Download or read book THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST written by Robert H. Frank and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2018-07-03 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do the keypads on drive-up cash machines have Braille dots? Why are round-trip fares from Orlando to Kansas City higher than those from Kansas City to Orlando? For decades, Robert Frank has been asking his economics students to pose and answer questions like these as a way of learning how economic principles operate in the real world-which they do everywhere, all the time. Once you learn to think like an economist, all kinds of puzzling observations start to make sense. Drive-up ATM keypads have Braille dots because it's cheaper to make the same machine for both drive-up and walk-up locations. Travelers from Kansas City to Orlando pay less because they are usually price-sensitive tourists with many choices of destination, whereas travelers originating from Orlando typically choose Kansas City for specific family or business reasons. The Economic Naturalist employs basic economic principles to answer scores of intriguing questions from everyday life, and, along the way, introduces key ideas such as the cost-benefit principle, the "no cash on the table" principle, and the law of one price. This is as delightful and painless a way to learn fundamental economics as there is.

Download or read book The Economic Naturalist s Field Guide written by Robert H. Frank and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2010-09 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ask a dozen talking heads about the course of action we should take to right the economy and you’ll get thirteen different answers. But what if we possessed a handful of basic principles that could guide our decisions—both the personal ones about how to save and spend but also those national ones that have been capturing the headlines?Robert H. Frank has been illustrating these principles longer and more clearly than anyone else. InThe Economic Naturalist’s Field Guide, he reveals how they play out in Washington, on Wall Street, and in our own lives, covering everything from healthcare to tax policy to everyday decisions about what we do with our money.In today’s uncertain economic climate,The Economic Naturalist’s Field Guide’s insights have more bearing than ever on our pocketbooks, policies, and personal happiness.

Download or read book The Darwin Economy written by Robert H. Frank and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012-09-16 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: And the consequences of this fact are profound.

Download or read book The Economic Naturalist written by Robert H Frank and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-06-30 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever wondered why there is a light in your fridge but not in your freezer? Or why 24-hour shops bother having locks on their doors? Or why soft drink cans are cylindrical, but milk cartons are square? The answer is simple: economics. For years, economist Robert Frank has been encouraging his students to ask questions about the conundrums and strange occurrences they encounter in everyday life and to try to explain them using economics. Now in this bestselling book, he shares the most intriguing - and bizarre - questions and the economic principles that answer them to reveal why many of the most puzzling parts of everyday life actually make perfect (economic) sense.

Download or read book Under the Influence written by Robert H. Frank and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-28 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From New York Times bestselling author and economics columnist Robert Frank, bold new ideas for creating environments that promise a brighter future Psychologists have long understood that social environments profoundly shape our behavior, sometimes for the better, often for the worse. But social influence is a two-way street—our environments are themselves products of our behavior. Under the Influence explains how to unlock the latent power of social context. It reveals how our environments encourage smoking, bullying, tax cheating, sexual predation, problem drinking, and wasteful energy use. We are building bigger houses, driving heavier cars, and engaging in a host of other activities that threaten the planet—mainly because that's what friends and neighbors do. In the wake of the hottest years on record, only robust measures to curb greenhouse gases promise relief from more frequent and intense storms, droughts, flooding, wildfires, and famines. Robert Frank describes how the strongest predictor of our willingness to support climate-friendly policies, install solar panels, or buy an electric car is the number of people we know who have already done so. In the face of stakes that could not be higher, the book explains how we could redirect trillions of dollars annually in support of carbon-free energy sources, all without requiring painful sacrifices from anyone. Most of us would agree that we need to take responsibility for our own choices, but with more supportive social environments, each of us is more likely to make choices that benefit everyone. Under the Influence shows how.

Download or read book Microeconomics and Behavior written by Robert H. Frank and published by Irwin Professional Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 642 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Covers the essential topics of microeconomics while exploring the relationship between economics analysis and human behavior. This book helps students develop economic intuition.

