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Can You Outsmart An Economist?: 100+ Puzzles to Train Your Brain – Learn Economics Through Fun Logic and Probability Games
The acclaimed author of The Armchair Economist presents an engaging and instructive series of puzzles and brain teasers for novices and experts alike. ¶ “Ingenious...you may even end up smarter than Google.”―George Gilder, author of Life After Google ¶ Can you outsmart an economist―really? Steven Landsburg, acclaimed author and professor of economics, dares you to try. If you solve the puzzles in this book―or even if you just read the solutions―you'll learn a lot about economics, how to interpret statistics, and maybe a bit about law, math, science, and philosophy along the way. Wildly imaginative and entirely unconventional, this book includes warm-up exercises to get your brain working, logic and probability problems, and other teasers that touch upon such complex topics as calculating probabilities, reasoning in reverse, and distinguishing right from wrong. You don't have to have an advanced degree to master the material. Above all, this book is meant for readers to learn and have fun. Let the games begin! ¶ "Read it, expand your mind, and have fun!”―N. Gregory Mankiw, Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics, Harvard University
304 pages, Paperback
Published September 25, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 1, 2022
Did you know funding leftwing causes to lower tuition increases taxes on poor families? Or gender discrimination is not real because less women apply to jobs (ignore that there may be reasons for this). Or that systemic discrimination in courtroom picks are not real because there are less black jurors to choose from (ignore there may be reasons for this). Or that allowing a company with a tire monopoly to merge with a company with a monopoly on rubber is actually a good thing because "dealing with 1 troll is better than dealing with 2."
I was looking for an interesting puzzle book about economics, not a take down of Keynes or 'old man yells at clouds' style political rants. Its narratives seem to be the type of technically true (but half truths) you are warned about in stats 101.
I was looking for an interesting puzzle book about economics, not a take down of Keynes or 'old man yells at clouds' style political rants. Its narratives seem to be the type of technically true (but half truths) you are warned about in stats 101.
August 9, 2022
It is just some douchy libertarian jerking himself off over how LOGICAL it is for companies dump mercury in children's drinking water. How do you KNOW the parents wouldn't prefer a brain damaged child over paying .0000001 cent more for their big mac, maybe raising a retarded kid is easier? The Butterfly Effect is not exactly what I think of as critical thinking.
November 18, 2018
Steven Landsburg is one of my favorite economists, and writers. He's taught me a ton over the years. As he writes here, economics is a collection of intellectual tools for seeing beyond the obvious. This is a collection of puzzles that contain many lessons about the perils of statistics, trade, risk, tradeoffs (which is what economics is also all about), among many other lessons. Some you've probably seen before, many I had not. Some are incredibly difficult, but as with everything Landsburg writes, all are interesting and informative regarding human behavior. Some might even frustrate you, like the one about killing someone to mitigate migraine headaches. But the logic is sound, even if counterintuitive. Encore, professor Landsburg! To listen to our interview with professor Landsburg, go to: https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/t...
August 28, 2018
A very cool collection of puzzles, most of which might thwart you. But even when the answer eludes you, the answers are a lot of fun to read (and slap your forehead over.) The real prize of the collection though is that the puzzles are arranged to illuminate real world economic points. Instead of reading a few pages of text with maybe one example, by working your way through the collection you are working several examples yourself and the points really stick.
There was a guy named Raymond Smullyan who used to do the same sort of books on the topic of formal logic. These puzzles are more grounded than those (and maybe not quite as fun). But they are very illuminating.
I do think, though, that some of the lessons learned here will stick with me and I look forward to sharing some of the best puzzles with friends and family and recommending this book to readers.
Hats off to Landsburg for this one. Just a really cool book.
There was a guy named Raymond Smullyan who used to do the same sort of books on the topic of formal logic. These puzzles are more grounded than those (and maybe not quite as fun). But they are very illuminating.
I do think, though, that some of the lessons learned here will stick with me and I look forward to sharing some of the best puzzles with friends and family and recommending this book to readers.
