| Product: |
The Logic of Life - Tim Harford |
| Date: |
17/07/08 (173 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Makes you think
Disadvantages: Will not appeal to everyone
It is not often that you can read a book and wish that you had been presented with the chance of reading it many years earlier, certainly I think that if I had been able to read Tim Harford book "The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World" to give it it's full title, my teenage life in particular may have been a lot more enjoyable. Sadly the book was only printed this year so it is rather too late but if, dear reader, you find yourself inhabiting the body of a spotty faced teenager with raging hormones and no one prepared to let you share them, or maybe a frustrated male who craves a certain kind of physical connection then this book may hold out some hope for you especially if you can convince your loved one, or anyone of the opposite sex to read it. Let me explain what I mean.
We all like to think of ourselves as being intelligent rational people, we make decisions about our actions and on items to consume which we believe to be totally rational and in our best interests. In economics we have a concept called Economic Man, this is someone who makes entirely rational decisions, faced with two options they will always choose the one that maximises their own pleasure or satisfaction (utility to use the economic term), Economic Man does not really exist as to make such decisions requires perfect information which is rather hard to come by but we can say that the majority of people behave rationally within the confines of the options presented to them. So why would this book have aided my teenage years? Well in the first chapter Harford not only demonstrates that some crimes can be called rational but more importantly he is able to demonstrate that oral sex can also be a rational choice for teenagers. Now I could really have done with this at Neil Reafords New Years party in 1983 when I was upstairs with a certain young lady who shall remain nameless for legal reasons.
Most people would automatically switch off when it comes to a book about Economics and certainly the full title of Harford book would not have most non economists rushing out to buy it but Harford is first and foremost a journalist, in fact in a recent speaking engagement he actually stated that he no longer wrote as an economist, he uses economic theories and economic research to try and explain some every day phenomena and he does this in an engaging and humorous way. He has a column in the Financial Times and has also published books under The Undercover Economist title as well as running a problem age in the FT where he gives advice based upon economic theory, indeed he provided my Economics class with dating advice in a past column.
In this book Harford poses a number of questions and then seeks to explore these in the light of rational theory, the areas he looks at are very diverse, everything from how speed dating works (something that was very relevant based upon a recent foxyredhead review), the issues of addiction, rational racism and also the economic development of society. Some of the books content is quite light hearted whilst at other times there can be some quite focused economic theory to understand but through out the style of writing is approachable and very understandable.
Some of the subject material can be a little tough to accept at times, in particular his writings on rational racism however even in this section Harford is at pains to point out that while a rational racist decision can be made it does not make the racism behind it right, just that based upon the information available it could be termed rational. What I also liked about this book is that it does strike a very good balance and indeed Harford is open to the fact that in a few years time some of the theories he reports may have subsequently been made redundant, that is the nature of economic development just as it is with science and other social sciences, only last week I discovered the earth is not flat.
I found his analysis on addiction very interesting and while most people would argue that drug use is totally irrational there is still statistical evidence to show that addicts can respond rationally to certain incentives. Like all good hypothesis statistical data helps support an argument and Harford shows that in the case of smoking when people know that the price of cigarettes is going to rise in the future they reduce their consumption now, not only that but it is those that smoke the most, i.e. the most addicted, who are most likely to reduce their consumption now, he makes the assumption that this is a rational response as they know it will be tough to quit so they start now rather than waiting for the price rise.
If I have any criticism of this book it is that it seemed to run out of steam a little bit towards the end and the final couple of chapters were a little weak and almost tried to cover too much material which tended to weaken the links that up until that point had run through the preceding chapters. Despite this I still found the book to be engaging and thought provoking which is what you expect from this sort of cerebral material.
A lot of the material is aimed at the American market, probably for two reasons, the first is from a book selling point whilst the second is because America with its fifty odd states, is an excellent source of economic social data as each state has its own set of laws and penal codes. This means that going back to my first point about oral sex economists can look at behaviours and compare states which have different policies on birth control and whether parents are informed if their daughters go on the pill. Combine that information with teenage pregnancy and sexual diseases and you have comparative data from which to extract theories.
I do recommend this book recognising that it will not appeal to every one, if your idea of a challenging read is the Sun then you might want to give it a miss, if you are unsure check out his articles as The Undercover Economist online in the FT or from his own website to see his style of writing. Personally I found it to be humorous and engaging, written at a comfortable pace whilst at the same time being thought provoking and informative and like every good book it left me wanting to understand more.
Published by Random House the rrp on my hardback copy is in dollars only at $25, I think I paid £12.99 for it on Amazon where they currently retail in the new and used section for £9.01. The ISBN is 978-1-4000-6642-1 however my advice would be to wait for it to come out in paperback.
Thanks for read and rating my review.
Summary: Informative book based upon economic rationality.
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