Sex, Drugs & Economics: An Unconventional Introduction to Economics

by Diane Coyle, Victoria Tietze Larson (Editor), Myles Thompson (Editor)

A refreshing look at economics with topics ranging from sex, drugs, arms and music to energy, movies and farming, the Internet and Aids, Diane Coyle plunges herself and the reader into some of the world’s most contentious political and social issues. Diane Coyle shows how economic principles apply to headline issues in an entertaining, humane and highly intelligent way. Harvard-educated Coyle is an economist and award-winning writer specializing in business, technology and global economics.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Dame Diane Coyle is a British economist, academic and writer. Since March 2018, she has been the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, co-directing the Bennett Institute.
Coyle's early career as an economist was followed by a period in journalism including being economics editor at The Independent from 1993 to 2001. She was professor of economics at University of Manchester from 2014 to 2018. She was vice-chair of the BBC Trust from 2011 to 2016 and a member of the UK Competition Commission from 2001 until 2009.
Coyle has written nine books on economics.

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diane Coyle delivers a surprisingly entertaining collection of concepts in applied economics and why the (not-quite-so) 'dismal science' matters to the great unwashed, whether they like it or not.

[Miles Maricich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED THIS BOOK, I skipped a couple chapters that were boring or I felt irrelevant to today like ch 9, 13,14,15, and 22. But other than those it was so inteteresting. I loved Part 4 so much about Globalization, and like seeing how these issues people should care about out of their hearts also affects their pocketbooks we can be better and more efficient. Additionally, seeing with all the immigration bs going on the economic arguments for immigration, it’s so refreshing when things aren’t just left or right it’s just like well these are the economic benefits of immigration. The book was like liberals tend to look down on immigrants and pity, and republicans tend to fear immigrants or think they make the economy worse, but actually economically speaking immigration is so good for our economy in a myriad of ways and it was just really well written and had a lot of important ideas! Idk what else like I think the chapters on sweatshops really changed my opinion and I really like this books a lot! I also loved the drugs chapter and the sports chapter! Great book!

[Oleg · Rating 4 out of 5]

An accessible, sometimes dry, sometimes funny collection of essays on various topics of economics, from economics of sports to government policies to macroeconomics. The book is 25 years old, which makes some of the debates obsolete (will the music industry adjust to Napster?), but many of the discussions are still topical today. Overall, a good weekend read

[Domas Pitrėnas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libertarians' wet dream...

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coyle covers much of the same ground that Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science and Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything do - namely, how to get laypeople interested in economic theory without shoving a bunch of math at them.

What was really fascinating to me, though, is that Coyle is an English author. While the book still centers on the States quite a bit, I loved getting a slightly more global perspective. It's a relatively light read, worth picking up if you either haven't read the others like it, or just have a thing for introductory economics textbooks like I do.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for one of my Economics of Information class as a Library Science Student. It gives really basic economic terms in descriptions that anyone can understand. However, the content is not that interesting. I think that this book was great as a textbook for class. However if you want to know more indepth information about the economics around you then I would suggest something else but it was a good beginners guide.

[Smellsofbikes · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give a book six stars, I would do so for this book. It's economics, so it's no page-turner, but it does a simple, comprehensive discussion and analysis of many critical issues facing people, governments, and society. Anyone even vaguely interested in public policy as it relates to the economy, politics, motivation, and the psychology of decision-making should read this book.

[Amanda Amarawansha]

The book is quite basic and is not as I expected it to be (it should be called Ecomics for Dummies) however the book deserves some credit as it explores some unconventional lines in showing the interconnectedness between the world at large and Economics to an extent but warning can be a bit of a bore.

[Phil Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another serviceable look at real-world applications of economic theory. Nothing all that unique here.

[Ryanthomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written. This book presents the topics of economics in a fashion that can be understood by the less business-minded.

[Erika]

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http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14231816