science

The Armchair Economist

The Armchair Economist is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Armchair Economist rather than just read about it. In short: The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life is an economics book written by Rochester professor of economics Steven Landsburg. The first edition appeared in 1993.

Key takeaways

The Armchair Economist belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Armchair Economist to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Armchair Economist from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life is an economics book written by Rochester professor of economics Steven Landsburg. The first edition appeared in 1993. A revised and updated edition appeared in May 2012. The underlying theme of the book, as Landsburg states on the first page, is that "[m]ost of economics can be summarized in four words: People respond to incentives." With this apparently innocuous observation, Landsburg discusses some unexpected effects of various policies such as automobile safety legislation and environmental policies. The rest of the book includes expositions on a wide range of topics, including budget deficit, unemployment, economic growth, and cost–benefit analysis. Chapter 4 covers the "Indifference Principle". Chapter 9 covers the Coase Theorem of professor Ronald Coase. The book is also recommended reading by the departments of economics at several universities.

Background Landsburg received a Master of Arts degree from the University of Rochester in 1974, along with a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Chicago. The now Rochester Professor of Economics released his first book, Price Theory and Applications in 1989 and followed it up in 1993 with the first edition of The Armchair Economist. Since then he has written for many different publications such as Slate, The Wall Street Journal as well as releasing numerous other books surrounding the topic of Economics. In 2012 Landsburg released a "revised and updated" version of the original work, aiming to present the same ideas within a 21 century context. He achieved this by rewriting some chapters while also adding over 80 pages bringing the book into the contemporary age.

See also Freakonomics The Undercover Economist

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Armchair Economist

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Armchair Economist claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Armchair Economist before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Armchair Economist ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Armchair Economist

In research: The Armchair Economist appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Armchair Economist in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Armchair Economist is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1993 non-fiction books, Economics and finance book stubs, Economics books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Armchair Economist outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Armchair Economist in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Armchair Economist means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Armchair Economist out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Armchair Economist in simple terms?

The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life is an economics book written by Rochester professor of economics Steven Landsburg. The first edition appeared in 1993.

Why does The Armchair Economist matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Armchair Economist?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Armchair Economist.