Required Reading

Miss Literacy may love to read, but she also has a soft spot for the dismal science of economics - far from being financial reports and interest rates, the field provides a really fascinating lens through which to view human behavior. Unfortunately, few people seems to share Miss Literacy's view, as so many of our current political debates appear to be predicated on a complete lack of understanding of basic economic principles.

It seems to me that the level of discourse on significant issues would be vastly improved if everyone were required to read Tim Harford's The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich are Rich, the Poor are Poor, and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car. Awesomely noir/comic-book cover styling aside, Harford's insights are a great explanation of how so many of our great political challenges (the environment, illegal immigration, health care, etc.) have their roots in a market failure. Not only that, he also explains with devastating clarity just how ass-backwards some of the proposed solutions are when considered from the perspective of an economist.

Harford's mostly coalescing many of the major theories in economics here, but his writing style does a much better job of presenting the theories to a general audience than the vast majority of economic writing. The little glimmers of British humor sprinkled throughout the text are delightfully endearing, and his frequent use of clarifying examples turns Nobel-winning academic research into a relatable and engaging story.

But perhaps best of all, I know have the perfect book to recommend to anyone interested in viable political problem-solving. Now, to get all of those politicians to read it.....