Freakonomics is a collaboration between economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner that delves into the riddles of everyday life, from cheating and crime to parenting and sports. The book argues that economics is fundamentally the study of incentives and how people get what they want or need, especially when others want or need the same thing. It covers various topics such as the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about real estate agents, and the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, using forceful storytelling and wry insight to challenge conventional wisdom.
In 'The Family Firm', Emily Oster uses her background as an economist and business school professor to provide a framework for parents to make informed decisions about their children's education, health, extracurricular activities, and independence. The book introduces the 'Family Firm Toolbox', which includes the 'Four F's': Framing the Question, Fact-Finding, Final Decision, and Follow-Up. Oster emphasizes the importance of a systematic approach to family decision-making, drawing parallels between managing a business and managing a family. The book covers various topics such as choosing the right school, encouraging a healthy diet, and navigating day-to-day family logistics, all with a focus on reducing stress and making better decisions[2][3][5].
In 'Hate the Game', Daryl Fairweather applies high-level economic concepts such as game theory and behavioral economics to everyday life decisions, offering strategies for navigating career, relationships, and personal choices. The book combines personal anecdotes with historical and pop culture references to make economics accessible and empowering for readers.
It makes sense that economic principles could be a useful guide in deciding what career to pursue, but what if they’re also the key to deciding whether to ask for a promotion, who to marry, or what house to buy?
Daryl Fairweather is the chief economist at Redfin and the author of the book, Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work. Through the lens of behavioral economics and game theory, the book provides readers with practical strategies for navigating some of life’s biggest decisions.
Daryl and Greg discuss how economic principles can be applied to real-life decisions, from careers to family planning, and insights into the housing market’s complexities including bidding wars, changes to how buyers’ agents are paid, and where the market might be headed.
*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*
Episode Quotes:
Can exposure to economics change the way people interact?
04:31 Economics provides a really useful framework for making decisions. We have utility theory, right? So you just go with the decision that has the higher expected utility. And I do not think many people think about decisions that way. They get caught up in things like sunk cost fallacies or status quo bias. So having that understanding of both economics and the behavioral part—incorporating the psychology into it—I think allows me, and I think a lot of other, hopefully more people who read the book, to feel more confident in the decisions. I think a lot of people know what the right decision is, but they do not really have the confidence to make it because they are not really thinking through it in terms of what will maximize my utility.
Don’t hate the player, hate the game
52:06 Just because the economy is unfair, and it is unfair for a whole host of reasons—it is not all, like, nefarious reasons. Sometimes games have these inherent flaws in them…[52:28] But if you see that you can navigate around it, you do not have to hate yourself for trying to make it in this economy. You can just see the economy for what it is, and its flaws, and still try to excel at it.
The housing market needs big interventions
29:17: I think we definitely need some, some big interventions in the housing market. We've seen a lot of policy changes in California, which if California alone fixed its housing problems, it would probably fix housing problems for the entire country…[29:40] But California's problems I think are deeper than just zoning. They have Prop 13, which gives a much lower property tax rate to existing homeowners…[29:59] So, I think there's a lot that we could do to make housing better than what it is right now because it is pretty dire.
How PhDs undervalue themselves
18:41 I think where a lot of PhDs make a mistake is they do not really understand how valuable they are, and they get stuck in the first job that they went to straight out of grad school, not realizing how many other opportunities there are where they could earn just as much money, or maybe even more money, and have even broader opportunities. But they just kind of, like, stay put because they do not see that broader world around them. They are very good at taking PhD students and turning them into professionals, but then they get the benefit that most of those people hang on for a very long time and do not really go and look at what their other opportunities are, because I think if they did, they would see that they would be very valued outside of just consulting.
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unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc 
