Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #183842 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Customer Reviews

A Look at Scientific Arguments in Favor of Libertarian Governance
I don't recall a book that relies so heavily on scientific studies from so many fields to make a case for free markets with minimal government intervention. If you are not familiar with the latest in brain science and evolutionary biology, The Mind of the Market is a good review.

The main argument falters because clearly Mr. Shermer is doing his best to justify what he already believes. He draws the conclusion from the evidence that makes the best case for his ideas, rather than trying to sort out the good and the bad and the ugly from one another.

As an example, he hasn't seen a nongovernmental monopoly he doesn't like . . . and doesn't bother to mention the benefits that customers have gained when such monopolies have ended. To make his case for monopolies resulting from aggressive competition, he has to argue that only near-term dollars and cents for customers count . . . while leaving out the harm from the dislocations that occur in non-economic terms and the potential longer-term benefits of having more competitors. This suggests that predatory pricing to eliminate competitors is a jim-dandy idea even if it leads to artificially higher prices later on after there are no competitors left.

He also feels that biology is destiny. Apparently, we should not expect to behave better than what our bodies encourage. But if that were true, then almost everyone who can be addicted would be addicted . . . and would simply focus on supplying and abusing the addiction. But clearly, most people don't do that.

It's fun to read what he has to say . . . but don't take it seriously.

Why Evolution Is Sound Economics
Michael Shermer's "The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics" is yet another insightful, and provocative book from him, making the best, most persuasive case why accepting evolutionary theory ought to be sound economics for my fellow conservatives. Shermer persuasively argues that Charles Darwin and Adam Smith were essentially looking at the same phenomena, observing that evolution via natural selection is basically nature's "marketplace" operating under laissez-faire principles as expressed in Smith's concept of the "Invisible Hand". Shermer makes his arguments primarily from biology and psychology, without relying much on economics, and yet they are quite convincing. Indeed conservatives ought to be delighted with his cogently argued reasons why government intervention into national economies is often doomed to failure, arguing instead that natural processes inherent in the marketplace are often the only - and best - remedy for economic malaise. He also explains why "Social Darwinism" is a gross distortion of Darwin's thought, misapplied to social engineering and economics, and that both Earth's biosphere and the market are highly organized complex systems that have arisen from simpler ones, giving the false illusion of "being designed" by some external, omnipresent "Intelligent Designer". Without question, "The Mind of the Market" is a most remarkable book which deserves ample readership from the broad body politic, from both liberals and conservatives.

Evolutionary perspectives on economics
This is a lively, entertaining, useful and uneven work. Author Michael Shermer ranges over an array of disciplines to synthesize current understanding of the intersection of economics and evolution. He defines and debunks homo economicus, or the economic man, a theoretical creation who behaves in a purely rational fashion. Shermer weaves personal experiences with interviews of researchers, summaries of classic texts, and contemporary experiments and observations of such well-known businesses cases as the Enron debacle. Readers with knowledge of behavioral economics or negotiation will find some familiar material in this book. For others, Shermer's connections among biology, psychology, economics and ethics will be enlightening. He overreaches at times, making sweeping claims for the power of the market, but you don't have to agree with every conclusion to enjoy the work. getAbstract recommends this to readers who are interested in behavioral economics, self-knowledge or the machinations of markets.