Download or read book A Little History of Economics written by Niall Kishtainy and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lively, inviting account of the history of economics, told through events from ancient to modern times and the ideas of great thinkers in the field What causes poverty? Are economic crises inevitable under capitalism? Is government intervention in an economy a helpful approach or a disastrous idea? The answers to such basic economic questions matter to everyone, yet the unfamiliar jargon and math of economics can seem daunting. This clear, accessible, and even humorous book is ideal for young readers new to economics and for all readers who seek a better understanding of the full sweep of economic history and ideas. Economic historian Niall Kishtainy organizes short, chronological chapters that center on big ideas and events. He recounts the contributions of key thinkers including Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and others, while examining topics ranging from the invention of money and the rise of agrarianism to the Great Depression, entrepreneurship, environmental destruction, inequality, and behavioral economics. The result is a uniquely enjoyable volume that succeeds in illuminating the economic ideas and forces that shape our world.

Download or read book Environmental Economics for Tree Huggers and Other Skeptics written by William K. Jaeger and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-06-22 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though many students and environmentalists shudder at even the thought of economics, a working knowledge of the basics can be a powerful ally. Economic arguments carry a great deal of weight, and putting them to work for environmental causes can be a deciding factor, especially in policy debates. The reverse is true as well, and an understanding of the possibly flawed, misleading, or overstated economics behind an opponent's case can be crucially important. Environmental Economics for Tree Huggers and Other Skeptics carefully explains the tools of economic analysis and shows how they can be used to help reveal the root causes of and potential solutions for environmental and natural resource problems. Jaeger's proven techniques and wonderfully conversational tone assume no economics training, and his presentation of the material is designed to facilitate clarity. His step-by-step approach unearths surprisingly simple, easy-to-remember principles and shows how to apply them to real-world environmental problems. Those with exposure to introductory microeconomics will find Environmental Economics for Tree Huggers and Other Skeptics to be a welcome refresher. Undergraduate and graduate students of environmental studies, resource management, law, policy, and related fields, as well as novices who are skeptical of how the field could possibly help them in their own efforts, will be pleasantly surprised.

Download or read book Economics Uncut written by Simon W. Bowmaker and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economics Uncut: A Complete Guide to Life, Death and Misadventure, edited by Simon Bowmaker, contains several delightful chapters on topics central to economics and the family. Although the book s implicit thesis is to dazzle with the catholicity of economics, the chapters on marriage and divorce, reproduction, suicide, and abortion are lively introductions to these family topics, and other chapters make delightful reading on their own. Darius Conger, Economics and the American Family: A Review of Recent Literature , Choice This volume collects a wide array of economic explanations of social issues that are often thought to be beyond the realm of economic explanation. . . . This work will be valuable reading for general readers and undergraduate students. Graduate students in social sciences other than economics will find accessible economic explanations of many issues in their fields. Highly recommended. R.B. Emmett, Choice Expertly compiled and deftly edited by Simon W. Bowmaker Economics Uncut: A Complete Guide to Life, Death and Misadventure features informed and informative essays and seminal articles by eighteen accomplished economists on a variety of economic issues. . . A superbly organized and presented compendium of seminal studies and commentaries adhering to high academic standards of methodology and reporting, Economics Uncut is an important and strongly recommended addition to academic library Economic Studies reference collection, as well as being quite accessible to the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the economic implications and impacts with respect to the social issues of the present day. Library Bookwatch/Internet Bookwatch The book s variety of subject matter, combined with its innovative yet academic approach, makes it both entertaining as well as thought-provoking. Emma Winberg, Economic Affairs Economics Uncut presents itself as a complete guide to Life, Death and Misadventure . Whatever the specific chapter topic, from pornography to crime, from suicide to assisted reproduction, cost benefit analyses abound, demand and supply relations are discussed in an attempt to rationalize consumer preferences, choice and price levels and, thus, complex relationships are neatly reduced to mathematical equations, with tables and graphs being plentiful. Werner Bonefeld, Journal of Contemporary European Studies If you thought you could hide your secrets from the prying eyes of economists, think again. From sex to drugs to gambling to crime, this book will show you how the tools of economics can be used to understand just about any human behavior. This book will assuredly be the unofficial economist s guide to vice for the foreseeable future. Steven Levitt, University of Chicago and author of Freakonomics In this insightful and entertaining book, Simon Bowmaker introduces readers to the fascinating side of modern economics that applies economic analysis to a wide range of social issues from illegal drugs to religion and everything in between. In this form, economics is anything but the dismal science. This is a fun and enlightening book that shows readers what many economists often forget that economics is a powerful tool for understanding the world around them. Kevin M. Murphy, University of Chicago, US Economics is generally associated with the financial pages of newspapers apart from front page discussion of major topics such as inflation, budget deficits, or unemployment. However, the topics discussed in many of the other pages of a typical newspaper, such as crime, divorce, or sport, are also appropriate for economic analysis. Economics is concerned with decisions and many important topics in today s society involve taking drugs or committing a crime or getting a divorce, for example, and so can be examined from an economic point of view. Many of these areas can be considered from different directions: legal, medical, political, religious, sociological, or psychological, for

