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Hardcover
293 pages
ISBN 9780300122237 Published April 2008
Yale University Press
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Nudge
Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness
By Richard H Thaler, Cass R Sunstein 

Related Blog Posts
Jack Covert Selects - Free Market Madness
Posted Jan. 8, 2009 10:54 a.m. by 800-ceo-read

Free Market Madness: Why Human Nature Is at Odds with Economics and Why It Matters by Peter A. Ubel, Harvard Business School Press, 272 pages, $26.95, Hardcover, January 2009, ISBN 9781422126097

Peter A. Ubel is a physician, so how is it that he ended up writing a book about the intersection of psychology and the free market for one of the most prestigious business publishers in the country? The quick answer is that he knows what he's talking about. The long answer is that he has "spent the better part of fifteen years researching the forces that influence the way people make decisions" and directs the Center for Behavioral and Decision Sciences in Medicine at the University of Michigan.

There has been a rash of behavioral economics books published recently that challenge the traditional view that human economic behavior is essentially rational. While most of the other books in the genre are subtler in their critique of that view, with titles like Nudge, Sway and Predictably Irrational, Ubel openly challenges the ways he believes traditional economics have failed us. Despite the book's title, though, Ubel is in no way anti-free market. He recognizes the tremendous wealth "of both opportunity and of consumer goods," that free markets have created, but also recognizes their fallibility.

With the meltdown of the economic system, there has been a lot a clamoring for more regulation of markets recently, but Ubel's critique is not a response to that crisis. His book is in response to "free market evangelists" who believe the market is the solution to every human ailment, even if it's an ailment the market itself seems to have created--such as the alarming increase in obesity in this country. As a physician on the front lines of the obesity battle, Ubel concentrates much of his focus on that problem, which he sees as a clear market failure. The problem, as Ubel sees it, is that those marketing products have spent so much time and money studying our behavior that they know more about how we make decisions than we do.

As you would expect from any book published by HBSP, Free Market Madness is well researched and intellectually engaging. Ubel weans us into the heavier issues with a brief history of both traditional and behavioral economics, while introducing us to the major players in each fields' development. Ubel definitely has a point of view and an agenda in this book, and as a self-described "flaming moderate" uses his platform to clamor for a middle way between free market evangelism and what critics of market regulation call a "nanny state." Regardless of whether or not you agree with the author, you will find the history and examples he provides a good addition to this ongoing conversation.



Two Discussions Worth Having
Posted Jan. 6, 2009 7:07 a.m. by dylan
In Uncategorized - 800 CEO Read Blog

The New York Times economics blog, Economix, has had two great posts recently that tie into recent business books and big ideas.

The first, Helping People Make Good Choices, was posted on Sunday by economics editor Catherine Rampell and discusses "libertarian paternalism," an idea at the center of Richard Thaler and Cass Sustein's Nudge. It covers irrational behavior (the bane of traditional economists) and the subtle ways in which we can influence people to act in their own and others' best interests. The post looks at recent papers published on the topic. (Harvard is releasing a book later this month entitled Free Market Madness that discusses this very topic. We'll have more on that book soon.)

Today's post from Harvard economist Edward L. Glaeser, Can Businesses Do Well and Do Good?, discusses whether businesses can be profitable both financially and socially. It references the recently released Creative Capital, which itself chronicles a debate on the issue by over 40 contributors, and is edited by TIME Magazine columnist Michael Kinsley. Glaeser asks:

The question of creative capitalism is whether there is some role for institutions that fall between traditional profit-making and nonprofit firms. Is the world being well served with these two clearly distinguished types of entities, one of which serves only shareholders and the other of which has some other goal? Does it make sense to consider hybrid organizations that have an obligation to earn financial returns, for some of their investors, and social returns for others?

I would like to humbly offer up Muhammad Yunus (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize) and his Creating a World Without Poverty--which discusses social businesses, and was a runner-up in our New Perspectives category this year)--as a possible answer to that question.



The Best Books of 2008 - Business Pundit Edition
Posted Dec. 17, 2008 3:24 a.m. by dylan
In Uncategorized - 800 CEO Read Blog

Business Pundit knows business books well, and has chosen the 10 from 2008 they think are the best. I think they have the right idea in describing the popular feelings of the year:

2008 came in two parts. Part I, which ran through Bear Stearns, carried the vestiges of prior years, when we thought we could get away with everything, never anticipating that in actuality, everything would get away from us. Some of the books on this list reflect that optimistic, braced mentality, when words like "social networking" still gave us more jitters than "401K."

The chosen 10 are:

  • The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash by Charles R. Morris, PublicAffairs

  • Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business by Jeff Howe, Crown

  • The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation by A. G. Lafley & Ram Charan, Random House (Jack Covert Selects)

  • Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, Little Brown

  • Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness by Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein, Yale University Press (Jack Covert Selects)

  • Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely, HarperCollins (Jack Covert Selects)

  • The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam, Portfolio (Jack Covert Selects)

  • A Sense of Urgency by John Kotter, Harvard Business School Press (Jack Covert Selects)

  • The Big Switch: Rewiring the World from Edison to Google by Nicholas Carr, W.W. Norton

  • The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder, Bantam

    • No qualms with that list here. As you can see, half of them were Jack Covert Selects. And I think they're right in stating "If these books don't cover every event of the year, they certainly cover the thought processes that trace through it."

    I would also recommend today's Business Pundit post on The Personal MBA. We've been big fans of the idea for some time, having published Josh Kaufman's Personal MBA Manifesto on ChangeThis in late 2005.

    And, we've posted it before, but here is the link to Business Pundits 25 Best Business Books Ever.



    The Best Books of 2008 - The Economist Edition
    Posted Dec. 16, 2008 3:07 a.m. by dylan
    In Uncategorized - 800 CEO Read Blog

    The Economist has chosen their books of the year in a variety of categories. You can go through the entire list here, but I've listed the choices in the Economics & Business category for quick review below.

    Other notable choices that could've been placed in the business category are A Splendid Exchange by William J. Bernstein, which was chosen in the History category (and we chose as the best book of the year on globalization), and Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein's Nudge from the Science and Technology category.



    Best Books of 2008 From the FT Management Blog
    Posted Dec. 3, 2008 3:48 a.m. by dylan
    In Uncategorized - 800 CEO Read Blog

    If you follow business books, you no doubt know that The Financial Times and Goldman Sachs award one book each year The Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year. What you may have escaped your business book radar is The Financial Times Management Blog and their picks of the 2008 crop. Most of the books that made the FT/Goldman Sachs shortlist made this list as well (I'll point them out below), the sole exception being William J. Bernstein's A Splendid Exchange. (Quick note: The FT.com Management Blog is based in the UK, and some of the books' publishers and subtitles are different than they are here in the States. I've gone with the US information below. If you're reading this overseas and need the UK information, head on over to the original post.) Without further ado, the list is:

    One more book was good enough to stop press, being added after the initial post. That book was Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World by Don Tapscott, published by McGraw-Hill.