5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Freakonomics

C.K. · June 3, 2007

I have long been a fan of Landsburg having read two of his other books. This is his best work yet, and a better read than the popular Freakonomics. This is a great book to introduce the reader to economic ways of thinking about everyday problems and issues in a fun and engaging way.Here is what I liked about it:1) Landsburg hits a range of areas, even if sometimes only for a page or two, and many of these topics have important implications for policy or to our own lives. Some examples include his thoughts on pollution, free trade, free markets for organs, child labor, choosing charities and more. This contrasts with Freakonomics, which delves for the most part into interesting topics that are less important(eg, sumo wrestling cheating)I will say, however, that some of my favorite chapters had little practical value, notably, the chapter on how and why couples with girls are more likely to divorce than couples with boys. Fascinating stuff!2) As the title suggests, his logic is often quite unconventional. Are there times when he seems to smart for his own good, with some ideas that are a bit too far out? Yes, like his ridiculous suggestion for making lines shorter (in brief, each new person goes the front, not the back of the line... don't ask) HOWEVER, by and large, I found him to be quite convincing with pragmatic solutions to problems, and interesting insights that offer different ways of thinking.3) As always, I enjoy his writing style, particularly his wit. The book also reads in a way that has you guessing, "What are potential flaws in his reasoning" which he then mentions, and then dispels satisfactorily.All in all, a great read. I do have to warn readers though, that the first chapter, the one discussing the Safer Sex issue, was, in my opinion, oversimplified and weak. The book does get much better, however.

4.0 out of 5 stars Witty but still controversial

H.S. · May 13, 2008

Landsburg starts with the premise that every rational decision making should involve the rules of costs and benefits. According to him, everything should have costs and benefits and the consequences of our action spill over onto other people. By applying costs and benefits analysis to encompass everything from sexual behaviour, population growth, gold mining, beauty, child workers in the third world, and election, to justice system, invention, fire fighting, shopping carts, donation, racial profiling, life and death, and auto insurance, he assaults prevailing common sense and makes use of economic reasoning to celebrate his findings that are extremely counter and strange.Landsburg believes that an action can be justifiable in any circumstances when its benefits exceed its costs. For instance, sexual conservatives are encouraged to increase moderate amounts of sexual activity in order to improve the odds for people who seek a safe match. Unlike Malthusian economists, population growth promotes economic prosperity because more people can generate higher level of innovation and creativity. To Landsburg, juries should be punished for getting the wrong verdict whereas incentives should be fixed for FDA commissioners, fire fighters, and even the US President. A scrooge is more generous than a philanthropist because he eats less so that there is more food for other people. Moreover, Landsburg highlights witty remarks on the difference between correlation and causation to readers. Boys hold marriages but girls break them up because parents prefer boys to girls. The obesity epidemic is due to some combination of medical advances and low-fat foods but is not statistically correlated with income changes.In this book, Landsburg makes use of economic reasoning to tell readers right from wrong and truth from fiction. He does not restrict himself to pure description but tries to prescribe how people should behave. Putting culture, moral judgement, and ethics aside, readers can find the power of economic reasoning in demystifying the workings of everything from a different perspective. However, the use of the rules of costs and benefits remains controversial to some of the issues in which moral judgement should be taken into account. Nobel laureate Thomas Shelling maintains that people are different from livestock so that it is difficult to assess their costs and benefits as a result of life or death.This book stimulates readers to look into issues from a different perspective. Readers who are not too familiar with the power of economic reasoning should find this book very witty. However, readers might be squirm in their chairs when economic reasoning mixes with moral judgement.

5.0 out of 5 stars Given that you don't take it too seriously, you'll have a blast.

t. · February 17, 2015

This book consists of the articles that Landsburg has written over the years, added upon, and then compiled together. For this reason, the book doesn't really follow a consistent theme beyond things he thinks will surprise people or peak their attention. Some might find that style annoying but I don't mind hopping around from subject to subject. This is definitely not the kind of book that will turn someone new to the subject into an amature economist, but it might inspire that amature to start thinking a bit like an economist, and might get that person to pick up an interest. People have been comparing it to freakonomics and, personally, I consider that a mistake. I think this belongs in a different category. If you want to seriously learn about econ, you might want to read something thorough like Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell or pick up an economics textbook. That's your 5 course meal. If you want something less serious, Freakonomics is a fine hamburger that will fill your belly without too much effort. More Sex Is Safer Sex is a very fun, quirky, easy, and SHORT book. Don't eat a bag of potato chips then wonder why you are still hungry or why you didn't meet your nutritional requirements. You ate it for the kicks. The fact that it provides a few calories that you may or may not use later is an added benefit (It's an imperfect analogy, imagine you're not a filthy rich first worlder and calories are a good thing).It seems like a lot of the negative views about this book come from the wacky and insane suggestions that the author makes throughout. Although there are plenty of these, I interpreted them as tools Landsburg is using to make his point and convey the economic idea in question, not to mention drum up controversy in an attempt to sell more books. Yes, it's a bit cheap, but personally, I found them entertaining and occasionally comical. All we really know about his personal beliefs is his confidence in the "wisdom" he is trying to impart, and that's good enough for me.

