Book Description
Fight fire with fire!
·Complete step-by-step walkthrough for all levels
·Descriptions and strategies to defeat Spyro's enemies
·Lists all items and objects and where to find them
·Tips and strategies for all 16 minigames
·Includes Gem finding secret
·Handy Dragonfly checklist
·Locations of all four Dragon Runes
·Detailed descriptions of Spyro's moves and abilities
Customer Reviews:
Enter the Dragonfly.......2007-01-10
Awesome!this tells you where all of the dragonflies are if you get stuck.There is also lots of good navigational advice.Very thorough game coverage...it's all here.
You will get stuck.........2005-07-21
And when you do, you'll be glad to have this book. The wandering ground is slightly expanded and things have gotten harder. Great tips on getting through the races. Don't play w/out this.
I lost my game file.......2004-06-21
Hay!,
I turned on my gameboy,went on my file......and gues WATE!My file was erased!and i worked so hared!I had 36 fierflys,1256 gems and was at crestelplanes!wwwwwwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaa!
600 STARS!!!!.......2003-11-05
This book is cool. This may help me finish ETD when I buy it! This book is even better than you thought!
Another helpful strategy book.......2003-02-27
We have all the Spryo games and now we have all the Spryo strategy books to go along with the games. These books have always been helpful and are very inexpensive. If you have this game for a child then this book will help them get through certain parts of the game as well as show them things they didn't even know about.
Book Description
An economist's version of The Way Things Work, this engaging volume is part field guide to economics and part expose of the economic principles lurking behind daily events, explaining everything from traffic jams to high coffee prices. The Undercover Economist is for anyone who's wondered why the gap between rich and poor nations is so great, or why they can't seem to find a decent second-hand car, or how to outwit Starbucks. This book offers the hidden story behind these and other questions, as economist Tim Harford ranges from Africa, Asia, Europe, and of course the United States to reveal how supermarkets, airlines, and coffee chains--to name just a few--are vacuuming money from our wallets. Harford punctures the myths surrounding some of today's biggest controversies, including the high cost of health-care; he reveals why certain environmental laws can put a smile on a landlord's face; and he explains why some industries can have high profits for innocent reasons, while in other industries something sinister is going on. Covering an array of economic concepts including scarce resources, market power, efficiency, price gouging, market failure, inside information, and game theory, Harford sheds light on how these forces shape our day-to-day lives, often without our knowing it. Showing us the world through the eyes of an economist, Tim Harford reveals that everyday events are intricate games of negotiations, contests of strength, and battles of wits. Written with a light touch and sly wit, The Undercover Economist turns "the dismal science" into a true delight.
Customer Reviews:
Much better than Freakonomics indeed!.......2007-10-04
I've read a number of "popular economics" books recently, and Tim Harford's is my favorite by far! His writting is witty and very much to the point.
flawed.......2007-06-11
Yes it is well-written. Yes it enlightens people ignorant re: economics like myself.
Unfortunately, anyone who bothers to match up his premises and conclusions will find gaps - no matter how rational and convincing the writing seems. There is a strong and obvious bias, especially at the concluding sections of each chapter, which diminishes the value of almost anything he says. At least I know what the issues are now, but from his writing I can't depend on Harford for unbiased data.
A clear, enjoyable, and educational read.......2007-06-11
The strength of this book is that Harford explains pretty traditional, mainstream economics in a way that the non-economist can appreciate and realize its importance. With all sorts of politicians and special interest groups touting economic policies to make the world a better place, Harford's book helps us to be better citizens and make informed decisions. And I found Harford to be a pretty engaging writer that made the chapters breeze by.
Most interesting to me with the chapter on health care, which explains why it is so costly and unsatisfactory in the United States with private insurance, and quite frankly, isn't much better in other countries with national health care plans, such as the UK. Harford cites Singapore as an example where patient choice coupled with governmental intervention in the event of extremely costly health care as a system that works, and explains the economics behind it.
Given the enormous discussions on free trade, immigration, health care reform, and effective economic policies for developing nations, Harford's book is quite welcome in neatly spelling out the economic issues and the paths to progress in what I felt was a balanced view of the issues. I'm glad I read it.
