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How do people actually behave when confronted with economic choices? And remember, almost every choice we make is economic. While our desires are boundless, our resources are limited and tradeoffs confront us at every turn. Arguing that self-interest alone cannot explain the choices we make, Robert H. Frank, a leading proponent of the emerging field of behavioral economics, suggests that context shapes every decision and that consistent human foibles matter, no matter how much economists wish to ignore them. With wit, style, and insight, Frank turns his gimlet eye to large-scale policy decisions about regulation, tax policy, and health care, and to our personal decisions about paying for food and gasoline and even to how we choose to love. In our current anxious economic climate, The Economic Naturalist's Field Guide's fascinating and revealing insights have more bearing on our pocketbooks, policies, and personal happiness than ever.… (more)
User reviews
My personal opinion as someone with an interest in economics and an advanced education in the field (although certainly not on his level), is that he did miss the mark on housing as it relates to education. Robert Frank puts forth the idea that people want bigger and more expensive houses so they can go to the better neighborhood schools for a superior education.
I would argue that the houses are certainly more costly than ever, but of more inferior quality than ever, and what is driving the demand is the wish to escape escalating crime in other neighborhoods. Too many Americans no longer value education (both the formal and informal kind) at all on any level, from elementary to post-graduate, but want to obtain a degree from a "good" school so they can secure a lucrative (and easy) job after graduation. Unfortunately, their goals often have nothing to do with broadening their mind, acquiring skills, or gaining useful insight and experience with other, different kinds of people.
Likewise in the battle for bigger cars, Robert Frank rightly ascribes the choice of bigger and bigger gas-guzzlers to a wish for safety, with the American public's misplaced trust in the size and not the quality of a vehicle and skill of the driver as most residents of other countries could have told us already.
Robert Frank mentions the winner-take-all markets but neglects to explain completely that competition has frequently been driven out of business, often aided and abetted by government cronies and lobbyists. With large numbers of citizens unemployed or under-employed, I'm hoping we individually and collectively get to work and create all those products and services that we have a desperate need for, and then find a way to get it to market. If you have any interest in your own paycheck and escalating personal expenses as well as the direction of our country's future, this book is definitely worth a look.