发现你内心的经济学家 – Discover Your Inner Economist by Tyler Cowen

或许有人对你说，把当今几位世界著名的经济学家的著作读上若干本，你就算懂经济学了。

——真是这样吗？

读这本书，你会发现，它与任何一本常规经济学著作都不太一样，与其将它当作传统的经济学读物，不如说它是一部涉猎学科甚广的社会经济学著作。

作者从经济学角度谈及社会现象，又从社会现象关联到经济学理论，将经济学这一颇具门槛的学科充分融入生活，借由生活中的普遍现象和人们的惯常行为，解析其背后的经济学原理和应用。比如讨论如何欣赏文化艺术，如何寻找美食和餐厅……一切角度都是为了让我们能够在微小且繁琐的事务上，做出性价比最高的选择。无论从经济学视角还是社会学视角，这都是一本引导我们发现自己内在潜质的有趣的书。

In Discover Your Inner Economist, one of America’s most respected economists presents a quirky, incisive romp through everyday life that reveals how you can turn economic reasoning to your advantage – often when you least expect it to be relevant.

Like no other economist, Tyler Cowen shows how economic notions, such as incentives, signals, and markets, apply far more widely than merely to the decisions of social planners, governments, and big business. What does economic theory say about ordering from a menu? Or attracting the right mate? Or controlling people who talk too much in meetings? Or dealing with your dentist? With a wryly amusing voice, in such chapters as “How to Control the World: The Basics” and “How to Control the World: Knowing When to Stop”, Cowen reveals the hidden economic patterns behind everyday situations so you can get more of what you really want.

Listeners will also gain less selfish insights into how to be a good partner, neighbor, and even citizen of the world. For instance, what is the best way to give to charity? The chapter entitled “How to Save the World: More Christmas Presents Won’t Help” makes a point that is every bit as personal as it is global.

Incentives are at the core of an economic approach to the world, but they don’t just come in cash. In fact, money can be a disincentive. Cowen shows why, for example, it doesn’t work to pay your kids to do the dishes. Other kinds of incentives, like making sure family members know they will be admired if they respect you, can work.

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