CD verson was very insightful and great fun!.......2007-06-06
First I will point out that I never had a course in econ, so that may be part of the reason I found this work to be so wonderful. In the CD version Robert Ian MacKenzie reads the book so that you think some devilish man is taking great delight in revealing to you the wicked ways of how the world works. Trickery and trust issues are a big part of this. The author, through MacKenzie, points out that the difference in a few cents worth of ingredients differentiates a product sold for about one dollar from one, more special, sold for three dollars.
I do agree with another reviewer that the used car argument made by the author is not that tight. But an important concept is being advanced nonetheless.
One of the many good takeaways for me is the economists' notion of truth, wherein the truth is determined by what people do and not what they say. What is important to people is shown by what they freely choose when they have the chance, and may have little to do with what they want their government to do or provide for them.
It clearly is pro-capitalist, and well defends that view. E.g., while not being in favor of harsh conditions, it notes that sweatshops are not the problem but rather a symptom of worse alternatives the workers in a sweatshop have available to them. Sweatshops didn't cause terrible poverty, but even sweatshops make the lives of workers better.
Overall I found this to be great fun to listen to. Intellectually, it is a powerful source of information and ideas to anyone who is not familiar with economics (I can't speak for those who are).
Not comparable to Freakonomics.......2007-06-05
In The Undercover Economist, Harford covers economic topics such as externalities, comparative advantage, market failures, game theory, globalization and international trade. The author uses past and present easy to understand phenomena to illustrate the market forces leading to why things are the way they are, i.e. exorbitant prices at Starbucks.
Compared to Freakonomics, Harford's book is more academic and significantly less entertaining to read. Much of what he discussed can be found in beginning college economic courses.
As a business graduate, this book wasn't particularly useful to me. In particular, I took issue with three of Harford's assertions:
1. Harford claims you can never purchase a decent used car for a fair price. Without getting into the details of his reasoning, one can look no further than the used car market in the U.S. I have bought and sold decent used cars at or below blue book value numerous times. As a buyer of a used car, anyone can simply have a mechanic check the car before the purchase to avoid a lemon.
2. Harford, like most economists is in favor of abolishing all tariffs expeditiously. Tariffs almost always lead to inefficiency and possibly market failure. Harford is also in favor of not rushing market reforms. He cites China as the biggest success story of gradual market reform. Russia, on the other hand, failed to implement market reforms because of moving too quickly. His belief that drastic market reforms should be executed gradually and thoughtfully is in contradiction with his idea of removing trade barriers such as tariffs quickly.
3. Harford sees sweatshops as a stepping stone to economic improvements in developing countries. He mentions most economists are in favor of this controversial practice. But he fails to propose alternatives to ease the burdon of the resulting child labor and the abuses that accompany it. Where there are sweatshops, there is child labor and work under duress. Almost all children involved in sweatshops will lose valuable education. Harford advocates education as one of the remedies to cure poverty. How will child labor move any country closer to an educated work force?
This book is undoubtedly useful to any reader who has limited knowledge of macro and micro economics. For those who have more than a casual understanding of economics, there are other books that are more educational.
Book Description
“The economy [isn’t] a bunch of rather dull statistics with names like GDP (gross domestic product),” notes Tim Harford, columnist and regular guest on NPR’s Marketplace, “economics is about who gets what and why.” In this acclaimed and riveting book–part exposé, part user’s manual–the astute and entertaining columnist from the Financial Times demystifies the ways in which money works in the world. From why the coffee in your cup costs so much to why efficiency is not necessarily the answer to ensuring a fair society, from improving health care to curing crosstown traffic–all the dirty little secrets of dollars and cents are delightfully revealed by The Undercover Economist.
“A rare specimen: a book on economics that will enthrall its readers . . . It brings the power of economics to life.”
–Steven D. Levitt, coauthor of Freakonomics
“A playful guide to the economics of everyday life, and as such is something of an elder sibling to Steven Levitt’s wild child, the hugely successful Freakonomics.”
–The Economist
“A tour de force . . . If you need to be convinced of the everrelevant and fascinating nature of economics, read this insightful and witty book.”
–Jagdish Bhagwati, author of In Defense of Globalization
“This is a book to savor.”
–The New York Times
“Harford writes like a dream. From his book I found out why there’s a Starbucks on every corner [and] how not to get duped in an auction. Reading The Undercover Economist is like spending an ordinary day wearing X-ray goggles.”
–David Bodanis, author of Electric Universe
“Much wit and wisdom.”
