What makes supermarket employees work harder? Why do rats drink more tonic water, when it becomes more expensive? (Rats hate tonic water, they don’t like the taste of the quinine in it), and why is your boss overpaid?
It’s all down to the logic of economics, according to Tim Harford, or as he calls it The Logic of Life. I discovered Tim Harford when I picked up his first book (The Undercover Economist), in Spain a couple of years ago – it looked interesting, and I started reading it in Spanish, but I got frustrated at the number of words I had to look up, and bought it again and finished it in English.
He is an economist who believes much seemingly irrational behaviour is actually completely logical if you think about it. Which is what both his books illustrate.
He’s got a knack if explaining complex ideas with clear, simple examples, and both books are great fun to read and pick up an understanding of how economic pressures affect everyday life. Both books are a good read, the first one explains the basics of economic theory; the second one looks at why seemingly irrational behaviour is to be expected, and explains some common phenomena in terms of economic logic. You don’t need to read them in the order he wrote them, and you don’t need any maths either.
