---
product_id: 12498079
title: "The Undercover Economist Strikes Back: How to Run - or Ruin - an Economy Hardcover – January 16, 2014"
brand: "tim harford"
price: "$63.94"
currency: USD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 20
url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/12498079-the-undercover-economist-strikes-back-how-to-run-or-ruin
store_origin: US
region: United States of America
---

# The Undercover Economist Strikes Back: How to Run - or Ruin - an Economy Hardcover – January 16, 2014

**Brand:** tim harford
**Price:** $63.94
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Undercover Economist Strikes Back: How to Run - or Ruin - an Economy Hardcover – January 16, 2014 by tim harford
- **How much does it cost?** $63.94 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.us](https://www.desertcart.us/products/12498079-the-undercover-economist-strikes-back-how-to-run-or-ruin)

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- tim harford enthusiasts

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Another great book by Tim Harford
  

*by S***K on Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2019*

Following the author on his blog now switching to his books: a decision I’m not regretting at all. His books are fun to read and not only informative: you learn a lot. What’s the difference between macro and microeconomics? If you are totally in the dark about a subject like me, this is a great book to start. Or maybe because I was in the dark you’ve better not follow my recommendation. The author mentions that Keynes defined an economist as someone closer to Da Vinci more than to a grey technocrat. The economist literally has to be curious on anything around humans, be a mathematician, admite art, know history, understand humans and also have an instinct for fixing things closer to an engineer... (I’m just paraphrasing so please read the book!). The author in this book shows exactly that looking back in time, bringing stories alive and writing with an amazing prose to bring down closer to your mind and hearts a topic that the same author confesses had taken a very abstract road. It also helped me a lot to understand is our understanding of what makes whole human systems work economically: we started to learn this very very recently and however we advanced a lot yet we do not know so much. Also it makes a fair description of all the voices there on economists: where we are, where we are moving, and you get a better idea where politicians and quoting out of context depending on their political allegiances... clearly some things do not work, some work, and the low level detail yet is not fully understood: there is a lot to apply differently and create different societies however there are already some sound macroeconomics concepts that apply you like or not. Not physics but getting closer maybe...

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Tim Harford is a terrific expositor of modern economics
  

*by B***. on Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2015*

Tim Harford is a terrific expositor of modern economics.  I teach economics and have read all of his books and always learn something new and useful to incorporate in my classes.  Most of Harford's books deal with microeconomic issues or economic development.  This book focuses on macroeconomics, which is the study of the whole economy - the average level of employment and unemployment, the aggregate level of production (GDP), changes in the average level of prices (inflation) and policies to influence these variables.  Excellent discussion of the controversies in macroeconomics.  Harford is a very good writer and does a good job of explaining complex material.  Very highly recommended.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    This book is not the  worst,  but there are other more meaty books
  

*by L***L on Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2015*

For what this is, you'd do just as well to pick up something a bit meatier.This book is only suitable for people who have not taken a semester long course in Macroeconomics. If you have, then you can skip this.As far as picking up something meatier, the books that I have in mind are any of three:1. Basic Economics2. Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One3. Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic EconomicsThis book comes across as a bit too breezy and working a bit too hard to be funny/ approachable.For people who have already read on this topic a bit (like the present reader), the book comes across as a shill for Keynesian economics. And even after all that, the author does a lot of hemming and hawing about how stable and predictable is the Keynesian multiplier. He spends the first third of the book building up the idea of inflation and nominal growth and real growth and then finishes by saying that "We don't really know what the multiplier is." Give me a break.Later,  he does actually get around to discussing some classical economics, but only after he has built up Keynes first.Harford also spends time blowtorching James Rickards (whose books I have read/ am reading) and people who like the idea of the gold standard. In doing so, he goes over the same arguments that Krugman and other anti-gold people have been repeating against the gold standard camp. (He says that gold has nothing to do with the amount of goods and services produced in an economy, when the point that they were making was that gold is a way to constrain the amount of money that can be printed.)For the record, a 4th book that is worth reading in addition to this is: Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis.Verdict: Qualified recommendation. This book can be useful for someone who has ZERO understanding of Economics, since if they know a little bit then it is better than nothing at all. (A copy of this for every member of Congress would not be bad.) But for people who study Economics as serious hobbyists, then this book is just not that useful.

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*Last updated: 2026-03-17*