Hats off to Landsburg for this one. Just a really cool book.
May 12, 2020
This was a frustrating book for me. And yes, partly because many of the puzzles were, well, puzzling to me. Some I had been aware of, but most were new to me. Some I could work through, many were just head scratchers. And generally, they were not well explained at all. It was just puzzle building upon puzzle, and often I was left behind wondering how he got an answer, or disagreeing with his answer, or thinking he didn't word something well. No doubt he's probably the right one between the two of us when I disagreed, but his explanations really frustrated me at times by not really explaining well. I was left overall just frustrated. These are generally pretty deep, not bedtime reading, be prepared to use your head. In my opinion it would have been much better with much fewer puzzles, and much better explanations.
January 1, 2021
A book with puzzles capable of nurturing lateral thinking abilities.
It’s useful for people who wants to problem solving in non-mathematical and intuitive approach.
The puzzles in the book should be in a ‘must read’ list for someone who is beginning to explore Economics.
It’s useful for people who wants to problem solving in non-mathematical and intuitive approach.
The puzzles in the book should be in a ‘must read’ list for someone who is beginning to explore Economics.
June 19, 2018
A great book to help you think about data, economics, trade, statistics and causality. No. I couldn't outsmart the questions. I pulled a low C.
June 14, 2019
Puzzles with an economic bent; i.e. not of the purely logical/mathematical kind. Fun!
March 8, 2020
As someone who has had a lot of experience teaching finance and economics at the college level, I am very familiar with the challenge of motivating these subjects to a group of sometimes-unwilling students. While undoubtedly of fundamental importance, the topics comprising these fields of study can be arcane and, occasionally, a little dull. So, I very much appreciate what Steven Landsburg attempts to do with Can You Outsmart an Economist? The volume is nominally pitched as a series of quizzes and brain teasers that require economic reasoning to solve. However, what it really represents is a cleverly disguised text that tries to introduce readers to many of the seminal concepts in the economic sciences in an engaging and entertaining way. Happily, the author largely succeeds in doing just that.
Many of the examples Landsburg has created are simple—deceptively so, in fact—but they do a nice job of conveying the book’s main message: When making decisions or judgments, do not take things at face value and jump to easy or obvious conclusions. Economic principles, while mostly logical, are not always transparent and they often require looking at situations in indirect ways. An example of this is trying to apply cost-benefit analysis—a cornerstone of economic thinking—when neither the costs nor the benefits are well defined. The author illustrates several other interesting discussions in a quiz-and-solution format. He uses the celebrated Prisoner’s Dilemma model from game theory to establish the moral that rational decisions do not always lead to good outcomes for the participants involved. Also effective were the examples of the role that the price system plays in properly allocating economic resources and how the assumption of irrationality affects an individual’s decision-making prowess.
Unfortunately, not all of the topics explored were as compelling; some of the discussions were either misapplied, misleading, or overly didactic. For instance, the chapter ‘Are You Smarter Than Google?’ was a very low-payoff exercise in the intricacies of probability theory that ultimately read like a self-serving promotion of the author’s own work. The same can be said about the decision theory analysis of which street one should take to avoid being consumed by a dinosaur (this frame actually makes sense in its context). Finally, the description of option valuation, while not exactly wrong, was quite misdirected; the simple example Landsburg chose violated a basic assumption of the model being illustrated and resulted in the nonsensical outcome that the option should be worth more today than it could possibly receive as a payoff at expiration! Still, these are not major quibbles and they do not detract from what was a very solid overall project. For readers seeking intriguing explanations of economic concepts—and not just a random collection of brain teasers—Can You Outsmart an Economist? is a great place to look.
