ARMCHAIR ECONOMIST

First published in 1993, The Armchair Economist attracted a large and devoted following. Now, almost 20 years later, it’s still in print and sales are steady. Readers will be excited by this new edition that will include contemporary applications of the eternal ideas of economic theory, firmly placing the book’s emphasis on today’s concerns, from political elections to the price of gas.

Air bags cause accidents, because well-protected drivers take more risks. This well-documented truth comes as a surprise to most people, but not to economists, who have learned to take seriously the proposition that people respond to incentives.

In The Armchair Economist, Steven E. Landsburg shows how the laws of economics reveal themselves in everyday experience and illuminate the entire range of human behavior. Why does popcorn cost so much at the movie theater? The “obvious” answer is that the owner has a monopoly, but if that were the whole story, there would also be a monopoly price to use the rest room. When a sudden frost destroys much of the Florida orange crop and prices skyrocket, journalists point to the "obvious" exercise of monopoly power. Economists see just the opposite: If growers had monopoly power, they'd have raised prices before the frost.

Why don't concert promoters raise ticket prices even when they are sure they will sell out months in advance? Why are some goods sold at auction and others at pre-announced prices? Why do box seats at the ballpark sell out before the bleachers do? Why are bank buildings fancier than supermarkets? Why do corporations confer huge pensions on failed executives? Why don't firms require workers to buy their jobs? Landsburg explains why the obvious answers are wrong, reveals better answers, and illuminates the fundamental laws of human behavior along the way. In The Armchair Economist, Steven E. Landsburg shows how the laws of economics reveal themselves in everyday experience and illuminate the entire range of human behavior. Why does popcorn cost so much at the movie theater? The “obvious” answer is that the owner has a monopoly, but if that were the whole story, there would also be a monopoly price to use the rest room. When a sudden frost destroys much of the Florida orange crop and prices skyrocket, journalists point to the "obvious" exercise of monopoly power. Economists see just the opposite: If growers had monopoly power, they'd have raised prices before the frost. This is a book of surprises: Reducing urban pollution need not make city dwellers any happier. Sex scandals are not bad for politicians. High player salaries don't give an advantage to wealthy baseball teams. Laws against polygamy can work to the detriment of women. Here we have a guided tour of the familiar, filtered through a decidedly unfamiliar lens. This is economics for the sheer intellectual joy of it.

As Freakonomics, The Undercover Economist, and Landsburg's previous books have shown, general readers love to have difficult academic disciplines opened up to them by experts who can make them accessible and fun. Steven E. Landsburg is a Professor of Economics at the University of Rochester. He is the author of The Armchair Economist, Fair Play, More Sex is Safer Sex, The Big Questions, two textbooks in economics, a forthcoming textbook on general relativity and cosmology, and over 30 journal articles in mathematics, economics and philosophy. His current research is in the area of quantum game theory.

He blogs daily at www.TheBigQuestions.com.

For over ten years, he wrote the monthly "Everyday Economics" column in Slate magazine, and has written regularly for Forbes and occasionally for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. He appeared as a commentator on the PBS/Turner Broadcasting series "Damn Right", and has made over 200 appearances on radio and television broadcasts over the past few years.