The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, Why the Poor Are Poor--And Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!

The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, Why the Poor Are Poor--And Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!

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3.72 of 5 stars 3.72  ·  rating details  ·  7,428 ratings  ·  534 reviews
“The economy [isn’t] a bunch of rather dull statistics with names like GDP (gross domestic product),” notes Tim Harford, columnist and regular guest on NPR’s Marketplace, “economics is about who gets what and why.” In this acclaimed and riveting book–part exposé, part user’s manual–the astute and entertaining columnist from the Financial Times demystifies the ways in which...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published January 30th 2007 by Random House Trade Paperbacks (first published 2005)
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Dustin Allison
From buying a used car to purchasing health insurance, Harford takes a look at a variety of situations that can have a real pratical impact on how we look at some of our everday activities. His take on health care, and how it is dealt with differently in Britain and the United States, was perhaps the most meaningful topic for me.

Growing up, I constantly heard how poor the health care was in socialized medicine and how we should protect our market system. The problem is that our health care syst...more
Mark Jones
With humour, and style, Tim Harford introduces the reader to the not-so-esoteric word of economics. The awesome power of the market to not just create wealth and redistribute it, but to also dramatically improve people's lives in ways no other system can manage, whilst simultaneously improving efficiency and delivering information becomes shockingly clear, and surprisingly simple! There's a wealth of optimism and hope riding through these pages, not because Tim is an optimistic chap, but because...more
Trevor
There was a point at the start of this book when I thought I wasn’t going to make it to the end – or even past the start. It was when the market economy was described as The World of Truth. ‘Oh god’, I thought, ‘this can only mean one thing…’

But I was wrong. This was a much better book than I thought it was going to end up. It was quite slow at the start when he was talking about Starbucks and pricing policies – but my interest picked up when he discussed two computer printers made by IBM in wh...more
Sheila
Rereading it several years later, and with a bit more background in econ, I still find it informational and entertaining, but it highlights some of the frustrations I have with econ: great for revealing insights, a struggle when it comes to applying it to public policy. Sweatshops are better than the alternative, and given time (decades) lead to prosperity, but people are still suffering today, right now, so how do you address that without throwing off the progress over time? (Note: I don't know...more
Cory
Dec 03, 2007 Cory rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone without an economics degree
Shelves: books-i-have
This book was a fantastic overview of (what I think is) basic economic theory, but told in a way that made it incredibly readable. Harford is a great writer and manages to frame his topics in a way that is both highly relevant to real life while being simple enough that anyone can understand. It ranges from the small (the economics of Starbucks and how to prevent traffic jams) to the huge (why poor countries stay poor and how china became rich). I imagine that someone with a serious background i...more
Matt
I'm a sucker for pop books about economics, and this is the best of the breed -- better, even, than that NYT bestseller Freakonomics. Why? Because Harford, unlike Levitt, actually explains the reasoning and the data he used to follow a problem from its formulation through to its conclusions. He also addresses classic economic problems--why is it hard to buy a used car? why do all the restaurants in Times Square suck? etc., as compared to why you should name your child "Tova". His chapter on heal...more
Brian Loux
More entertaining, thoughtful, and relevant than Freakonomics. Freak tended to ramble and explain how economics helped explain random things like drug-dealing cartels and cheating on standardized tests, Undercover has a planned narrative from start to finish and helps explain important things like why things cost what they do and how third world countries grow. It's admittedly a pro-free markets tome, which shows through in the international development chapter, but soundly addresses a number of...more
Joe
Like a bad cup of coffee, I'm already struggling to force this down. As a former World Bank employee and Financial Times editor it will come as no surprise that Hardford thinks trade unions and free healthcare are bad, sweatshops are good and the free market will fix everything. There's something to be said for knowing your enemy, but The Undercover Economist's smug, patronising tone and Harford's self-avowed preference for armchair reasoning will have you grinding your teeth in frustration.
Leon

“The economy [isn’t] a bunch of rather dull statistics with names like GDP (gross domestic product),” notes Tim Harford, columnist and regular guest on NPR’s Marketplace, “economics is about who gets what and why.” In this acclaimed and riveting book–part exposé, part user’s manual–the astute and entertaining columnist from the Financial Times demystifies the ways in which money works in the world. From why the coffee in your cup costs so much to why efficiency is not necessarily the answer to

...more
Theerasak Maneeneim
เดิมทีผมซื้อหนังสือเล่มนี้มาเพราะคิดว่ามันคงเป็นแนวๆ Edutainment อ่านง่ายๆ เบาหัวแต่ไม่เลย ผมใช้เวลาอ่านหนังสือเล่มนี้มากกว่าเล่มอื่นหลายเท่านัก อ่านไม่จบซักทีเพราะอ่านทีไรเป็นหลับตลอด

ทิม อธิบายหลักการทางเศรษฐศาสตร์ บอกถึงเหตุและผลของสิ่งต่างๆ ที่เราเจอกันอยู่ในชีวิตว่าทำไมมันถึงเป็นเช่นนั้น เช่น

