nan | 楠木

The Undercover Economist, written by FT columnist Tim Harford, is a delicious read for anybody interested in economics. The book skillfully introduces the basic concepts of economics, starting from seemingly trivial discussions of how and why Starbucks charge the prices for their coffee, to bigger topics such as how poor countries could develop their economies, and the pros and cons of globalisation.

The underlying viewpoints are not exactly new: free trade makes everyone better off, people respond to incentives etc., but Harford is sharp at arguing those simple ideas and explaining real world examples. As an amateur to economics and economics theories, I found some of the theories to be new to my knowledge, which is of course a plus, but even the ones that everyone knows (or thinks that he/she knows) is articulated in a crisp and deeply insightful manner.

Personally I found the book to be very mentally stimulating. Great read, even for bedtime reading for a guy with painfully long working hours.