–The Houston Chronicle
From Publishers Weekly
Nattily packaged-the cover sports a Roy Lichtensteinesque image of an economist in Dick Tracy garb-and cleverly written, this book applies basic economic theory to such modern phenomena as Starbucks' pricing system and Microsoft's stock values. While the concepts explored are those encountered in Microeconomics 101, Harford gracefully explains abstruse ideas like pricing along the demand curve and game theory using real world examples without relying on graphs or jargon. The book addresses free market economic theory, but Harford is not a complete apologist for capitalism; he shows how companies from Amazon.com to Whole Foods to Starbucks have gouged consumers through guerrilla pricing techniques and explains the high rents in London (it has more to do with agriculture than one might think). Harford comes down soft on Chinese sweatshops, acknowledging "conditions in factories are terrible," but "sweatshops are better than the horrors that came before them, and a step on the road to something better." Perhaps, but Harford doesn't question whether communism or a capitalist-style industrial revolution are the only two choices available in modern economies. That aside, the book is unequaled in its accessibility and ability to show how free market economic forces affect readers' day-to-day.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Bookmarks Magazine
Harford exposes the dark underbelly of capitalism in Undercover Economist. Compared with Steven Levitt’s and Stephen J. Dubner’s popular Freakonomics (*** July/Aug 2005), the book uses simple, playful examples (written in plain English) to elucidate complex economic theories. Critics agree that the book will grip readers interested in understanding free-market forces but disagree about Harford’s approach. Some thought the author mastered the small ideas while keeping in sight the larger context of globalization; others faulted Harford for failing to criticize certain economic theories and to ground his arguments in political, organizational structures. Either way, his case studies—some entertaining, others indicative of times to come—will make you think twice about that cup of coffee.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.
Customer Reviews:
Good Read About How Economics Affects Us.......2007-10-05
"The Undercover Economist" by Tim Harford gives readers an economist's view of many aspects of how the free market works and how it can bring about certain societal conditions.
Topics discussed in "The Undercover Economist" include the power of controlling scarce resources, how supermarkets price goods to maximize profits and confuse consumers, and how inside information affects negotiations.
An interesting chapter Why Poor Countries Are Poor evaluates the role corruption and kleptocracy play in keeping poor countries poor. Harford points out that corruption is not only unfair, but it's also ineffective at distributing resources and growing a country's economy.
As one resident of a poor country notes, even if the country receives massive financial aid to improve infrastructure, it doesn't matter, because the dictators tend to pocket the money. And, what is actually spent on infrastructure is often wasted.
Harford writes: "Development projects are often commissioned by people with no great interest in success but a great interest in bribes and career advancement. If the effectiveness of the project is a minor consideration, then it can hardly be a surprise if the project does not deliver on the publicly announced aims, even if it has delivered on the real aims of enriching bureaucrats." [Unfortunately, this is happening more and more in America today due to the growth of earmarks, where politicians set aside government investment for specific projects. These projects benefit cronies who in turn support the politicians.]
People have little incentive to get an education in a corrupt country, because people don't receive jobs based upon meritocracy. Jobs are given to political cronies. Governmental institutions then become dysfunctional. The institutions tend to become more corrupt. The lesson: institutions do matter, and an objective rule of law is crucial to a country's economic well-being. The citizens of a country ultimately pay for political corruption.
"The Undercover Economist" devotes one chapter to understanding what happened during different government auctions of cellular radio spectrum, i.e., the right to create cellular networks and thus sell phone service to customers. How the auctions were set up played a major role in determining if the auctions were effective in raising revenue for the government.
Harford compares the spectrum auctions to auctioning off your house, worth $300,000 and receiving either $3,000 or a whopping $2.3 million. The author includes a good discussion of poker and game theory. In the case of the successful U.K. auctions, Harford says economists showed they could "earn their keep."
"The Undercover Economist" argues it's important to set rewards and penalties, so it's in the best interests of people and industries to behave responsibly (we'll just define "responsibly" as meaning what broader society wants). By doing so, Harford suggests economic policies can address major problems not usually considered economic in scope.
