7.6 /10 1 Votes
3.7/5 Barnes & Noble Subject Economics ISBN 978-0-02-917776-1 Genre Economics Country United States of America | 3.8/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 241 Originally published 1993 Page count 241 Publisher Free Press | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Publication date 27 September 1993 (1st edition)
1 May 2012 (revised edition) Media type Print (Hardback, Paperback) Similar Steven Landsburg books, Economics books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life is an economics book written by Rochester professor of economics Steven Landsburg. The first edition appeared in 1993. A revised and updated edition appeared in May 2012. The underlying theme of the book, as Landsburg states on the first page, is that "[m]ost of economics can be summarized in four words: People respond to incentives." With this apparently innocuous observation, Landsburg discusses some unexpected effects of various policies such as automobile safety legislation and environmental policies. The rest of the book includes expositions on a wide range of topics, including budget deficit, unemployment, economic growth, and cost–benefit analysis.
Chapter 4 covers the "Indifference Principle".
Chapter 9 covers the Coase Theorem of professor Ronald Coase.
The book is also recommended reading by the departments of economics at several universities.