The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life

Published by Pocket Books, 2009, softcover, 241 pages, condition: new.

If an armchair economist, as the title suggests, can observe things the way Steven has done, I wonder what would an active economist running here and there will pull off. If you stop right wherever you are and go back in time, you would realize that there have been many instances when you have faced an argument, contrary of which would've seemed impossible because of the unpopularity of the it but still you were left with a nagging sensation. The problem you faced in such a situation was that you were unable to concoct a simulation based on the principles, just opposite to what is popularly believed in order to check whether populist opinions are right or wrong. For ex Once we used to believe that earth is flat or earth is the centre of universe/solar system, in order to check whether this was true, it was required to give an equal opportunity to the contrary versions of these beliefs as well in order to empirically verify as to which of the two belief is factually correct. We all know how people like Copernicus and Galileo were treated when they suggested the same. Maybe mankind is not doomed yet as there are few who always think differently and are immune to the herd mentality. Well, this book will to help you to think differently by presenting you with those simulations with a bend of economics at every turn