For example, Harford discusses how sulfur emissions were reduced by auctioning off the rights to produce a given quota of sulfur emissions. Harford explains: "They [the EPA] set up an auction for the right to emit sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain. Polluters were given a quota of emission permits and could either buy more permits in the auction or reduce their emissions by shutting down, installing sulfur scrubbers, or buying cleaner coal. When the EPA simply tried to tell them to install sulfur scrubbers, the power generators argued that it would be very expensive to do so, and they lobbied hard to stop the mandatory regulation. Even the EPA estimated that the cost of reducing sulfur dioxide emissions by one ton would probably be in the range of$250 to $700 and might be as high as $1,500. But when the EPA conducted the auction in 1993, very few polluters made high bids. The companies had been exaggerating their costs. By 1996, permit prices had fallen to $70 a ton, and even at that price many polluters were buying cleaner coal or installing scrubbers rather than buying permits to continue polluting. ... The regulators discovered that getting rid of sulfur dioxide was so cheap that few people were willing to pay much for the right to keep producing it."
Harford says economists today could create the same sort of auctions for dealing with greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming. Through such an auction system, Harford says, we'd quickly learn just how much it really costs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"The Undercover Economist" by Tim Harford is a readable introduction to many aspects of economics and how they play out in everyday life.
The Economist as Detective.......2007-09-19
Ever since the surprise success of "Freakonomics", a flood of economics books for the general public have been published, all trying to cash on the success of that peculiar best seller. According to the principles explained in Tim Harford's book, that is probably a mistake: profits come from scarcity - so further books about `the economics of everyday life' face diminishing returns. And yet, Harford offers several explanations as to why such books may continue to be published: one is that if everyone thinks that economics books are going to be best sellers, an editor who wouldn't publish economics books may lose her job. I'm merely speculating, of course, but this is what happened (with dotcom stocks instead of econ books) to Tony Dye, chief executive of Phillips & Drew (pp. 135-137).
Tim Harford's stuff, though, is worth reading. A regular contributor to slate.com and the financial times, Harford has the gift of explaining complicated economic ideas in accessible language.
Although the comparison to "Freakonomics" is made prominently by the book's cover (which in my version includes an endorsement from Freakonomist Steven Levitt himself, as well as a description as the "elder sibling" of Freakonomics by `The Economist'), `The Undercover Economist' is the better economics book. Freakonomics, after all, doesn't teach too much economics: beyond emphasizing that "people respond to incentives" (an important message, for sure) it answers such questions as whether Sumo wrestlers cheat (They do) and what name should you give your child (It doesn't matter). Harford, on the other hand, explains such valuable economic concepts as rent seeking, externalities and asymmetrical information, and does so in a language that suits both academics and laypeople, with fun examples and a little history of economic though to boot. What more can you ask for in a popular book?
For those with a little knowledge of economics (I have an undergraduate degree in Business Economics) much of it will be familiar. And yet there are enough interesting tidbits that don't make it into your average introductory economics textbook. The chapters about the stock exchange and the application of game theory for auctions were both informative, thought provoking, and fun to read.
For me, the great revelation was the discussion of the environmental effects of globalization. I admit that I have long considered environmental damage to be the most credible counter argument to economic benefits of trade; But Tim Harford makes a good case that that ain't so. "Races to the Bottom" in which countries compete for the worse environmental regulations are unlikely, Harford argues - the advantage in producing "dirtily" is simply not big enough. Rather, Harford shows that protectionism leads to over production, and thus to pollution. And yet, Harford acknowledges that economic growth as such does hurt the environment. And therefore the dilemma of environmentalism or growth is not entirely imaginary - just exaggerated.
There are times when Harford does not raise his opponent's best arguments. In the chapter on free trade, Harford does not discuss various theories of Path Dependencies and learning curve. In the chapter of poverty, he hardly discusses the effects of the environment on economic growth (a major issue in Jeffrey Sachs'The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time), or the questionable legacy of western imperialism. I'm not saying that these are irrefutable objections - quite the contrary - but Harford doesn't quite do them justice.
Still, Harford's book is well written, entertaining, and informative. It targets the economically challenge but has something to offer to all readers, no matter how economically astute.
An excellent treatment of everyday economics.......2007-08-26
I must begin by saying that I liked this book very much. Not to cut suspense, since the review is obviously favorable all along, but just to set a positive tone for the start.
