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The Undercover Economist Strikes Back: How to Run or Ruin an Economy Paperback – 3 Jul 2014

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Tim Harford (Author)
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Tim Harford (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 55 customer reviews
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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Abacus (3 July 2014)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0349138931
  • ISBN-13: 978-0349138930
  • Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 2.6 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 12,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Tim Harford is a brilliant explainer of economics . . . A superb guide, whatever your level of expertise (William Leith Evening Standard)

Tim Harford is a brilliant explainer of economics . . . beautifully clear . . . A superb guide (William Leith Scotsman)

Tim Harford is a riveting expositor of the field, lively and fair minded, and his books The Undercover Economist and its macroeconomic companion piece The Undercover Economist Strikes Back are excellent places to start, both because they are so interesting in themselves and also because they give a good initiation in how economists think and study these sorts of questions (John Lanchester)

Every Tim Harford book is cause for celebration. He makes 'the dismal science' seem like an awful lot of fun (Malcolm Gladwell)

Our chief economic storyteller ... thanks to people such as Harford, the profession will gain a better informed audience (Independent)

Clear-thinking and easy to read ... he has mastered the art of dealing with this subject without the use of a single diagram or mathematical equation (Sunday Times)

Reading Harford is like finding yourself next to the funniest, smartest fellow at the party. It is such fun that readers will hardly notice that, by the end, they've mastered macroeconomics (Financial Times)

An excellent primer for me, a non-economist who wants to understand the financial crisis (Simon Singh Observer)

Book Description

Tim Harford returns as the Undercover Economist with an even bigger target in his sights: to explain how the whole world economy works.

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsAn easy read on a difficult subject
By Alistair Kelman on 2 Sept. 2013
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
According to John Maynard Keynes "The master economist ... must be mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher-in some degree. He must understand symbols and speak in words. He must contemplate the particular in terms of the general, and touch abstract and concrete in the same flight of thought. He must study the present in the light of the past for the purposes of the future. No part of man's nature or his institutions must lie entirely outside his regard. He must be purposeful and disinterested in a simultaneous mood; as aloof and incorruptible as an artist, yet sometimes as near the earth as a politician."

So even a very bright fifteen year old is not going to be able to understand macroeconomics - it will need half a lifetime of professional training and experience to get him to a point where he can grasp even the basics. Unless, that is, he has Tim Harford as his guide. Using the Q&A Socratic debate format Tim leads the reader towards an understanding of why macroeconomics is so hard, why no solutions have yet been found and maps out potential sources of hope for future solutions. Along the way we encounter some of the latest thinking on behavioural economics, on why economics growth can continue forever, on why happiness economics is just plain weird and on how the Euro is like Dr Strangelove's doomsday device with Greece playing the role of Major Kong.

Although this book could be read on its own I feel it is better to read The Undercover Economist first so that the reader has a basic understanding of microeconomic concepts before embarking on "The UE-SB". The takeaway from this book is different from his earlier works.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsStrikes Back scores a home run
By D. Morris on 3 Sept. 2013
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
If you haven't read a Tim Harford book before, the first thing that will strike you is how easy he makes his subject sound. The second thing will be that it is not at all easy, but that like all great teachers he has the knack of communicating a sense of the intellectual curiosity and delight that inspire him.

Plutarch said that the mind is not a vessel to be filled, it is a fire to be lit - and Tim Harford's effortlessly fluent style and range of illuminating examples and thought-experiments certainly achieve that. Macroeconomics is probably not a subject I would normally be interested in learning about, but the author's excitement is infectious and thus, instead of a dry academic text, what you get is an exhilarating page-turner.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA return to form for Tim Harford
By someenglishrose on 18 Oct. 2013
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I am a big fan of the original "Undercover Economist" but was not so impressed with "The Logic of Life", which I found a bit same-y (and I'm afraid I didn't bother with "Adapt" at all). However, this book enters new territory - macroeconomics - and does it well. For me as a lay reader, there was a lot of new information, well-explained and backed up by interesting and illustrative examples. I think I will have to re-read it to fully digest everything, but I'm looking forward to it! The only slight sticking point for me was the question and answer format. Harford has clearly come to like writing this way from his columns in the FT but although the format (usually) works well at column length, I wasn't convinced for a whole book. Sometimes the "questions" were so few and far between that he might as well just have written normal prose and even in the parts that were more conversational I didn't think the format added much. Still, it worked for Plato so you can't blame Harford for giving it a go.
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2.0 out of 5 starsMissing Words
By chris fish on 21 April 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
The content of the book is great, as usual, for Tim Harford, but it is incredibly annoying that the Kindle version does not fit properly on a page and words are missing. They reappear if you change the font size, only for other to disappear on another page. Very frustrating indeed!
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4.0 out of 5 starsRoom for a follow-up
By Chris Sampson on 23 Oct. 2013
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Tim Harford brings us some macro. For me, a less interesting topic than those of his previous books. Nevertheless, he's a great writer with a knack for simplifying tricky concepts and, as with his previous books, this is an enjoyable read. Harford only really dips his toe into the complexities of macroeconomics, but I was still able to gain a better perspective on the current debates; the different arguments being stripped - as far as possible - of the politics that envelop them. The book is exhaustively researched and the reader is treated to plenty of interesting factual and historical tidbits throughout.
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4.0 out of 5 starsInteresting way to make macroeconomics accessible
By GeordieReader on 25 Dec. 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Most popular economics books focus on microeconomics, answering questions such as 'Why does popcorn cost so much in cinemas?' These books are fun and accessible because the topics are all really about human nature and how people make choices. In this book, Tim Harford has tried to do something much harder. He has sought to answer the larger questions about recessions, unemployment and poverty.

Although not as immediately entertaining as his other books, this is very thought-provoking. He makes a compelling case for politicians to take a counterintuitive approach to avoid boom and bust. Money should be saved when the economy is strong and spent on pre-planned projects during recessions. However, politicians have no incentive to think ahead because they may not be in power during the next recession.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Excellent

Published 3 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsHarford at his best

Interestingly written as a conversation with the reader, it's a style that I thought would become annoying but actually kept me engaged in a manner akin to Socratic teaching. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Neil Lawrence
5.0 out of 5 starsSimple, Brilliant Book on the Big Economic Picture

A brilliant book on the big, governmental-level of economics. It occasionally hints at preferred solutions, but the book is mainly concerned with explaining how things work, how... Read more

Published 5 months ago by JWH
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

A gift

Published 8 months ago by Xmas fairy
4.0 out of 5 starsMacro economy for beginner

A good introduction to macro economy. A nice starting point to understand some concept of the "modern" economy, which the media give for granted and don't care to explain.

Published 8 months ago by Lorenzo Baldi
4.0 out of 5 starsGood, easy read

Good, easy read. Explains all sorts of things in a gentle manner

Published 10 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsEXCELLENT

ARRIVED AS EXPECTED, EXCELLENT CONDITION

Published 12 months ago by Dimitris Anastasopoulos
5.0 out of 5 starsEasy to read, fun introduction to macroeconomics

It's wonderfully written as you would expect from Tim. He is one of my heroes despite my professional area of expertise being science and medicine. Read more

Published 15 months ago by Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 starsGood on explaining macroeconomics concept

Good on explaining macroeconomics concept. I would recommend this to anyone struggling to comprehend the economic environment we live in today.

Published 18 months ago by max Mito
5.0 out of 5 starsAn excellent next step for the keen amateur economist

For the intelligent amateur economist this is a great whirlwind tour of the key challenges and levers that governments have to run a modern economy. Read more

Published 18 months ago by R. A. Llewellyn-davies

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