The economic naturalist : in search of explanations for everyday enigmas

by Robert H. Frank

Paper Book, 2007

Status

Available

Call number

330

Genres

Publication

New York : Basic Books, [2007]

Description

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.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member kaelirenee

Another book that tries to use read-world examples to explain economics-or tries to use economics to explain real-world problems. Whereas Freakonomics tried to take on large issues and explain them with economics (why had the crime rate gone down, why to drug dealers live with their mothers, etc.)

this book takes simple questions-the kind that often populate forwarded e-mails-and answer them logically and with economics. Examples include: why to drive-through ATMs have braille on the buttons? Why does the fridge have a light, but not the freezer? Why do retailers put up Christmas decorations in September?!?

An entertaining read and a good addition to the growing list of titles trying to teach us all about the less-dismall aspects of the dismall science.

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LibraryThing member cooknclean

This book attempts to illuminate basic ideas in economics by explaining, in everyday language, possibly puzzling situations which one might encounter in modern society. I found this entertaining for the first twenty or thirty examples but it sonn became rather tedious. Maybe this book is best

suited to bathroom reading.

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LibraryThing member KristenZ

I absolutely love this book and keep recommending to everyone. This economics professor put a collection of his students' essays about how economics relates to your everyday life. It is so interesting to have questions that you have probably wondered about but never really thought to ask. Like why

you can rent a tux for $100 a day when it is worth $500 but rent a car for $40 a day when it is worth $12,000. Or why do women endure the pain of high heels? Or why Kamikazee pilots wear helmets. I loved economics class so I really enjoyed this book, but I think someone that hated economics would really get interested in this book.

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LibraryThing member stefano

not quite as brilliant as Freakonomics and Your Inner Economist is however quite charming because the questions examined come from the uninitiated (Frank's students) and reveal a quite broad range of issues. To me (an uninitiated) the most interesting part of the book was the discussion of the very

unexpected places where one find applications of price discrimination and discount theory.

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LibraryThing member GeekGoddess

Having enjoyed Freakonomics earlier this year, Ithought this book might be similar. Dr. Frank presents a collection of ecnomic questions followed by explanations, collected by his student. Sample questions include "Why are round-trip airfares from Kansas City to Orlando cheaper than round-trip

airfares from Orlando to Kansas City" and "Why is text-messaging more common in Asian countries than the U.S?" followed by an economist's reasoning. A fun read, although not as quirky as Freakonomics.

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LibraryThing member ovistine

This book seemed like it would be a really interesting glimpse of the economics of daily life, but instead it reads like a re-tread of the "Imponderables" series, and a little drier than most at that.

LibraryThing member skinglist

I received this book off BookMooch and because of it's relatively small hard cover size, I brought it with me. I loved the premise of the book in that economics should be accessible to the common audience, but I didn't care for some of the author's examples.

They were well written in a single voice

and themed around a common idea, but some of the questions just weren't that interesting. Slightly snobby on my part, I suppose. I thought some of the best questions were captured on the back of the flap, which is why I'm glad I didn't pay full price for a new hardcover. Still, it was a good read and a good alternate look at economics.

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LibraryThing member Ilithyia

The Economic Naturalist was okay, but not as good as Freakonomics. He had a great idea, about teaching basic economic concepts with everyday examples - supply and demand, opportunity cost, etc. But it got a little boring and repetitious. It was interesting in the way that he tried to explain

everyday things that we don't neccessarily think about in economic terms, like why milk comes in square containers, and soda (pop to me) cans are round?
But he did make the point repeatedly, that maybe his answers weren't the real reasons behind these mysteries just the logical or economic ones - so it made me feel like he hadn't really done any research, like he was just making things up.
Anyway, it wasn't a bad book, but I am glad I got it out of the library.

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LibraryThing member mbmackay

This is a very neat book. I was attracted by the question on the cover: Why is milk sold in rectangular containers, while soft drinks are sold in cylindrical ones? (A: milk needs to be in refrigerated shelves which cost more, and rectangular containers are more space efficient.) There are many more

along these lines. Some seem to miss other dimensions, focussing purely on costs/benefits etc, but the process is sound, and it certainly makes you think. Read March 2010.

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LibraryThing member rsubber

Stimulating "real world" economic explanation of everyday phenomena, some of it is interesting. It is overall a steady read, rather mundane prose. It supports the argument that "economic man" is not ordinarily rational in many social and economic transactions.

LibraryThing member ohernaes

Most of the explanations seemed trivial or silly. I put it down quickly.

LibraryThing member wishanem

A short series of musings which answers a wide variety of questions from an economic perspective. This certainly wouldn't replace a textbook, but it is a nice way to illustrate the basic principles one would hope to learn in an "Econ 101" college course. The point of this book isn't to teach a

series of facts or answers, but to illustrate principles, and it succeeds very well.

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LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV

To sum the author's point: I have a theory of economics, and this theory is what I teach, and here are some observations about people's choices that can lead to interpretations that might kinda support it, if they're true. But let's not bother with experiments or with fact-checking or with actually

asking the people making these choices."

Sorry, if economics is the 'dismal science' I expect books about it to be at least a bit scientific. No matter how often the author says "may" or "might be part of the reason" or "could be a factor," I'm not convinced he's not confident of his theories. But what a waste of time to read all these theories that haven't been tested.

"Why are physically attractive people also more intelligent than others, on average?" Author suggests several odd ideas, but never mentions general *health* - which I see as predominant in my experience. Kids who are raised with care tend to have both healthier teeth & stronger, straighter bodies & clearer skin, etc. *and* are less likely to have eaten lead paint chips & more likely to have been read aloud to, etc. On average. Now I've not tested my theory either, but it's at least as plausible as his. And that's the thing - he very often leaves out mention of other plausible interpretations of the observations because they wouldn't fit his theory of economics.
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LibraryThing member Paul_S

Every problem presented has a simple explanation that is only true in an imaginary world that economist live in where markets work perfectly. In fact every single problem presented is much more complicated and the forces behind it are many and interesting but you wouldn't know it from this book. It

also picks only problems that work well in markets and avoid any that could show their shortcomings.

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LibraryThing member Zedseayou

Robert H Frank presents a collection of reworked student essays on economics applied to real life situations. Each is short, perhaps a page or more, with titles such as 'Why do women endure the discomfort of high heels?' or 'Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?'

Good introduction to the way that

economists think about some problems. Breaks down many issues in an analytical way, outlining the apparent discrepancy and attempting to explain it. I think it falls down in that it gets repetitive very quickly, and also due to the sometimes speculative nature of the explanations. For example, one question dealing with the varying popularity of text messaging from one country to another resorted to 'national character' as an unsatisfactory answer.

Useful for those new to economics, perhaps, but may overextend the applicability of economic concepts in some areas. While such uses are plausible, often they are unnecessary and overcomplicate where a simple common sense answer would suffice.

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