On the surface, "The Undercover Economist" is just another popular economics book, of the kind that is quite common lately (Freakonomics is one example that immediately comes to mind). However, once you finish reading it (paying attention all the way, of course), you realize it presents some relatively deep ideas, explaining them very thoroughly and logically connected pieces from different aspects of economics.
The book begins by a thorough overview of supply and demand, providing simple and befitting examples, both from real life and imaginary. Next, it treats the topic of price targeting (also called "differential pricing") - with really a huge assortment of examples from diverse fields. Then, it explains about free markets and what's good about them.
The connection of market freedom to "finding the truth" is enlightening, and becomes even more so while reading further. The author then moves to more macro-economic topics, discussing globalization and the economic situation in third world countries, such as Cameroon. Finally, he concludes the book with a thorough treatment of the changes in the Chinese economy in the past 30 years. This is the best part of the book, in which all the concepts presented in previous sections come together to explain why the communist system prevailing in China before 1976 failed, and why the gradual freeing of its economy in the years that passed since succeeded on a magnificent scale.
Here are another few topics that I found interesting, in no particular order:
* Why is wine always very expensive in restaurants ? Because one of the big costs in a restaurant is table space. Restaurants would therefore like to charge customers for dawdling, but because they can't do that, they charge higher prices for products that tend to be consumed in longer meals, like wine, appetizers and desserts.
* The story of how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the USA reduced sulfur pollution problems in the 1990s by cleverly issuing "pollution permits" that factories could buy. This way, the "truth" was exposed - the real costs of pollution reducing equipment to companies.
* Did you ever think about what an "efficient economy" means. Simple. If we can point to a change that could make at least one person better off, and nobody worse off, we (economists) say that the current situation is inefficient. This simple explanation is much deeper than it first appears, as it sets one of the basic rules of free markets - in an efficient market, everyone lives on the margins (excepts of one having scarcity power). If some field is too profitable, more competitors will enter it.
* There is an excellent treatment of the problems with the USA's current health care system that's worth reading, not only for Americans.
* When we bash dictatorships in third world countries, we must keep in mind that not all dictatorships are equally bad. In fact, stable dictatorships damage their country's economy much less than unstable ones. This is because stable dictators expect to stay in power for a long time, and hence don't have an interest to rob the economy too much, because that will reduce from their future profits. Unstable dictators, OTOH, are the worst kind - they just come to power, steal as much as possible and disappear. The author cleverly compared stable dictatorships to biological viruses, that have over time evolved not to kill the host body, but rather to use it in order to feed and reproduce to other bodies.
As I mentioned, I really liked this book. In fact, I think it's one of the best popular-economics books I've ever read. It is very highly recommended.
Powerful and fun!.......2007-08-08
Who said that economics was boring?
Tim Harford, a young English economist, has written a splendid book, probably the best I have read of its kind, about the application of the basic economic principles to little things. This book is for anyone with common sense ---even economists--- who want to better understand the world we live in.
The analysis is rigorous and consistent, yet simple and fun. In a natural way, Harford reaps the rewards of almost 300 years of economic doctrines to explain how things work, why frequently they fail to work properly, an what can be done to fix them.
Setting "good economics" at the service of anyone who wants to learn from it, the author explains with a clean logic why freedom and trade probably are the main pillars of modern societies. Indeed, it seems that there is not more direct way for achieving sustained economic growth and social development.
Harford emphasizes the goodness of a free market, in which prices give adequate information for efficient resource allocation, but without idolatrizing this system of exchange. In fact the author devotes many pages of the book to explain the serious problems that emerge when imperfections, as the lack of competition, the presence of externalities, information asymmetries, and inadequate institutions, are important.
Current affairs as corruption, poverty, globalization, environmental problems, and the emergence of China are analyzed with good detail under the magnifying glass of the "undercover economist", who always offers a fresh perspective of the problem and an opportune remark. If these remarks were listened by at least some of the people that actually takes policy decisions, no doubt it will deliver some gains to more than one person without taking from any other.... Pure economics!
Econ 101 Deja Vu.......2007-07-21
Not as incisive as all the reviewers seemed to think....that is all those folks in New York and Washington. A nice review of how principles of economics work out in the marketplace. A bit thin on decisions made by individuals. Still, a useful primer for the person who never thought about economics before.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Cato Journal, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1897 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor - and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!(Book review)
Author: Robert Formaini
Publication:
The Cato Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 26
Issue: 1
Page: 204(4)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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