“The ECONOMY ISN’A BUNCH OF RATHER BULL STATISTICS WITH names like GDP (gross domestic product)，” notes Tim Harford，columnist and regular guest on NPR’s Marketplace， “economics is about who gets what and why。” In this acclaimed and riveting book–part exposé， part user’s manual–the astute and entertaining columnist from the Financial Times demystifies the ways in which money works in the world。 From why the coffee in your cup costs so much to why efficiency is not necessarily the answer to ensuring a fair society， from improving health care to curing crosstown traffic－all the dirty little secrets of dollars and cents are delightfully revealed by The Undercover Economist。

Introduction ix

ONE

 Who Pays for Your Coffee?

TWO

 What Supermarkets Don’t Want you to Know

THREE

 Perfect Markets and the “World of Truth”

FOUR

 Crosstown Traffic

FIVE

 The Inside Story

SIX

 Rational Insanity

SEVEN

 The Men Who Knew the Value of Nothing

EIGHT

 Why Poor Countries Are Poor

NINE

 Beer，Fries，and Globalization

TEN

 How China Grew Rich

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index