Un gran libro

R. · November 12, 2015

El producto producto para ser de segunda mano y haber viajado, esta en un estado muy aceptable.Por otra parte, le recomiendo este libro a todas las personas que sean practicas, y quieransaber más, de como EN REALIDAD funcionan las cosas.

論理を重視したいアナタに

C. · March 26, 2008

眉を顰めるようなタイトルだけど、いかがわしい内容ではない。経済学のロジックを日常生活に応用してみようっていう啓蒙書。一部"Communal Stream"では外部性の重要さが語られる。例として挙がるのが、「普通の人がよりセックスをすれば感染リスクは社会全体で減る」「人口増はアイデアの多様性を導き技術革新につながる」「改心前のが改心後のスクルージより気前がいい」「美男美女のほうが（他の要因をコントロールしても）数％稼ぎやすい」などの逆理（？）だ。二部"How to fix everything else"では経済学のロジックを使って社会を改良しようと試みる。一人二票与えたり、正しい判断を下した裁判員に報酬を与えたり、その他火事・犯罪・汚染・臓器不足・インフレ・待ち行列などへの解決策が語られる。三部"Everyday Economics"では結果を見て安易な説明に飛びつくことの危険性が繰り返し示される。次第に大型化するスーパーのカゴ、娘を持っている人のほうが５％離婚しやすいことなどの例が挙がる。四部"The Big Questions"では意思決定に経済学の論理を利用する。寄付、中央銀行員、ニュースの受け止め方、命の価値などが例にされる。統計データから導かれる事実に論理をぶつけて説明していく。読者の便りへの返信も載せているところから、勝気な性格が窺われるｗ曰く、「相関関係から因果関係を安易に読み取るなと言われるが、大半の経済学者はそんなことはわかっている。もっと信頼して欲しいもんだ。」とのことｗ論理屋は嫌われがち。でもこういうロジックは、一貫性があるところに意味があるのだ。マンキューの評では、「レヴィットの本と比較してこの著者は事実よりも論理に傾倒しているから経済学者にとっては説得力があっても普通の人にはそうでもないかも」だそうで。うーん、賛成ｗ

Five Stars

A. · July 11, 2017

Good Economy Book

A brilliant book by a gifted thinker. Please ignore the fools who couldn't see the wood for the trees...

M.T.W. · February 23, 2009

On reading this book I was simply stunned to see any negative reviews. And then when I read the reviews and saw their fallacies... such as that a certain way of thinking was shared by Adolf Eichmann (hint, hint) therefore it could not have been correct. Really!? That is the fallacy of association. & no one who is capable of rational thinking should be swung by such an illogical swipe. And moreover it does not in any way take from any argument which is otherwise logically argued. As all Landsburg's arguments were. But back to my explanation as to why it is a fallacy to take such a swipe. Thus for instance: Just because Idi Amin might have thought that The Times was the best English newspaper doesn't take from the fact that he was most probably still right - despite who he was and what he did.That being said, this book is full of the most brilliant and logically thought out arguments. Landsburg develops his thesis that all humans are driven by benefits and incentives with gusto and sheer brilliance. For instance he argues that jurors would deliver far better justice if they were in possession of all the facts including hearsay, and justice would better be served if jurors were really made to pay the consequence of any acquittals or damning judgements - if they were later proved to be wrong. Currently, jurors fail to get it right too many times as there simply is not enough incentive for them to get it right. In the present system, whether jurors are right or wrong ultimately matters not to them. And Landsburg argues why this is a flawed system, open to injustices, which could be improved by making jurors more responsible for their decisions. That makes perfect sense! But you have to read this book just to see how brilliantly he argues this and many many other points in this most refreshing attack on the all too slumbering common sense of our age.Frankly, this is a most excellent and must have book, which I enjoyed even more than his other books. Anyone with a working brain should find delight from reading his straight minded, iconoclastic & maverick approach to life. As the Financial Times Review puts it this is a book which is: "original, arresting... entirely correct."For this is truly a most thought provoking work by its author. For even if you disagree at first with Landsburg, if you just think some more then you'll see how he was entirely correct throughout this book. He is after all, no idiot by any stretch of the imagination. Try reading the first few pages on this site and you'll have a taste for why the few negative reviewers are very mistaken.

Bad job by the seller on this order

V. · June 26, 2015

The quality of the book is not very good. I don't even feel like reading it.