Many of the examples Landsburg has created are simple—deceptively so, in fact—but they do a nice job of conveying the book’s main message: When making decisions or judgments, do not take things at face value and jump to easy or obvious conclusions. Economic principles, while mostly logical, are not always transparent and they often require looking at situations in indirect ways. An example of this is trying to apply cost-benefit analysis—a cornerstone of economic thinking—when neither the costs nor the benefits are well defined. The author illustrates several other interesting discussions in a quiz-and-solution format. He uses the celebrated Prisoner’s Dilemma model from game theory to establish the moral that rational decisions do not always lead to good outcomes for the participants involved. Also effective were the examples of the role that the price system plays in properly allocating economic resources and how the assumption of irrationality affects an individual’s decision-making prowess.
Unfortunately, not all of the topics explored were as compelling; some of the discussions were either misapplied, misleading, or overly didactic. For instance, the chapter ‘Are You Smarter Than Google?’ was a very low-payoff exercise in the intricacies of probability theory that ultimately read like a self-serving promotion of the author’s own work. The same can be said about the decision theory analysis of which street one should take to avoid being consumed by a dinosaur (this frame actually makes sense in its context). Finally, the description of option valuation, while not exactly wrong, was quite misdirected; the simple example Landsburg chose violated a basic assumption of the model being illustrated and resulted in the nonsensical outcome that the option should be worth more today than it could possibly receive as a payoff at expiration! Still, these are not major quibbles and they do not detract from what was a very solid overall project. For readers seeking intriguing explanations of economic concepts—and not just a random collection of brain teasers—Can You Outsmart an Economist? is a great place to look.
May 25, 2020
This is a very interesting collection of logic puzzles and brain teasers that is brimming with insight. A theme of the book is that "often times the obvious is the enemy of the true", and each puzzle helps you realize how the "common" or "obvious" conclusion most people come to is often wrong (or, if it's right, right because of the wrong chain of reasoning).
Since I have a background in economics, I had previously been inoculated to some of the patterns of sloppy thinking this book helps expose. But almost every puzzle surprised me in some way. Steven Landsburg is an absolute master at illuminating counter-intuitive bits of reasoning, especially as it pertains to economics.
You'll get the most out of this book if you focus on the *way Steven thinks about problems*, and less on the particular "solution" to each puzzle. Many of the puzzles arrive at "solutions" that are somewhat dubious in the real world. But each of them embodies a novel way of thinking about problems that will make you a better thinker. In Tyler Cowen's framework of "overrated vs. underrated", the reasoning put forth in each is *underrated*, even if it's not necessarily sufficient to arrive at the conclusion reached.
Although this book *seems* to be about economics, most who read it will probably not think it is as such. You certainly won't directly learn any economics concepts. But you will get a taste of how to "think like an economist" more generally. And if you like that taste, there's a lot more by Steve Landsburg (and others) that you'd probably be interested in.
I *highly* recommend this book if you are at all interested in clear reasoning and enjoy being surprised by counter-intuitive results.
Since I have a background in economics, I had previously been inoculated to some of the patterns of sloppy thinking this book helps expose. But almost every puzzle surprised me in some way. Steven Landsburg is an absolute master at illuminating counter-intuitive bits of reasoning, especially as it pertains to economics.
You'll get the most out of this book if you focus on the *way Steven thinks about problems*, and less on the particular "solution" to each puzzle. Many of the puzzles arrive at "solutions" that are somewhat dubious in the real world. But each of them embodies a novel way of thinking about problems that will make you a better thinker. In Tyler Cowen's framework of "overrated vs. underrated", the reasoning put forth in each is *underrated*, even if it's not necessarily sufficient to arrive at the conclusion reached.
Although this book *seems* to be about economics, most who read it will probably not think it is as such. You certainly won't directly learn any economics concepts. But you will get a taste of how to "think like an economist" more generally. And if you like that taste, there's a lot more by Steve Landsburg (and others) that you'd probably be interested in.
I *highly* recommend this book if you are at all interested in clear reasoning and enjoy being surprised by counter-intuitive results.
January 26, 2020
How economic thinking can solve puzzles with counter-intuitive outcomes. Nice bunch of examples for clear thinking, some are a bit convoluted and/or far-fetched and/or not-fun-beacuse-cheap-set-up.