- ทำไมร้านป๊อปคอร์นที่โรงหนังถึงแพงกว่าของป้ามุ้ยหน้าศาล
- ทำไมเราถึงหารถยนต์มือสองดีๆ ไม่ค่อยได้
- ทำไมราคาเข้าชมเมืองโบราณ ถึงมักจะเก็บค่าเข้าชมชาวต่างชาติ แพงกว่าคนท้องถิ่น
- คุณคิดว่าการที่เรา boycott ไ...more
Carly
Full disclosure--Tim Hartford runs my absolute favourite radio programme ever: BBC Radio 4's More or Less, a topical statistics programme. Yes, you heard me right. Basically, they do fact-checking on audience-recommended bizarre-sounding statistics. It's funny, fun, and relevant, and has the added benefit of actually catching all the zombie statistics that politicians use. Catch NPR ever having anything like that.

Anyway, all that simply goes to note that I was heavily, heavily predisposed to lik...more
Remo

La idea de este libro promete mucho. El primer capítulo analiza por qué los cafés en Starbucks y otras cadenas comerciales cafeteras son tan caros comparados con un café en un bar. Tim Harford [TH] nos tiende una trampa, para luego darle la vuelta al argumento. En un principio podríamos pensar que los cafés de Starbucks son tan caros porque esta cadena suele tener sus tiendas en lugares de mucho nivel (en plena Gran Vía madrileña, justo a la salida de las principales estaciones de metro…), y que

...more
Nick
Tim Harford's book is a convincing argument for giving a f#ck about economists. Within "Undercover," Harford presents very solid arguments for globalization; which certainly spun much of my view of free trade on its head, an excellent example of why poor countries are poor via Cameroon, and very good explanations of market scarcity and the not-so-right-wing belief in 'externality charges' (taxes) and regulation to bring the market to heel.

**Spoilers, albeit non-fiction**


Some highlights:

- the i...more
Dwayne
Reviewed @ Girls Without a Bookshelf.

The truth is, in my eyes, economics is and will always be the best field of study ever. Complex, world-changing and integral to our daily lives, it has never been and will never be obsolete or far removed from our everyday actions and decisions. It may not have occurred to everyone how important economics is and how deeply it affects each individual until the onslaught of the recent recession, but regardless of how long your interest has been, The Undercover...more
Monthly Book Group
Introducing the book to the Monthly Book Group, the proposer said he had chosen it because his wife was buying a book for a rail journey, and, as there was a two for one offer at the station, he chose this. No, despite the analysis of railway station coffee outlets in Harford’s opening chapter, he had not also succumbed to the temptation to buy an expensive coffee. (He had been brought up to believe that food and drink was something to be consumed at home, not purchased at inflated prices outsid...more
Stringy
Harford says he's going to tell you how the world really works, how economics provides insight into our activity. What he really tells you is how awesome the world would be if it was run by economists and everybody always acted rationally, if by 'rationally' you mean the economics jargon of 'assigning a monetary value to every single action/object in life' and not the common usage of 'according to the rules of logic'.

You can also find out how poverty is easy to fix (you just move the starting b...more
Allisonperkel
I have a soft spot for economics books, especially somewhat poppy ones. Mr Hartford strikes a perfect balance between poppy and teaching core principals. In fact I had a very hard time putting this book down.

What sets this book apart from other economics books is the examples. Mr Hartford's choices range from Starbucks (why coffee beans will always be cheap but coffee won't be) to the true cost of tariffs to health care reform. In fact his was the only argument for health saving accounts (combi...more
Dave
This almost got one less star, because I'm very, very disappointing with Harford's take on health insurance. That discussion is smack in the middle of the book, and up to that point I was thinking that his presentation of economics was good. It is more than a beginner's introduction, because even though that is what he's attempting to present, in order to really grasp the concepts it takes a bit more understanding.

His take on health insurance is colored by a bias for socialism or socialized med...more
Inggita
i'll never look at my latte cup the same way again! He's a freakonomist with a more tempered attitude - but actually loftier targets - combined with the tipping point - we might know more about how to get things our way... other than persuasion - its basic assumption is that human being are calculating pragmatists (totally against my industry here!) and a simple policy tweaking will get everyone lined up to do what we want them to do the way we want them to do it...
Nuno Vargas
This was my second read on the topic after Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, and I must say they're quite different books as here we're treated to a broader view of Economy, not just specific case studies.
In general I enjoyed it, and I did learn quite a lot about possible solutions to major problems in today's societies. But I was occasionally annoyed by what was proposed because, in practice, I don't think it would work. I won't detail too much but I get t...more
Sarah
This well-written, easy-to-read popular nonfiction book would be a good choice for anyone looking for a broad introductory overview of (or refresher on) contemporary economics. Harford tends towards a rosier-than-reasonable perspective on modern capitalism and is positively dismissive of some legitimate environmental concerns associated with globalization. Nevertheless, I found his book to be humorous and engaging. Great plane reading for wonky types.
Curtis
Quite a good little intro. I read enough economics texts and blogs (note to self: add Tim Harford's blog to my already bulging list of RSS feeds) that I didn't find anything too surprising. Nevertheless, the overall presentation is well done for a popular overview, and served as a good review. As an aside, the constant coffee-talk reminded me of Peter Navarro's stock trading treatise If It's Raining in Brazil Buy Starbucks.

