Economics Without The Boring Bits

Economics Without the Boring Bits

Where does wealth come from? How is it different from money? Does government intervention prevent or create crises? What is the most effective way to protect the environment? In Economics Without the Boring Bits, Oxford-trained economist Tejvan Pettinger takes readers on an enlightening tour of the powerful, counter-intuitive and frequently startling insights of economic research, showing us that middlemen are good, recycling is bad (sometimes) and why some people get rich and others don't. This clear, compelling and engaging book breathes life into big concepts such as debt, finance, trade, money, taxation, supply, demand and all the other economic issues that worry us all yet relatively few truly understand. This is your guide to understanding economics – without the boring bits.

1997 Economic Census

The Armchair Economist

Preface to the second edition -- Introduction -- What life is all about -- The power of incentives : how seat belts kill -- Rational riddles : why u2 concerts sell out -- Truth or consequences : how to split a check or choose a movie -- The indi_erence principle : who cares if the air is clean? -- The computer game of life : learning what it's all about -- Good and evil -- Telling right from wrong : the pitfalls of democracy -- Why taxes are bad : the logic of e_ciency -- Why prices are good : smith versus darwin -- Of medicine and candy, trains and sparks : economics in the courtroom -- How to read the news -- Choosing sides in the drug war : how the atlantic monthly got it wrong -- The mythology of deficits -- The idiot file : spurious wisdom from the internet -- How statistics lie : unemployment can be good for you -- The policy vice : do we need more illiterates? -- Some modest proposals : the end of bipartisanship -- How markets work -- Why popcorn costs more at the movies, and why the obvious answer is wrong -- Courtship and collusion : the mating game -- Cursed winners and glum losers : why life is full of disappointments -- Random walks and stock market prices : a primer for investors -- Ideas of interest : armchair forecasting -- The iowa car crop -- The pitfalls of science -- Was einstein credible? : the economics of the scientificc method -- New improved football how economists go wrong -- The pitfalls of religion -- Why i am not an environmentalist: the science of economics versus the religion -- Of ecology -- Appendix.