How Economics Helps Make Sense of Your World

The Return of The Economic Naturalist

The follow-up to bestseller The Economic Naturalist, revealing how economic forces explain some of the most important issues of our lives

In The Return of the Economic Naturalist Robert Frank guides us skilfully and elegantly through our complex, and sometimes strange, economic environment -- helping us to see more clearly the essence of our world.

Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational

Robert H. Frank is the author of The Sunday Times bestseller The Economic Naturalist. He is the Henrietta Louis Johnson Professor of Management and Professor of Economics at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management and is a regular economics columnist in The New York Times. His previous books include The Winner-Takes-All Society (with Philip Cook), Luxury Fever and Principles of Economics (with Ben Bernanke). Frank's many awards include the Apple Distinguished Teaching Award and the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. 
www.robert-h-frank.com

The Economic Naturalist is back with a whole batch of intriguing new questions and answers, drawn from his New York Times columns, that reveal how we really behave when confronted with economic choices. Do tax cuts for business owners really stimulate employment? Why shouldn't we just leave everything to the market? And why do we all save so little? Discover the answers to these and many more questions. 
 
With his trademark plain-speaking wit and insight, Robert Frank shows through dozens of examples how our personal choices about everything from paying for food and housing to large-scale policy decisions about taxation and the regulation of markets all boil down to the same simple economic principles, often resulting in the same wasteful mistakes. He shows that while our desires may be boundless, the resources necessary to satisfy them remain limited and argues that choices are always best made pragmatically - by carefully weighing the costs and benefits of competing options. 
 
This is a fascinating, entertaining and revealing collection full of insights that have more bearing than ever on our bank balances and our personal happiness.

Why Economics Explains Almost Everything

The Economic Naturalist

DISCOVER THE SECRETS BEHIND MANY EVERYDAY ENIGMAS

Fascinating ... provides the answers to some of life's quirkiest conundrums

Explains how cold, hard cash really does make our world go round

Can be returned to again and again like one of those all-you-can-eat buffets

Don't miss this addictive book. As Robert Frank and his students figured out dozens of everyday puzzles together, they produced ideas that are charming, curious, educational and lots of fun. Wonderful stuff.

Tim Harford, author of 'The Undercover Economist' and 'The Logic of Life'

Fascinating, mind-expanding, and lots of fun

Smart, snappy, and delightful. Bob Frank is one of America's best writers on economics.

Tyler Cowen, author of Discover Your Inner Economist

Robert H. Frank is the Henrietta Louis Johnson Professor of Management and Professor of Economics at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management. His previous books include The Winner-Takes-All Society (with Philip Cook), Luxury Fever and Principles of Economics (with Ben Bernanke). Frank's many awards include the Apple Distinguished Teaching Award and the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. 
www.robert-h-frank.com

Have you ever wondered why there is a light in your fridge but not in your freezer? Or why 24-hour shops bother having locks on their doors? Or why soft drink cans are cylindrical, but milk cartons are square? The answer is simple: economics. 
 
For years, economist Robert Frank has been encouraging his students to ask questions about the conundrums and strange occurrences they encounter in everyday life and to try to explain them using economics. Now in this bestselling book, he shares the most intriguing - and bizarre - questions and the economic principles that answer them to reveal why many of the most puzzling parts of everyday life actually make perfect (economic) sense.

Robert H Frank

Philip J Cook

One of the ten best business books of the year

A major contribution to the debate about the causes and consequences of inequality in America

Should be at the forefront of everyone's attention

Frank and Cook break new ground by linking the win-at-all-costs mentality to economic and cultural problems

[Frank] makes an excellent populariser, with a lucid writing style and a willingness not to take himself too seriously

The ideas put forward here resonate now more than ever. From superstar bankers pocketing outrageous bonuses to the obsession with celebrity, it means a few winners are being excessively rewarded for doing very little.

Why the Few at the Top Get So Much More Than the Rest of Us

Why does the top one per cent of the population capture such a disproportionate amount of the wealth? Why do top athletes win dozens of sponsorship deals, yet competitors who finish just moments behind struggle to attract a single deal? Why does one product become a runaway success, while others flounder and fail? The answer is the rise of 'winner-take-all' markets, in which small differences in performance lead to huge differences in reward. 
More relevant today than ever before, this fascinating book shows how in business, as in sport, thousands are competing for only a handful of top prizes. As Robert Frank and Philip J Cook reveal, this relentless emphasis on coming out on top has shaped our society and how we define success in troubling ways, creating growing income inequality and an enormous misallocation of talent, as more and more gifted people seek the big bucks and limelight of lucrative yet non-essential careers while vital professions scramble to attract staff. But there are measures we can take to create a more equitable and more prosperous future, and The Winner-Take-All Society shows the way.

Robert H Frank

Praise for The Winner-Take-All Society

One of the ten best business books of the year

A major contribution to the debate about the causes and consequences of inequality in America

Should be at the forefront of everyone's attention

One of the ten best business books of the year

A major contribution to the debate about the causes and consequences of inequality in America

Should be at the forefront of everyone's attention

One of the ten best business books of the year

A major contribution to the debate about the causes and consequences of inequality in America

Should be at the forefront of everyone's attention

Books by Robert H Frank

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