Book Bits | 13 January 2018

When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing
By Daniel H. Pink
Summary via publisher (Riverhead Books)
Drawing on a rich trove of research from psychology, biology, and economics, Pink reveals how best to live, work, and succeed. How can we use the hidden patterns of the day to build the ideal schedule? Why do certain breaks dramatically improve student test scores? How can we turn a stumbling beginning into a fresh start? Why should we avoid going to the hospital in the afternoon? Why is singing in time with other people as good for you as exercise? And what is the ideal time to quit a job, switch careers, or get married?

City of Debtors: A Century of Fringe Finance
By Anne Fleming
Summary via publisher (Harvard University Press)
Since the rise of the small-sum lending industry in the 1890s, people on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder in the United States have been asked to pay the greatest price for credit. Again and again, Americans have asked why the most fragile borrowers face the highest costs for access to the smallest loans. To protect low-wage workers in need of credit, reformers have repeatedly turned to law, only to face the vexing question of where to draw the line between necessary protection and overreaching paternalism.

Economic Psychology: An Introduction
By Erich Kirchler and Erik Hoelzl
Summary via publisher (Cambridge University Press)
Economic Psychology is the only up-to-date, English-language textbook that provides a comprehensive overview of theoretical topics in economic psychology and their relevance in applied fields. Written by two leading psychologists, the book looks at how people make decisions on the use of scarce resources, in particular money, from a psychological perspective. Starting with decision making and lay theories as basic building blocks of economic behaviour, the authors go on to explore three major markets where economic behaviour occurs as an interaction between individuals and companies or institutions – consumer markets, labour markets and financial markets – before considering the challenges of collective cooperation and economic prosperity.