Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist

by Tyler Cowen Narrated by David Drummond

Overview

In Discover Your Inner Economist, one of America's most respected economists presents a quirky, incisive romp through everyday life that reveals how you can turn economic reasoning to your advantage-often when you least expect it to be relevant.



Like no other economist, Tyler Cowen shows how economic notions-such as incentives, signals, and markets-apply far more widely than merely to the decisions of social planners, governments, and big business. What does economic theory say about ordering from a menu? Or attracting the right mate? Or controlling people who talk too much in meetings? Or dealing with your dentist? With a wryly amusing voice, in such chapters as "How to Control the World: The Basics" and "How to Control the World: Knowing When to Stop," Cowen reveals the hidden economic patterns behind everyday situations so you can get more of what you really want.



Readers will also gain less selfish insights into how to be a good partner, neighbor, and even citizen of the world. For instance, what is the best way to give to charity? The chapter title "How to Save the World-More Christmas Presents Won't Help" makes a point that is every bit as personal as it is global.



Incentives are at the core of an economic approach to the world, but they don't just come in cash. In fact, money can be a disincentive. Cowen shows why, for example, it doesn't work to pay your kids to do the dishes. Other kinds of incentives-like making sure family members know they will be admired if they respect you-can work. Another nonmonetary incentive? Try having everyone stand up in your next meeting if you don't want anyone to drone on. Deeply felt incentives, like pride in one's work or a passing smile from a loved one, can be the most powerful of all, even while they operate alongside more mundane rewards, such as money and free food.



Discover Your Inner Economist is an introduction to the science of economics that shows it to be built on notions that are already within all of us. While the implications of those ideas lead to Cowen's often counterintuitive advice, their wisdom is presented in ordinary examples taken from home life, work life, and even vacation life. How, for example, do you get a good guide in a Moroccan bazaar?

Editorial Reviews

Stephen J. Dubner

Fast, furious, and fun, with great examples of how to apply economic thinking to nontraditional subjects. (Stephen J. Dubner, coauthor of Freakonomics)

Washington Post

Engaging [and] useful.

James Surowiecki

[An] economist who's a wonderfully entertaining writer but also a deeply humane thinker...will...show you how thinking better can actually help you live better. (James Surowiecki, author of The Wisdom of Crowds)

Publishers Weekly

Perhaps mindful that the procession of Freakonomics-inspired pop-economics books is becoming a blur, blogger Cowen aims to not "hit the reader over the head with economic principles." Indeed, in his chatty disquisitions, economics often recedes into near invisibility. Few readers will hold it against this charming guide on how "to get more of the good stuff in life." An engaging narrator, Cowen offers idiosyncratic strategies for appreciating museum art, for building "family trust and cooperation," for writing a personal ad, for reading "classic novels that seem boring on first inspection," for surviving torture, for properly practicing self-deception and for most effectively giving to beggars in Calcutta. In the book's most passionate and practical chapter, on food, Cowen explains how, with planning and tactics, we can "eat much better meals" at home and in restaurants, here and abroad. Throughout the book, the author's advice is less counterintuitive than simply surprising (he argues that "the committed foodie should look to regions where some people are very rich and others are very poor"). Even if you don't agree with all of Cowen's cheerfully offered opinions, it's a pleasure to accompany him through his various interests and obsessions. At the least, you'll pick up some useful tips for what to order at upscale restaurants. (Sept.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Library Journal

Cowen, an economist and monthly columnist for the New York Times,attempts to follow the lead of Steven Levitt's superb Freakonomicsand bring economic principles to everyday life-or so the book's promotional material claims. Unfortunately, Cowen deviates quite a bit from economics. While he makes some interesting observations, he spends far too much time preaching and making quips. Among Cowen's better insights is that the purchase of kidnapping insurance in Latin America has normalized the kidnapping trade because kidnappers and the insurance companies have developed mutual trust and a solid working relationship. The book's problem is that there are few such nuggets. Instead, Cowen goes overboard in giving advice, drawn from his own experiences, on diverse subjects such as how to order food in a restaurant, please a spouse, and dress for success. Do readers really want restaurant and personal advice from an economist? Cowen fails to deliver what the book advertises. A marginal purchase only for larger public libraries.
—Lawrence R. Maxted

From the Publisher

[Cowen’s] eclectic tastes and sophistication shine through as he grapples with the subjectivist foundations of economics.”—Anthony J. Evans, City A.M.
 
“Provides the reader with insight on how to overcome the problem of motivation and as well as how to make more effective choices. In this respect, Cowen has written what might be regarded as an economics self-help book… This book is not about how to do what Cowen does in a literal sense; instead, it is about how to apply one of the main principles of political economy to achieve a richer, more fulfilling life.”—The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies
 
“Cowen's brilliant opus on applying economic principles to everyday life… There are so many areas in which one's life could be made infinitely better by the application of basic economic principles.”—Megan McArdle, Atlantic Online

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170167289
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	10/01/2007
Edition description:	Unabridged

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