Download or read book Nature s Economy written by Donald Worster and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1994-06-24 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nature's Economy is a wide-ranging investigation of ecology's past, first published in 1994.

Download or read book Success and Luck written by Robert H. Frank and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From New York Times bestselling author and economics columnist Robert Frank, a compelling book that explains why the rich underestimate the importance of luck in their success, why that hurts everyone, and what we can do about it How important is luck in economic success? No question more reliably divides conservatives from liberals. As conservatives correctly observe, people who amass great fortunes are almost always talented and hardworking. But liberals are also correct to note that countless others have those same qualities yet never earn much. In recent years, social scientists have discovered that chance plays a much larger role in important life outcomes than most people imagine. In Success and Luck, bestselling author and New York Times economics columnist Robert Frank explores the surprising implications of those findings to show why the rich underestimate the importance of luck in success—and why that hurts everyone, even the wealthy. Frank describes how, in a world increasingly dominated by winner-take-all markets, chance opportunities and trivial initial advantages often translate into much larger ones—and enormous income differences—over time; how false beliefs about luck persist, despite compelling evidence against them; and how myths about personal success and luck shape individual and political choices in harmful ways. But, Frank argues, we could decrease the inequality driven by sheer luck by adopting simple, unintrusive policies that would free up trillions of dollars each year—more than enough to fix our crumbling infrastructure, expand healthcare coverage, fight global warming, and reduce poverty, all without requiring painful sacrifices from anyone. If this sounds implausible, you'll be surprised to discover that the solution requires only a few, noncontroversial steps. Compellingly readable, Success and Luck shows how a more accurate understanding of the role of chance in life could lead to better, richer, and fairer economies and societies.

Download or read book The Diffident Naturalist written by Rose-Mary Sargent and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1995-02 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Featuring a figure of early modern science, this text explores Robert Boyle's philosophy of experiment, a central aspect of his life and work. Philosophical, legal, experimental and religious traditions that played a part in shaping Boyle's experimental thought and practice are examined.

Download or read book Smart Money written by Andrew Palmer and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2015-04-14 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seven years after the financial crisis of 2008, financiers remain villains in the public mind. Most Americans believe that their irresponsible actions and complex financial products wrecked the economy and destroyed people's savings, and that bankers never adequately paid for their crimes. But as Economist journalist Andrew Palmer argues in Smart Money, this much maligned industry is not only capable of doing great good for society, but offers the most powerful means we have for solving some of our most intractable social problems. From Babylon to the present, the history of finance has always been one of powerful innovation. Now a new generation of financial entrepreneurs is working to revive this tradition of useful innovation, and Palmer shows why we need their ideas today more than ever. Traveling to the centers of finance across the world, Palmer introduces us to peer-to-peer lenders who are financing entrepreneurs the big banks won't bet on, creating opportunities where none existed. He explores the world of social-impact bonds, which fund programs for the impoverished and homeless, simultaneously easing the burden on national governments and producing better results. And he explores the idea of human-capital contracts, whereby investors fund the educations of cash-strapped young people in return for a percentage of their future earnings. In this far-ranging tour of the extraordinarily creative financial ideas of today and of the future, Smart Money offers an inspiring look at the new era of financial innovation that promises to benefit us all.

