Running
As Jon Stewart so aptly put it, from its title Chris McDougall’s Born to Run is either about sprint racing or a primitive tribe in Mexico that run everywhere. Turns out it is about the latter and the...
View ArticleScrooge is an economist
and his name is Joel Waldfogel. Who is Scrooge? He is someone who hates Christmas and thinks that Christmas activities are a waste. Joel Waldfogel in his new book, Scroogenomics (will the onomics trend...
View ArticleSuperfreakonomics: The Final Review
I had intended to review Superfreakonomics chapter by chapter but only managed Five, One and Two. Chapter 3 was perhaps the most satisfying of the book dealing with John List’s research on altruism (or...
View ArticleScroogenomics
My last segment for the year on ABC Radio National’s Life Matters program was talking about Joel Waldfogel’s work on the deadweight cost of Christmas (aka Scroogenomics). The podcast should be here in...
View ArticleKnowledge vs Power
From the introduction to Malcolm Gladwell’s splendid new book, What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures: The other trick to finding ideas is figuring out the difference between power and knowledge. Of...
View ArticleThe Size of Nations
Ever wondered why there are so many countries in the world? My AFR op-ed today attempts to provide an answer. Full text over the fold. Breaking Up is Easy to Do, Australian Financial Review, 2 February...
View ArticleThoughts on “Thinking, fast and slow”
I couldn’t resist buying a copy of Daniel Kahneman’s best-seller when returning from holidays. Several friends and colleagues told me it was a great book; it got great reviews; and Kahneman’s journal...
View ArticleReview: Tomer’s Advanced Introduction to Behavioral Economics
In the next couple of months I shall, in preparation for an invited longer review essay on recent books on BE, post reviews of individual books such as Tomer’s, Angner’s A Course in Behavioral...
View ArticleEthical failures: Where they come from and how to address them
A review of Gentilin, Dennis. The Origins of Ethical Failures. Lessons for Leaders. A Gower Book. Routledge (2016). ISBN: 978-1-138-69051-6 Ethical failures were in the press big-time in 2017....
View ArticleKalle and me. Schumpeter, too.
[One of my intellectual heroes, Karl Marx, had his 200th birthday (May 5) this weekend. So I decided to reflect on his influence.] My first encounter with Kalle was when I was still in (the equivalent...
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