A collection of the best bits from "Dear Undercover Economist"

I've been reading through the back catalogue of Tim Harford books. Earlier this year I read "Dear Undercover Economist", which is a collection of Dear Economist columns Harford wrote for the Financial Times. Tim Harford is a great author (and a great speaker - he was a keynote speaker at the New Zealand Association of Economists conference a few years back), and many of these columns (written in the style of an 'agony aunt' column) are hilarious.

This book is well worth reading, although since most of these columns are available online (either at the Financial Times (which may require you to sign up or subscribe) or on Harford's own site), I've collected a few of my favourites here (the short titles in the bullet points are mine):

• Do the costs outweigh the benefits of getting a girlfriend?
• Should children get sex education at school?
• Peltzman effects and driving like a lunatic
• Should you go along with an arranged marriage?
• Explaining the credit crunch if it was a fairy tale
• An answer to those pesky Nigerian scammers
• Where do missing socks go?

Enjoy!