Understand the Economy

The books, in order

1. 1

   Economy and Society · 13 min

   Freakonomics

   Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

   Where the payoff is big and nobody is watching closely, shortcuts tend to show up, even among respectable people.

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2. 2

   Economy and Society · 17 min

   The Undercover Economist

   Tim Harford

   The price of a product downtown often pays for the scarcity of prime retail space, rather than the actual cost of making it.

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3. 3

   Economy and Society · 18 min

   Factfulness

   Hans Rosling

   Most of humanity does not live in the extremes of misery or opulence, but in a middle range that a hurried glance usually overlooks.

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4. 4

   Economy and Society · 17 min

   The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves

   Matt Ridley

   A family that cuts off all exchange with the rest of the world and tries to produce everything on its own does not become freer. It becomes poorer and more fragile, because no individual talent can handle doing every step of every task in life well.

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5. 5

   Economy and Society · 17 min

   Predictably Irrational

   Dan Ariely

   Asking for a favor out of affection and charging for it with money are different contracts, and mixing the two usually ruins the first.

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6. 6

   Economy and Society · 18 min

   23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism

   Ha-Joon Chang

   Markets do not spring up in a natural vacuum; they operate backed by collective rules that define what can and cannot be sold.

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7. 7

   Economy and Society · 19 min

   Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

   Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

   The difference in quality of life between two neighboring towns does not come from climate or soil, but from the rules of the game that determine whether ordinary citizens have the security to work and keep the fruits of their labor.

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8. 8

   History · 17 min

   The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World

   Niall Ferguson

   For Ferguson, the interest a government pays to finance itself works like a daily thermometer of the market's confidence in that government's ability to pay its own bills.

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9. 9

   Economy and Society · 19 min

   Capital in the Twenty-First Century

   Thomas Piketty

   Similar salaries can conceal very different degrees of freedom when only one person already owns assets.

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10. 10

    Economy and Society · 18 min

    Doughnut Economics

    Kate Raworth

    When an indicator becomes the destination, whatever it fails to measure can end up treated as if it has no value.

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