A couple of really good ones:
On the gender wage gap https://www.thebigquestions.com/2014/...
The upper limit of human life span https://books.google.nl/books?id=Wb9w...
Why Jews don't farm https://slate.com/culture/2003/06/why... (hint: they are literate)
And (p146); According to 18th century legal scholar William Blackstone, it's better that 10 guilty men escape than that one innocent suffer
A couple of really good ones:
On the gender wage gap https://www.thebigquestions.com/2014/...
The upper limit of human life span https://books.google.nl/books?id=Wb9w...
Why Jews don't farm https://slate.com/culture/2003/06/why... (hint: they are literate)
And (p146); According to 18th century legal scholar William Blackstone, it's better that 10 guilty men escape than that one innocent suffer
August 19, 2020
An unusual and intriguing puzzle book that has less to do with practical economics than the author contends but much more to do with strategic thinking and logic.
Almost as an aside, There are some assertions almost as an aside in the final chapter particularly about taxes that surprised me and into which I should delve further. (While Landsberg’s arguments against taxing the rich may be valid about a wealth tax they may not be valid about an income tax.)
Almost as an aside, There are some assertions almost as an aside in the final chapter particularly about taxes that surprised me and into which I should delve further. (While Landsberg’s arguments against taxing the rich may be valid about a wealth tax they may not be valid about an income tax.)
October 9, 2018
Fun...tough puzzles, but worth it for the insights even if you are not PRIMARILY a puzzle lover
I'm a reader of his blog and have bought other books by him, so not much of a surprise here. Crown piece was probably the explanation of averages of ratios, including that puzzle where families kept having children until they had a boy...
I'm a reader of his blog and have bought other books by him, so not much of a surprise here. Crown piece was probably the explanation of averages of ratios, including that puzzle where families kept having children until they had a boy...
October 15, 2018
Clearly I'm not smart enough to outsmart an economist, because several of the explanations in this book made no sense to me, even when I read them twice.
November 21, 2018
Fine.
Prefer Martin Gardner's classics.
Prefer Martin Gardner's classics.
January 5, 2020
Interesting and at times tedious thought puzzles. If you love this book, you should probably be an economist.
February 14, 2020
Got the ebook, didn't finish, but still a good fun interactive way to learn a bit about economics
May 13, 2020
A fun way to practice seeing beyond the obvious
October 14, 2020
Naff title but good puzzles, from Simpson's paradox to Newcomb's paradox.
March 15, 2021
An extremely fun puzzle book for those looking to test themselves. Not just focusing on mathematical but also social economics to make you look at everyday scenarios in a slightly different light.
February 16, 2022
Good book overall. Learned some good information. Was a little bit difficult to follow at times.
October 17, 2025
This was really well done and informative. The sprinkling of humor added to the pleasure of reading it. This is a definite 'dipper' for future reads. Recommended.
August 11, 2024
Yes, I can, in fact, outsmart an economist; especially if the said economist uses the same logical fallacies that he “teaches” others to avoid.
November 21, 2024
The main thing I don't like about this book is the solutions are IMMEDIATELY below the puzzle, for most of the puzzles. If I'm trying to think it through without peeking, this is VERY HARD to do unless it's one of the few puzzles (like the first one) where the solution is on the next page. I suppose I could read with a sheet of paper covering up the part I don't want to see, but that's tedious.
Otherwise, it's actually pretty interesting how many of the answers are completely not what I expected. (The first one is more geography than economics of any kind, but it illustrates the sort of lateral thinking involved.) I don't know if that's just I lack sense, or if my brain got lazy after bingeing on so many young reader books. :D
Otherwise, it's actually pretty interesting how many of the answers are completely not what I expected. (The first one is more geography than economics of any kind, but it illustrates the sort of lateral thinking involved.) I don't know if that's just I lack sense, or if my brain got lazy after bingeing on so many young reader books. :D
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews