From economics Nobel Laureate Gary Becker and historian Guity Nashat Becker comes this collection of the economist's popular BusinessWeek columns. These 138 essays have fueled numerous debates, touching on hot-button issues from crime to organization of sports. The Beckers' surprising--and uncompromising--positions on drugs ("legalize them"), immigration ("auction off immigration slots"), welfare ("curtail it sharply"), and other topics provide a provocative commentary on our times.
FREE Two-Day Shipping for Students. Learn more |
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- Buy $50 in qualifying physical textbooks, get $5 in Amazon MP3 Credit. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
"The great majority of people are more rational and make fewer mistakes in promoting their own interests than even well-intentioned government officials," writes this impressive couple (Gary won the 1992 Nobel Prize for Economics). The short, column-length essays that make up this volume first appeared in Business Week magazine and show for a popular audience how market incentives influence human behavior in countless ways. The Beckers criticize centralized planning, racial quotas and trade tariffs, and endorse drug legalization, privatized social security and school vouchers. They also veer into unexpected terrain, addressing religion, sports and marriage with keen insight.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
``Mr. Becker ranges widely across the current scene, examining goverment spending, taxation, gun conntrol, and even sports and religion.'' (Henderson, David R. The Wall Street Journal )
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting introductory text to practical economics,
By
This review is from: The Economics of Life: From Baseball to Affirmative Action to Immigration, How Real-World Issues Affect Our Everyday Life (Paperback)
This is a collection of articles Becker has published during his career as an economic contributer to Business Week. After having read some of Becker's other books, I came to the conclusion that this book is two things:1) An easy to understand intro to the usage of economic principles to solve problems. Becker's other books were essentially on similar topics, but with a much more rigorous analysis. 2) An intro to new topics that could be approached from a much more rigorous standpoint. Becker's curious mind actually points out to many issues (such as immigration, affirmative action, and many other gov't issues) that would benefit from a more rigorous economic approach. Good entertainment value, with about 80% of essays really interesting and the rest fillers.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Becker for everyone,
This review is from: The Economics of Life: From Baseball to Affirmative Action to Immigration, How Real-World Issues Affect Our Everyday Life (Paperback)
This works provides great insight into the economic thinking and reasoning of one of the greatest living economists. It is simple enought for someone without a economics background to understand, yet complex enough for advanced students of economics to study and debate. A great work.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
economics meets real world application,
By
This review is from: The Economics of Life: From Baseball to Affirmative Action to Immigration, How Real-World Issues Affect Our Everyday Life (Paperback)
Throughout school students are always complaining about how applicable subjects like economics, math, sociology, etc., really are. Nobel Prize winner Gary Becker helps fill this void in economics. Although I found some of his solutions to social problems too simplistic, it is an interesting read and it is sure to get you thinking. I personally like the books organization and structure. It is a composition of Becker's columns in Business Week and each column is about 1.5 pages. I liked this book because when I sit on the toilet I can get through a column or two. It is also good for a stationary bike or reading in heavy traffic.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
Long acknowledged as a leading academic, Gary's career took a decidedly different path when he began his new calling as a "journalist" more than 10 years ago. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
guilty companies, illegal entrants, voluntary army, proper fines, legalizing drugs Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Hong Kong, Soviet Union, Supreme Court, University of Chicago, Third World, New York, South Korea, United States, Western Europe, New Jersey, World War, South Africa, President Bush, President Clinton, Reagan Administration, Adam Smith, Boston Fed, Baby Bells, George Stigler, Justice Dept, Latin America, World Bank, Disabilities Act, George Bush, Los Angeles New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Long acknowledged as a leading academic, Gary's career took a decidedly different path when he began his new calling as a "journalist" more than 10 years ago. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
guilty companies, illegal entrants, voluntary army, proper fines, legalizing drugs Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Hong Kong, Soviet Union, Supreme Court, University of Chicago, Third World, New York, South Korea, United States, Western Europe, New Jersey, World War, South Africa, President Bush, President Clinton, Reagan Administration, Adam Smith, Boston Fed, Baby Bells, George Stigler, Justice Dept, Latin America, World Bank, Disabilities Act, George Bush, Los Angeles New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 15
books:
See all 15 books this book cites
2
books
cite this book:
- High School Achievement by James Coleman on page 86, and page 89
- Crime & Human Nature: The Definitive Study of the Causes of Crime by James Q. Wilson on page 134, and page 136
- Democracy in America (Signet Classics) by Alexis de Tocqueville on page 94
- Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville on page 94
- Theory of Moral Sentiments (Great Books in Philosophy) by Adam Smith on page 258
See all 15 books this book cites
- Pricing on Purpose: Creating and Capturing Value by Ronald J. Baker in Back Matter
- Professional's Guide to Value Pricing w/CD by Ronald J. Baker in Back Matter
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
