Happinomics? New Book Says Economics Can Make You Happier

When it comes to learning about happiness, most people wouldn't think to turn to an academic economist for insight. But Tyler Cowen's new book, ""Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist," proposes that economics can help you make better choices and even become happier.

If that doesn't sound like the market-clearing prices you learned about in Econ 101, you haven't been paying attention to the expansion of economic notions into areas that economists never would have visited thirty years ago. Cowen's book follows the recent popularizing tradition of Tim Horford's "Undercover Economist" and, of course, Levitt and Dubner's omnipresent "Freakonomics."

The new economics is expansive. In this podcast with Cowen, host Russ Roberts proposed that "Economics is the study of how to get the most out of life." And Cowen's new book shows how to go about that.

Cowen is co-editor of the hugely popular econoblog "Marginal Revolution," which has (according to Google) 288 references to happiness. So he's no stranger to applying economic concepts and tools to the small problems of everyday life.

As Cowen told Roberts, "When you can do all of those things (eat, and survive), different areas of life at the margin become increasingly important for your happiness, well-being, and virtue." That may include what art to spend time with at a museum, what restaurant to choose in a strange city, or even how to get your daughter to help with the dishes.

The overarching idea of the book is that we swim in a sea of choice and incentive, and understanding how we -- and those we interact with -- address them can help us make better decisions and become ... yes, happier. As Publisher's Weekly says, the book shows you "how to get more of the good stuff in life."

---
75% of the reviewers at Amazon have given the book four or five stars.

To buy "Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist" at Amazon, click here or on the photo.