Nattily packaged-the cover sports a Roy Lichtensteinesque image of an
economist in Dick Tracy garb-and cleverly written, this book applies
basic economic theory to such modern phenomena as Starbucks' pricing
system and Microsoft's stock values. While the concepts explored are
those encountered in Microeconomics 101, Harford gracefully explains
abstruse ideas like pricing along the demand curve and game theory
using real world examples without relying on graphs or jargon. The book
addresses free market economic theory, but Harford is not a complete
apologist for capitalism; he shows how companies from Amazon.com to
Whole Foods to Starbucks have gouged consumers through guerrilla
pricing techniques and explains the high rents in London (it has more
to do with agriculture than one might think). Harford comes down soft
on Chinese sweatshops, acknowledging "conditions in factories are
terrible," but "sweatshops are better than the horrors that came before
them, and a step on the road to something better." Perhaps, but Harford
doesn't question whether communism or a capitalist-style industrial
revolution are the only two choices available in modern economies. That
aside, the book is unequaled in its accessibility and ability to show
how free market economic forces affect readers' day-to-day.
AUDIOBOOK on ENGLISHTIPS HERE:http://englishtips.org/index.php?newsid=1150800468 Approved by: stovokor