Better Living Through Economics

Book cover of Better Living Through Economics

Book description

"Better Living Through Economics" consists of twelve case studies that demonstrate how economic research has improved economic and social conditions over the past half century by influencing public policy decisions. Economists were obviously instrumental in revising the consumer price index and in devising auctions for allocating spectrum rights to cell…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Better Living Through Economics as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Paul Grimes

Author

Even a professional economist is likely to find something surprising in this book.

Editor John Siegfried has collected a dozen essays written by notable and award-winning economists explaining how economic research has improved our lives over the past two generations. Several of these essays do not focus on obvious examples but rather on those that are a step or two removed from what many laypersons would consider the domain of economics.

For example, Alvin Roth’s chapter on “deferred-acceptance theory” describes how economics improved the efficiency of educating doctors by better matching prospective medical residents with training hospitals.

Other chapters explore…

From Paul's list on how economics shapes our world and your life.