The Logic of Life : The Rational Economics of an Irrational World [Hardcover]

Tim Harford (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday Canada, Limited; First edition (2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385663870
• ISBN-13: 978-0385663878
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,091,903 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tim Harford is the author of the bestseller The Undercover Economist and The Logic of Life and a member of the editorial board of the Financial Times, where he also writes the "Dear Economist" column. He is a regular contributor to Slate, Forbes, and NPR's Marketplace. He was the host of the BBC TV series Trust Me, I'm an Economist and now presents the BBC series More or Less. Harford has been an economist at the World Bank and an economics tutor at Oxford University. He lives in London with his wife and two daughters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A valuable reminder that economics is a means not an end, January 17, 2008

By 

Andy Carlisle - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World (Hardcover)

A lively and thought-provoking follow-up to Harford's debut book The Undercover Economist, which used textbook economics to throw new light on everyday life. In this second book Harford moves well beyond the textbook to take us on a tour of some cutting edge research and thinking that's emerging from what he calls a "new breed of economists". Among them is Steve Levitt, whose Freakonomics popularized the notion that economists can have interesting things to say about areas you wouldn't normally expect them to be poking their noses into - but Levitt is only one of many academic researchers who are cheerfully roaming over other people's turf from their economics labs, so Harford's book serves as a timely overview of a newly sexy subject.

The result is a startlingly diverse collection of insights and anecdotes which are all held together by one central premise - that you can explain a lot about life by starting from the simple assumption that people are fundamentally rational. This is not an uncontroversial assertion - among the "new breed of economists" are those melding economics with psychology into a fledgeling discipline of behavioral economics, which focuses on our irrational quirks. Harford's view is not to dismiss these human foibles, but to argue persuasively that they shouldn't be overstated, and that in most important situations we behave rationally - that is, subconsciously evaluating costs and benefits and responding to incentives - to a remarkable extent.

Harford's writing is a joy to read, especially when he's impishly puncturing pomposity - my favorite is the "why your boss is overpaid" chapter, which discusses several theories that could rationally explain the obscenely high wages commanded by modern CEOs (hint: none of them are "because they're worth it"). One great lesson made clear by this book is that individually rational decisions can lead to socially horrible outcomes, a conclusion never clearer than in the discomfiting chapter on "rational racism". It's a valuable reminder that economics is a means not an end - rational choice theory doesn't dictate what society should be like, rather it teaches how we can harness rationality by changing incentives to shape the society we want.

39 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn to go past knee-jerk explanations to a deeper understanding of our world, February 14, 2008

By 

M. Strong (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World (Hardcover)

Increasingly, economics is being used to explain the actions people take outside of their financial lives and then turned into books that are readable and, dare I say, interesting for lay people. Harford's latest work is the best of this crop that I've read so far.

What Harford does so well is pick interesting everyday topics, some big and some small, explain the rationale typically used to explain why things are the way they are, and then paint a new picture of what is driving peoples' actions. Harford explains why people will pay more to live in cities and why new tele-commuting technology will make cities more attractive, not less. He digs into the sadly explainable roots of racial discrimination in hiring and why some students are making the rational choice when they conciously decide not to study. The reasons may surprise you, but you will enjoy his explanations and frequently end up nodding in agreement or shaking your head in frustration with the inescapable but lousy conclusions.

The greatest thing about Harford's book is how clearly it demonstrates the value that economics can deliver. Done right, economics is a powerful tool for identifying the root causes of both good and bad trends. If a trend is good (Harford explains historic growth in wealth) you can learn how to promote it further. If a trend is bad (the decline of a city like New Orleans or Detroit) you can figure out how best to deal with it. Economics gives its users a tool for objective, clear thinking that is tough to come by.

Highly recommended for anyone who wants to develop their thought process. You'll come away a smarter voter, wiser consumer of news and thinking more clearly all-around.

31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How small, rational decisions can produce big problems, January 25, 2008

By 

Watt "Watt" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World (Hardcover)

This book works because it takes a simple concept,that rational choice underlies much of human behavior, and that many of our seemingly intractable problems have been produced by fairly mild and even rational individual decisions. I urge you to begin the book by reading the section on "rational racism," which I found in many ways the most compelling (and disturbing) part of the book. Harford actually begins the book with a discussion of apparently worrying teenage sexuality that turns out to be more encouraging than you might think possible. In doing so he reminds us that many of the things about which we worry,and about which commentators with big audiences shout shrilly, can be explained in a much clearer way by looking carefully at the rational decisions that produce them.

A great book and a fun read.