The Undercover Economist Strikes Back - by Tim Harford (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published in 2013 by Little, Brown Book Group.

Book Synopsis

A provocative and lively exploration of the increasingly important world of macroeconomics, by the author of the bestselling The Undercover Economist.

Thanks to the worldwide financial upheaval, economics is no longer a topic we can ignore. From politicians to hedge fund managers to middle-class IRA holders, everyone must pay attention to how and why the global economy works the way it does.

Enter Financial Times columnist and bestselling author Tim Harford. In this new book that demystifies macroeconomics, Harford strips away the spin, the hype, and the jargon to reveal the truth about how the world's economy actually works. With the wit of a raconteur and the clear grasp of an expert, Harford explains what's really happening beyond today's headlines, why all of us should care, and what we can do about it to understand it better.

Review Quotes

"Every Tim Harford book is cause for celebration. He makes 'the dismal science' seem like an awful lot of fun." --Malcolm Gladwell

"With fascinating examples and vivid explanations, Tim Harford succeeds in turning macroeconomics into a gripping read." --Simon Singh, author of Fermat's Last Theorem

"Tim Harford is perhaps our very best popular economics writer, and with this book he turns his attention to inflation, unemployment, business cycles, and macroeconomics, with lucid clarity and compelling insight." --Tyler Cowen, author of Create Your Own Economy and The Great Stagnation

"Tim Harford is a brave man to write a book about macroeconomics for the lay person; luckily, he is also a funny man...his perky style and chatty asides keep us grinning... [and he] has a knack for posing questions the average reader will have wondered about." --Wall Street Journal

"Just a joyous romp through macroeconomics. So if you ever felt like you needed to learn some more macro and wanted to have a blast doing it, Tim Harford is your guy." --Betsey Stevenson, former Council of Economics Advisors member

"Harford has a knack for writing about economic issues in a clear and gripping way." --Worth Magazine

"Harford brings vigor and even humor to otherwise dry topics...[and] clarity to what has often been comprehensible to only a select few." --Publishers Weekly

"Independent thinkers aspiring to a better understanding of the world economy and of possible fixes for the current downturn will delight in this crisp, readable, and knowledgeable explication and analysis of macroeconomic events and theoretical perspectives." --Library Journal

"By the end of this book, you'll have learned so much that you'll be just as confused as the experts - and anything but bored." --The Christian Science Monitor

"Tim Harford is perhaps the best popular economics writer in the world... what [he] has achieved with his new book is nothing less than the holy grail of popular economics. While retaining the accessible style of popular microeconomics, he has managed to explain, with clarity and good humour, the knottiest and most important problems facing the world's biggest economies today." --The New Statesman

"With beguiling clarity and...effortlessly breezy style... Harford explains the subject with impressive clarity and wit." --The Times (London)

"Tim Harford is a brilliant explainer of economics...A superb guide, whatever your level of expertise." --The Evening Standard

About the Author

Tim Harford is the author of The Undercover Economist, The Logic of Life, and Adapt. He is a weekly columnist for the Financial Times, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Forbes, Esquire, Parade, New York, and Wired. Harford lives with his family in Oxford.