The Logic of Life

THE UNDERCOVER ECONOMIST showed how ordinary economics explained everyday curiosities, such as the price of a cup of coffee and the traffic jam on the way to the supermarket. THE LOGIC OF LIFE shows how the new economics of rational choice theory explains much, much more. Drug addicts and teenage muggers can be rational. Suburban sprawl and inner city decay are rational. Endless meetings at the office and the injustices of working life? Rational. Economics explains why your boss is overpaid, whether we should build more prisons, and whether a city like New Orleans can recover from disaster. THE LOGIC OF LIFE introduces you to engaging stories and characters linked together in a bold narrative sweep. The book starts with the most intimate decisions - to have sex, to take drugs, to lead an honest life - then zooms out to discuss the logic of the family, of neighbourhoods, large corporations, cities themselves. This is the new economics of everything you never thought was economics, and it will help you see the world in a new way.

ISBN 0316027561   DEWEY edition DC22 ISBN13 9780316027564 (What's this?)   Pages 288 Publisher Little, Brown & Company   Published in New York Imprint Little, Brown & Company   Height (mm) 234 Format Hardback   Width (mm) 153 Publication date 25 Jan 2008   Academic level General DEWEY 330.1

'The chapter "Why is Your Boss Overpaid?" is in itself worth the price of this book' - Sunday Telegraph 'This is no minor thesis . . . If you loved [The Tipping Point and Freakonomics] you'll love this' - Financial Times

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