The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational WorldDoubleday Canada, 24 feb 2009 - 272 páginas In The Logic of Life, bestselling author Tim Harford quite simply makes sense of this world. Life often seems to defy logic. The receptionist is clearly smarter than the boss who earns fifty times her salary. Arbitrary lines starkly divide the desirable districts of the city from the dangerous ones. Voters flock to the polling booths to elect candidates who’ll rip them off to favour special interests. None of it makes logical sense — or does it? Economist and acclaimed author Tim Harford thinks it does. By weaving stories from locations as diverse as a Vegas casino to a barroom speed date, Harford aims to persuade you that people are, in fact, surprisingly logical. When a street prostitute agrees to unprotected sex, or a teenage criminal embarks on a burglary — perhaps especially when a racist employer disregards a black job applicant — we would seem to be a million miles from rational behaviour. Harford shows that, discomfitingly, we are not. It turns out that the unlikeliest of people are complying with the logic of economics and responding to future costs and benefits, often without realizing it; and socially tragic outcomes can have their roots in individually rational decisions. Brilliantly reasoned, always entertaining and often provocative, The Logic of Life is a book to help you understand yourself and the world around you. |
Índice
DEDICATION | |
TWO LAS VEGAS | |
THREE IS DIVORCE UNDERRATED? | |
FOUR WHY YOUR BOSS IS OVERPAID | |
FIVE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD | |
SIX THE DANGERS OF RATIONAL RACISM | |
SEVEN THE WORLD IS SPIKY | |
EIGHT RATIONAL REVOLUTIONS | |
NINE A MILLION YEARS OF LOGIC | |
Otras ediciones - Ver todo
The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World Tim Harford Vista previa restringida - 2008 |
The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World Tim Harford Vista previa restringida - 2009 |
The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World Tim Harford No hay ninguna vista previa disponible - 2008 |
Términos y frases comunes
acting white addiction African American Battalio Becker benefits chance chapter cities cost crime Daron Acemoglu discrimination division of labor divorce dollars economists Edward Glaeser employers example experiment Ferguson game theory Gary Becker ghettos Glaeser Homo economicus human idea incentives income industry innovation John List Journal of Economics Kagel kids less Levitt live London look Manhattan marriage market Marriage Supermarket married mathematical million move Murphy neighborhood Neumann offer oral sex paper park percent perhaps players poker politics population problem produce prostitutes racial racism rates rational behavior rational choice theory rational decisions rats researchers respond risk Roland Fryer Schelling's segregation sexual shareholders simply speed date statistics Steven Levitt strategy sugar teenagers there’s Thomas Schelling thousand Tim Harford tournament trade vote wages women York young black