The Economics of Life: From Baseball to Affirmative Action to Immigration, How Real-World Issues Affect Our Everyday Life | 
 enlarge | Authors: Gary S. Becker, Guity Nashat Becker
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
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Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 252097
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 0070067090
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.3
UPC: 639785302735
EAN: 9780070067097
Publication Date: January 1, 1998
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Amazon.com Review
"The great majority of people are more rational and make fewer mistakes in promoting their own interests than even well-intentioned government officials," writes this impressive couple (Gary won the 1992 Nobel Prize for Economics). The short, column-length essays that make up this volume first appeared in Business Week magazine and show for a popular audience how market incentives influence human behavior in countless ways. The Beckers criticize centralized planning, racial quotas and trade tariffs, and endorse drug legalization, privatized social security and school vouchers. They also veer into unexpected terrain, addressing religion, sports and marriage with keen insight.
Product Description
From economics Nobel Laureate Gary Becker and historian Guity Nashat Becker comes this collection of the economist's popular BusinessWeek columns. These 138 essays have fueled numerous debates, touching on hot-button issues from crime to organization of sports. The Beckers' surprising--and uncompromising--positions on drugs ("legalize them"), immigration ("auction off immigration slots"), welfare ("curtail it sharply"), and other topics provide a provocative commentary on our times.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Becker for everyone April 13, 2005
amznecon
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
This works provides great insight into the economic thinking and reasoning of one of the greatest living economists. It is simple enought for someone without a economics background to understand, yet complex enough for advanced students of economics to study and debate. A great work.
Practical Discussion of many complicated issues July 15, 2000
John Aguilar (Garden Grove, CA USA)
8 out of 12 found this review helpful
An interesting read for all those individuals who claim that economists are too abstract. Each article offers practicle, and simple, solutions for many of today's social, and political, problems. The writing style of the authors is fairly simple and is not heavy on economic jargon. I especially enjoyed the Becker's ability to cram so much relevant info into small articles. I really enjoyed the collection of artlicles and would highly recommend the book to any person interested in economics.
Becker defines social problems and offers solutions May 2, 1999
8 out of 13 found this review helpful
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.
Very readable, very practical January 10, 2007
morning child
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book brings economic theories down to earth. The Beckers are excellent writers and the book is easy to read because it is broken down into short segments. The book would be great as supplementary reading for a principles of economics class.
SEVEN STAR REVIEW! October 13, 1998
4 out of 11 found this review helpful
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...
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