Product Description

'...the 1992 Nobel laureate demonstrates his well-known talent for extending ever further the frontiers of economics...in these pieces, the real world is very much at hand' - "Business Week". 'Becker goes tot he root of the problem...brims with fresh insights' - "The Wall Street Journal". 1992 Nobel Prize winner Gary S. Becker is one of the few modern economists to apply economic theory to human behavior. His provocative world-view states that our daily actions and choices are influenced more than we know by market forces and economic incentives.In "The Economics of Life", Gary Becker and historian Guity Nashat Becker have collected the best of the economist's popular work from his monthly "Business Week" column along with introductions that bring each topic into present-day focus. Extending well beyond the traditional range of economics, these 138 essays provocatively address modern issues including: the changing role of women in modern economics, crime, immigration, drugs, discrimination against minorities, and many other topics. From legalizing drugs to auctioning off immigration rights, the Beckers do not shy away from advocating controversial changes in public policy and personal behavior. They will set you thinking and perhaps change your mind about the connections between economics and life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #521017 in Books
• Published on: 1998-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From the Back Cover
". . .the 1992 Nobel laureate demonstrates his well-known talent for extending ever further the frontiers of economics. . .in these pieces, the real world is very much at hand."--Business Week. "Becker goes tot he root of the problem. . .brims with fresh insights."--The Wall Street Journal. 1992 Nobel Prize winner Gary s. Becker is one of the few modern economists to apply economic theory to human behavior. His provocative world-view states that our daily actions and choices are influenced more than we know by market forces and economic incentives. In The Economics of Life, Gary Becker and historian Guity Nashat Becker have collected the best of the economist's popular work from his monthly Business Week column along with introductions that bring each topic into present-day focus. Extending well beyond the traditional range of economics, these 138 essays provocatively address modern issues including: the changing role of women in modern economics, crime, immigration, drugs, discrimination against minorities, and many other topics. From legalizing drugs to auctioning off immigration rights, the Beckers do not shy away from advocating controversial changes in public policy and personal behavior. They will set you thinking and perhaps change your mind about the connections between economics and life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

About the Author
Gary S. Becker won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1992 for his theory of "economic reasoning." Professor of Economics and Sociology at the University of Chicago, Becker writes a monthly column for Business Week, is a frequent editorialist for The Wall Street Journal, and is a regular guest on such television programs as The McNeil-Lehrer Report and Adam SmithÕs Money World. Guity Nashat Becker is Associate Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a Fellow of the Hoover Institution, and a graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism. She has written several books and appeared on many TV and radio programs. The Beckers live in Chicago.

Customer Reviews

Becker defines social problems and offers solutions
No other economist (or writer) identifies social issues,illuminates the core problem, and offers rational solutions better than Gary Becker. Becker has the unique ability to take the most complex Chicago-style economic thought and explain it in terms that non-Ph.D's can easily understand. The list of topics that Becker covers is so diverse, I gaurantee that you will find a subject that you can relate to personally. Becker cuts through the misleading information that politicians and the popular press routinely disseminate by identifying why certain parties take positions on issues. (Usually because they have a vested interest in the outcome, but their interest may not be in the best interest of the public) The book is a compilation of articles (30-40) on numerous topics . The articles are easy to read and will leave you thinking about the subjects in a completely different way. A must read for people that have a desire to better understand human and social behavior.

Highly disappointing. Save your money for better ones.
To begin with, this collection of monthly Business Week colums, supposed to be solidly implanted in current events, carries no dates: one has to guess by the content when this or the other piece was written. A frustrating exercise in many cases. But one has to wonder sometimes whether one lives in the same land or even on the same planet with this author: On page 214 Mr. Becker makes the following statement in support of his opposition to term limits: "...longer congressional service is also part of a general trend in the U.S.and other modern economies for workers to remain at the same jobs." After a 14 years engineering career, where I got close to a PhD, I had to change to selling, then I became a broker and I now finally can make a decent living as a financial salesman. All serious, responsible career advisors in this country warn young professionals that they should be psychologically prepared to change careers 2-3 times in their life. Furthermore, it is a fine show for someone who was advising Bob Dole in his 1996 campaign to "forget" that term limitations were one of the 10 points which brought to Republicans the Congress in 1994. We are also rather wobbly on assessing economic cause and effect Mr. Becker: on page 47 you seriously quote, in support of your earlier contentions, an English professor who claims that the high current European unemployment rate is due to a large extent to employment-protection legislation. Forget the social nanny states, high taxes, etc...Sorry: on page 39 you contradict yourself. Or is it a clarification? Did you write page 39 before page 47 or vice versa? Does it really matter? With a couple more such advisors, small wonder that Bob Dole performed as he did. Can I save you, other readers, the hard earned bucks I spent on this book (less the generous Amazon discount of course)?

SEVEN STAR REVIEW!
No praise will do justice to this gem of a books. It capture Becker in full cry. Unlike most theorists, who hide behind veils of dense mathematics, Becker never allows math to cloud his logic...a wonderful,thought provoking read for anyone, even those with minimal knowledge of economics...a jewel from the world's greatest living economist...