science

The Undercover Economist

The Undercover 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 Undercover Economist rather than just read about it. In short: The Undercover Economist (ISBN 0-19-518977-9) (ISBN 0345494016) is a book by Tim Harford published in 2005 by Little, Brown. The book provides an introduction to principles of economics, including demand-supply interactions, market failures, externalities, globalisation, international trade and comparative advantage.

Key takeaways

The Undercover 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 Undercover Economist to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Undercover Economist from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Undercover Economist (ISBN 0-19-518977-9) (ISBN 0345494016) is a book by Tim Harford published in 2005 by Little, Brown. The book provides an introduction to principles of economics, including demand-supply interactions, market failures, externalities, globalisation, international trade and comparative advantage. It explains in non-technical terms how Starbucks and other coffee providers price their products, why it is hard to buy a decent used car, why the health insurance system in the United States is failing, and why poor countries remain poor while the People's Republic of China has continuously grown rich in the last couple of decades. Freakonomics author Steven Levitt called it "a rare specimen: a book on economics that will enthrall...Beautifully written and argued, it brings the power of economics to life."

See also The Logic of Life – 2008 economics book by Tim Harford

References

External links Official site

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Undercover Economist

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Undercover 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 Undercover 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 Undercover 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 Undercover Economist

In research: The Undercover 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 Undercover 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 Undercover Economist is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2006 non-fiction books, Economics and finance book stubs, Economics books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Undercover 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 Undercover Economist in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Undercover 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 Undercover Economist out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Undercover Economist in simple terms?

Why does The Undercover 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 Undercover 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 Undercover Economist.