Inspiring Economics

I highly recommend this book to all economists. It is well written, informative and a pleasure to read. The first chapter, in particular, "Inspiring, Dismal or Boring Economics?" should be made required reading for all graduate students in economics, and even more so for their professors, especially at leading universities in the United States. Yew-Kwang Ng, Journal of Economic Literature Instead of ignoring the challenge to rational behaviour posed by several anomalies in behaviour, or abandoning rationality in the face of this challenge, Bruno Frey s Inspiring Economics provides a valuable extension of rational behaviour to incorporate these anomalies. This is an exhilarating study that I strongly recommend to everyone, including those like myself, who believe that the importance of these anomalies are sometimes exaggerated. Gary S. Becker, Stanford University, US Bruno Frey is one of a number of modern economists who believe (as I do) that economics should be importing rather than exporting ideas from elsewhere in the social sciences. In these sparkling essays, he shows that rational choice theory is enriched and sometimes revised by taking account of non-monetary rewards and incentives. With Frey, economics once again becomes an inspiring behavioural science. Mark Blaug, University of London and University of Buckingham, UK Economics can be inspiring often taking a stand against convention, achieving challenging results, discussing unorthodox viewpoints and suggesting new policies. Bruno S. Frey illustrates what he perceives to be the inspirational quality of economics and how this differs from the type of economics studied in many academic institutions. He introduces insights into economics from a psychological perspective, dealing with issues such as transformation of anomalies, identification in democracy and crowding effects, and focuses on intrinsic motivation and how it is undermined. Inspiring Economics also looks at the integration of economics and politics, covering topics including popular initiatives and referenda, authoritarian nations and foreign aid, and the way in which the cost of war is reflected on the capital market. This groundbreaking empirical study of human motivation and behaviour will be a fascinating read for those interested in economics and economic theory.