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| ISBN: | 1591843626 (ISBN13: 9781591843627) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Eduardo Porter
Hardcover | Pages: 304 pages Rating: 3.36 | 1481 Users | 231 Reviews
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| Title | : | The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do |
| Author | : | Eduardo Porter |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 304 pages |
| Published | : | January 4th 2011 by Portfolio (first published January 1st 2011) |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. Economics. Business. Psychology |
Interpretation As Books The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do
Everything has a price, but it isn't always obvious what that price is.Many of the prices we pay seem to make little sense. We shell out $2.29 for a coffee at Starbucks when a nearly identical brew can be had at the corner deli for less than a dollar. We may be less willing to give blood for $25 than to donate it for free. Americans hire cheap illegal immigrants to fix the roof or mow the lawn, and vote for politicians who promise to spend billions to keep them out of the country. And citizens of the industrialized West pay hundreds of dollars a year in taxes or cash for someone to cart away trash that would be a valuable commodity in poorer parts of the world.
The Price of Everything starts with a simple premise: there is a price behind each choice that we make, whether we're deciding to have a baby, drive a car, or buy a book. We often fail to appreciate just how critical prices are as a motivating force shaping our lives. But their power becomes clear when distorted prices steer our decisions the wrong way.
Eduardo Porter uncovers the true story behind the prices we pay and reveals what those prices are actually telling us. He takes us on a global economic adventure, from comparing the relative price of a vote in corrupt São Tomé and in the ostensibly uncorrupt United States, to assessing the cost of happiness in Bhutan, to deducing the dollar value we assign to human life. His unique approach helps explain: * Why polygamous societies actually place a higher value on women than monogamous ones. * Why someone may find more value in a $14 million license plate than the standard issue, $95 one. * Why some government agencies believe one year of life for a senior citizen is four times more valuable than that of a younger person.
Porter weaves together the constant-and often unconscious-cost and value assessments we all make every day. While exploring the fascinating story behind the price of everything from marriage and death to mattresses and horsemeat, Porter draws unexpected connections that bridge a wide range of disciplines and cultures. The result is a cogent and insightful narrative about how the world really works.
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Rating Based On Books The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do
Ratings: 3.36 From 1481 Users | 231 ReviewsEvaluate Based On Books The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do
I got this book through the First Reads program.I was attracted to the idea of pop-economics book written since the latest recession. I enjoyed his first chapter, "The Price of Things" where he analyzes, among other things, the price of his daily coffee routine and his willingness to pay for it.However, he lost my interest for much of the middle of the book. It wasn't the I disagreed with the ideas he was promoting (in fact I agreed with many of them). Mostly it was the inconsistent manner inIn this unique take on economics, finance, valuation, culture, and society, Eduardo Porter addresses the curious costs that are innate in life, and how people manipulate them. With chapters addressing everything from stuff to life, happiness, work, and the future, he examines monetary costs as well as the expectations that surround expensive and cheap goods and services. In the introduction, Porter notes that both the rich and poor evaluate the costs and benefits of their choices, and the prices
A scattering of wild, rarely well-supported tidbits (We ought to pay bankers less. Americans are unhappier than the French because the French get longer vacations. Women go to church more than men because they make less money. Polygamy causes women to be valued more. Etc.) concluding in a symphony of Keynesianism. (We have economic problems because "free markets" haven't worked. UHHHH, WHAT free markets????? We need the government to fix all our problems and figure out for us what our
This was an excellent book. I really enjoyed reading it. The author took a very interesting look at prices (not just monetary prices) people pay for things and the possible reasons why. The author was able to make some intriguing connections between things that you don't normally think of as relating to each other and in all the book had a lot of good information I had not considered before. I would definitely recommend this book.
Genre: Pop-EconomicsI'm not sure what I think of this book... it was all over the map in what it discussed and what it tried to cover... and my initial reaction to many of the initial statements was -- "but modern business psychology has proven that people don't behave like that" (e.g. as the ultimate rational actors that classical economics seems to think we all are...) I thought the question it purported to try to answer, why we pay what we do was interesting, but that I didn't really feel
There are a lot of intriguing concepts in The Price of Everything, but I was bothered throughout by logic that seemed sloppy. But on the other hand, I mistrust my judgement a little bit because I had a vehement, irrational, negative emotional reaction to some of the book's content. Porter's key concept is that you can examine any decision in cost/benefit terms, and you can almost always find a way to quantify the cost and benefit in monetary terms (whether it's explicitly transactional or not).
This book is dense with information. It is organized into chapters on the price of freedom, the price of religion, the price of women, and others. I found most chapters interesting at first, although my interest level begin to diminish as the author beats his theme into the ground. He tries to compact so many facts into the book that it feels like a textbook from an upper level college course in economics. It could be cut to about half its length and still get its point across. There were a few
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