Description

Why do the keypads on drive-up cash machines have Braille dots? Why are round-trip fares from Orlando to Kansas City higher than those from Kansas City to Orlando? For decades, Robert Frank has been asking his economics students to pose and answer questions like these as a way of learning how economic principles operate in the real world-which they do everywhere, all the time. Once you learn to think like an economist, all kinds of puzzling observations start to make sense. Drive-up ATM keypads have Braille dots because it's cheaper to make the same machine for both drive-up and walk-up locations. Travelers from Kansas City to Orlando pay less because they are usually price-sensitive tourists with many choices of destination, whereas travelers originating from Orlando typically choose Kansas City for specific family or business reasons. The Economic Naturalist employs basic economic principles to answer scores of intriguing questions from everyday life, and, along the way, introduces key ideas such as the cost benefit principle, the "no cash left on the table" principle, and the law of one price. There is no more delightful and painless way of learning these fundamental principles.

Praise for The Economic Naturalist

"The Economic Naturalist will add momentum to the overdue campaign to take economics back from the mathematicians and root it in everyday lives of consumers, workers, investors and entrepreneurs.
—Washington Post BookWorld

"Frank's new book shows that, when you ask students to look around, they see interesting things; and, sure enough, basic economic concepts can usually give a plausible account of actions and outcomes. This is an excellent way for students to learn economics. To tell the truth, it is also a useful correction to the rest of us.
—Robert Solow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"Fun and fascinating! At times it'll remind you of a Seinfeld routine—'Did you ever wonder why baseball managers wear uniforms but basketball coaches wear suits?'—except that Bob Frank also gives you the real answers."
—Steven Strogatz, Cornell University, and author of SYNC

"As amusing to read as one of Jay Leno's joke books, but Bob Frank's questions and answers are not jokes. They represent pithy observations about our economic lives that will give readers an appreciation of the real substance of economic reasoning."
—Robert J. Shiller, author of The New Financial Order and Irrational Exuberance

"With his usual wit and style, Robert Frank has written a book that explains why a host of puzzling phenomena in daily life make perfect (economic) sense. Fans of Freakonomics will be fans of Frank's book too."
—Thomas Gilovich, Co-author of Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them

"Fascinating, mind-expanding, and lots of fun."
—Steven Pinker, Harvard University, and author of The Blank Slate, How the Mind Works, and The Stuff of Thought

"Smart, snappy and delightful. Bob Frank is one of America's best writers on economics."
—Tyler Cowen, George Mason University

About the Author

Robert H. Frank is the Henrietta Louis Johnson Professor of Management and Professor of Economics at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management. His previous books include The Winner Take-All Society (with Philip Cook), Luxury Fever, and Principles of Economics (with Ben Bernanke). Frank's many awards include the Apple Distinguished Teaching Award and the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought.

Extended Copyright Information

Copyright 2007 by Robert H. Frank. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810.

Previously published by Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group.

Cover photograph copyright by Getty Images.

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Opening Lines (Experimental)

Why do the keypad buttons on drive-up cash machines have Braille dots? The patrons of these machines are almost always drivers, none of whom are blind. According to my former student Bill Tjoa, ATM producers have to make keypads with Braille dots for their walk-up machines anyway, and so it is ...

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Copyright

Copyright 2007 by Robert H. Frank.

All Rights Reserved.

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