The only point of cognitive dissonance I had was that, having been publis...more
Sarah
Not as readable and visceral as Freakonomics, rather more of an Econ 101 primer. Harford makes global (and local) economics fairly easy to understand, although he acknowledges it's oversimplified. This means, of course, that you feel like you're not really getting the whole story on many topics.
For example: sweat shops are good for their employees, who have few other options... support them! And: regulations and government interference with markets are bad! I would have liked to hear a bit more...more
Bookmarks Magazine

Harford exposes the dark underbelly of capitalism in Undercover Economist. Compared with Steven Levitt's and Stephen J. Dubner's popular Freakonomics (*** July/Aug 2005), the book uses simple, playful examples (written in plain English) to elucidate complex economic theories. Critics agree that the book will grip readers interested in understanding free-market forces but disagree about Harford's approach. Some thought the author mastered the small ideas while keeping in sight the larger context

...more
Emily
Okay, so it's no Freakonomics. It's not nearly as readable or as wowing. However, I learned a lot and I've found myself reporting on things from this book in conversation a lot lately. Ask me about my "comparative advantage" and see for yourself. There's a lot of food for thought here.
I'm not an economist and I don't get a LOT of what this guy is talking about a lot of the time - but I got it some of the time, so his efforts at creating an accessible piece of economic writing are not in vain. I...more
Andrew K.
I'll be brief: the first half of this book is good, the second half is disappointing.

In the first half, Tim Harford takes a fun look at various phenomena, such as the locations of coffee shops or why it is difficult to buy a used car, through an economic lens. Pretty interesting microeconomics. (And let's be honest: microeconomics is more interesting.)

The second half is a good bit more annoying -- it's macroeconomics, poorly explained. There are a lot of unfortunate statements about why poor cou...more
Luis
Bueno y malo a partes iguales.

Tim Harford se dedica a lo largo de varios capítulos a desentrañar la economía detrás de las cosas de cada día. Si uno no tiene unos conocimientos aceptables de economía, como es mi caso, encontrará este libro agradable. Si los tiene, puede que lo encuentre aburrido.

Hay capítulos que sobresalen, especialmente los cotidianos como el del supermercado o el café; y otros que se hacen muy pesados, como el de China o los seguros de salud. Merece mucho la pena por las anéc...more
Brian
I liked Freakonomics and bought this based in part on the endorsement of one of the co-authors of that book. Harford is a journalist with the Financial Times and what I got instead was a very plodding and pedantic treatment of basic economic orthodoxy. I really didn't learn anything. Many of the examples are dated or cliché. I found particularly disturbing his characterization of the market in China and Korea. China is still very much a planned economy and the transformation into a force of capi...more
Pedro Garcia
I had abandoned the book the fist time that I tried to read it, because the first chapters are based on the assumption that markets can be perfect. If you find yourself in that situation, I recommend you to persevere.

(view spoiler)[
(Incomplete)

Later it acknowledges the imperfections of the markets, and raises extremely interesting subjects as :
- Ricardo's model on relationship between scarcity and bargaining strength (green belt impacts on property prices, oil cartel problems, trade unions, tea
...more
ahmed  kano
قبل كتابة الريفيو فى ملاحظة بسيطة
اولا الكتاب ده حقق مبيعات عالية فى كذا دولة و مترجم لأكثر من لغة و لما دخلت على صفحة الكتاب لقيت أكثر من 370 صفحة من بين ريفيوهات و تقييمات و لما دخلت على نسخة الكتاب العربية لقيت صفحة واحدة و فيها 3 ريفيوهات .. و إن دل على شىء يدل أننا مجتمع معندوش أى وعى اقتصادى و مش بيحلم أنه يكون عنده وعى اقتصادى
ده مش دليل قوى .. ممكن يكون الناس بتقرا كتب اقتصادية تانية . مع انى أشك الصراحة فى كده
غالبية المثقفين العرب مبيهتموش الا بالروايات اللى بيتكلم عن العالم المثالى ال...more
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Tim Harford is a member of the Financial Times editorial board. His column, “The Undercover Economist”, which reveals the economic ideas behind everyday experiences, is published in the Financial Times and syndicated around the world. He is also the only economist in the world to run a problem page, “Dear Economist”, in which FT readers’ personal problems are answered tongue-in-cheek with the late...more
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“Hours are long. Wages are pitiful. But sweatshops are the symptom, not the cause, of shocking global poverty. Workers go there voluntarily, which means—hard as it is to believe—that whatever their alternatives are, they are worse. They stay there, too; turnover rates of multinational-owned factories are low, because conditions and pay, while bad, are better than those in factories run by local firms. And even a local company is likely to pay better than trying to earn money without a job: running an illegal street stall, working as a prostitute, or combing reeking landfills in cities like Manila to find recyclable goods.” 7 people liked it
“There is much more to life than what gets measured in accounts. Even economists know that.” 6 people liked it
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