Download or read book Basic Economics written by Thomas Sowell and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2014-12-02 with total page 990 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling citizen's guide to economics Basic Economics is a citizen's guide to economics, written for those who want to understand how the economy works but have no interest in jargon or equations. Bestselling economist Thomas Sowell explains the general principles underlying different economic systems: capitalist, socialist, feudal, and so on. In readable language, he shows how to critique economic policies in terms of the incentives they create, rather than the goals they proclaim. With clear explanations of the entire field, from rent control and the rise and fall of businesses to the international balance of payments, this is the first book for anyone who wishes to understand how the economy functions. This fifth edition includes a new chapter explaining the reasons for large differences of wealth and income between nations. Drawing on lively examples from around the world and from centuries of history, Sowell explains basic economic principles for the general public in plain English.

Download or read book Luxury Fever written by Robert H. Frank and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The turn of the twenty-first century witnessed a spectacular rise in gross consumption. With the super-rich setting the pace, everyone spent furiously in a desperate attempt to keep up. As cars and houses grew larger and more expensive, the costs were enormous--not only monetarily but also socially. Consumers spent more time at work and less time with their family and friends; they saved less money and borrowed more. In this book, Robert Frank presents the first comprehensive and accessible account of these financial choices. Frank uses scientific evidence to demonstrate how these spending patterns have not made us happier or healthier. Luxury Fever offers an exit from the rat race, suggesting ways to curb the culture of excess and restore true value to our lives.

Download or read book A Naturalist in the Amazon written by Henry Walter Bates and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beautifully presented facsimile reproductions of the drawings and notes of pioneering entomologist Henry Walter Bates documenting his 11-year-long travels in the Amazon in the mid-1850s. This charming book showcases the two journals produced by entomologist Henry Walter Bates during his groundbreaking travels and discoveries in the Amazon from 1848 to 1859, on which his classic work The Naturalist on the River Amazon, was based. It includes facsimile reproductions of stunning illustrated pages taken from his Amazon journals, as well as an essay describing his travels. The journals reveal how a self-taught naturalist and butterfly enthusiast had a profound impact on the science of evolution. Bates, a trusted companion of Alfred Russel Wallace, traveled with him to the Amazon in 1848. There he became fascinated by close similarities in appearance between unrelated butterflies, and discovered a scientific phenomenon we now refer to as Batesian mimicry: species that are highly desirable to predators began evolving to look more like other, more toxic species in order to avoid predation. Bates spent a total of 11 years in the Amazon; when he returned to England, he had collected, by his own estimate, some 14,000 species of insects, of which no less than 8,000 were previously unknown. This beautiful book offers valuable new insight into the scientific implications and findings of Henry Walter Bates's rich and fruitful time in the Amazon, and it is the ideal book for anyone interested in science, scientific history, and science illustrations.

Download or read book Green Economics written by Molly Scott Cato and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-05-16 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world as we know it needs a new economics. Climate change, financial crisis and out-of-control globalization - all the major problems facing the world have their root in the dominant economic system. The globalised marketplace is the prevailing force in our lives, undermining the real importance of our human communities and our planet. Green Economics argues that society should be embedded within the ecosystem, and that markets and economies are social structures that should respond to social and environmental priorities. This highly readable text provides an introduction to green economics including views on taxation, welfare, money, economic development and employment through the work of its inspirational figures including Schumacher, Robertson and Douthwaite. It also explores the contributions and insights of schools of thought critical of the dominant neo-classical economic paradigm, including ecofeminism, views from the global South, and the perspective of indigenous peoples. Examples of effective green policies that are already being implemented across the world are presented, as well as policy prescriptions for issues including climate change, localization, citizens' income, economic measurement, ecotaxes and trade.