Book: The Undercover Economist

Title: The Undercover Economist
Author: Tim Harford

Just completed this book somewhere early this week. Easy to comprehend, even if you are clueless to the world of economics. Tim covers quite alot of breadth, touching on both micro- and macro-economics, dealing with issues of supply and demand, market failure, good governance and globalization.

For readers who already have some knowledge of economics, this book provides a deeper (and perhaps, varied) look into some of the various basic economic theories. For those who don't, this book offers a basic introduction to economics, which is not at all difficult to understand, thanks to Tim's simple explanations.

The first few chapters of The Undercover Economistdwell more on micro-economics: product pricing, supply and demand, market failure and government intervention, market competition. Later chapters then discuss the success of China as a growing economic giant, as well as reasons why certain countries prosper and some don't.

If you have read Freakonomics[Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner], you should find The Undercover Economistrather similar. If you prefer a focus on globalization alone, try The World Is Flat[Thomas Friedman] instead.