Book review: Economics 2.0

I just finished reading Economics 2.0 by Norbert Haring and Olaf Storbeck. The subtitle is "What the best minds in economics can teach you about business and life", and the book takes a tour of some of the latest in economics research (as of 2009, when it was published). Haring and Storbeck are not researchers, so unlike books such as Freakonomics, this book doesn't contain a summary of the authors' own research. However, it is a grand tour of many areas of research in economics. As the authors explain in the preface:

...in recent years, economics and business studies have made huge strides. They have become more empirical, more realistic. It is this type of a contemporary economic science which we refer to as Economics Version 2.0.

That quote probably overstates the case. While the early chapters contain truly novel and pathbreaking work such as neuroeconomics, the book quickly devolves into more mainstream economics fare such as labour economics, trade, and financial economics. While the book is nicely written and engaging, I think it falls short of a vision of 'Economics 2.0'.

The highlight to me was actually the last chapter, where Haring and Storbeck present some of the most stirring arguments in economics, such as the argument between Foote and Goetz, and Donohue and Levitt, over whether legalising abortion reduced crime (more on that in a post tomorrow), and the argument between Oberholzer-Gee and Strumpf, and Liebowitz, over whether online piracy reduced music sales (which I have previously blogged about here).

Even though I think the title overstates the content of the book, I really enjoyed it. Haring and Storbeck write in an engaging, easy-to-read style that was easy to follow. If you want to see the breadth of economic research, this book will provide you with a good taster.