The Undercover Economist

Is an efficient market necessarily ethical? Why or why not? Give examples that explain your position.

Self-targeting is a clever method that companies use to get consumers to provide information about themselves. What examples of self-targeting can you think of in your day-to-day life? Do they affect you negatively or positively? How could they be countered?

Inside information is shown to plague the used car and healthcare industries. In what other areas of society does inside information change the outcomes of events, and how could it potentially be counteracted to improve efficiency?

Nations like Cameroon and China are compared to each other as examples of failure and success in using the free market. How does your country use the free market? What would it take to improve your country’s use, and what might make the free market fail?

Harford espouses some controversial opinions in this book, including a tentative defense of sweatshops as a preferable alternative to no legitimate work at all. Do you agree with his position? Why or why not?

Harford repeatedly returns to the example of coffee as an example of complex economic factors affecting everyday experiences. What other examples of everyday transactions with complex economic underpinnings can you think of? Are they subject to the same issues of scarcity, price targeting, and global trade?

Trade is defined by Harford and other economists as a kind of “technology” in which one resource like wheat can be transformed into another, like cars. If we view trade as technology, does that change your current view on trade policies? Is technological innovation, in the form of expanded global trade, worth the changes it causes to existing industries?

China’s economic power is often treated as a bogeyman by Western political powers. Does the concept of comparative advantage change your understanding of China’s economy? How can Western nations alter their approach to China to benefit both countries?