↗This is a chapter in The Undercover Economist, a book that I just finished reading last week: http://www.amazon.com/Undercover-Economist-Exposing-Poor-Dec... It's a great introductory economics book for the layman.
on “Why Poor Countries Are Poor” ↗Come on, really? Yes. There's a great explanation from The Undercover Economist. It's a great read. Highly recommended: http://www.amazon.com/Undercover-Economist-Exposing-Poor-Dec... Update: Here's a link to the explanation: http://books.google.com/books?id=YAA8hPloNRcC&pg=PA30...
on “The long running mystery of ice coffee pricing” ↗The Undercover Economist is quite a fun read and very accessible to the layperson: http://www.amazon.com/Undercover-Economist-Exposing-Poor-Dec...
on “Ask HN: Best book(s) to learn about the basics of economics?” ↗…significantly stimulate the economy while helping to deal with a major cause of inequality. See writings of Harvard Economist Edward Glaeser or Economist and Financial Times columnist Tim Harford (book, "The Undercover Economist"). Also read about "Green Belts."
on “Tech’s Wealthy Enclaves Hurt the Country and Tech Itself” ↗You probably don't know much about Economics and have a very distorted view on what it is. You should definitely try reading something like the Undercover Economist by Tim Harford which is a pleasant read and a good introduction to the way economists think. Economists try to understand the world using a very consistent approach. It can seem strange at first but it…
on “How should economists think about biodiversity?” ↗…article about "rent seeking" and the damage to the economy (includes land use restrictions) http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-rent-seeking-is-too-... This book is a very fun read: Tim Harford: The Undercover Economist https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199926514
on “The Loneliness of Being Black in San Francisco” ↗Tim Harford's http://www.amazon.co.uk/Undercover-Economist-Tim-Harford/dp/..."Undercover Economist and http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logic-Life-Uncovering-Economics-Ever... Logic of Life are both excellent at drawing out serious economic principles from everyday experiences.…
on “Good book for economics” ↗The problem on the "market for lemons" is written in layman-understandable terms by economist/columnist Tim Harford on his book "The Undercover Economist" (similar to the Freakonomics books). It's even one of the main advertising blurbs: "Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor--and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car" He also blogs here http://blogs.ft.com/undercover/…
on “The unemployed will not be considered” ↗You'd be surprised. I found a good introduction to this ideal in the book "The Undercover Economist": http://www.amazon.com/Undercover-Economist-Exposing-Poor---D...
on “Why Tarsnap won't use DynamoDB” ↗…along with it. This is fairly neutral: http://www.introecon.com/ A good author is Tim Harford, who has some "popularized" economics books that are, once again, reasonably neutral. In particular "The Undercover Economist" and "The Logic of Life".
on “For the first time ever, the number of poor people is declining everywhere” ↗