Summary: Great reading and very varied
Comment: This is probably Schelling's best book and is up against tough competition. But his mind is razor-sharp, his examples always fascinating and he is quite simply the best writer of economics around. This is not an introductory economics book - it's too original for that - but it is perfectly accessible to the general reader. Find out why neighbourhoods are segregated, why nobody sits in the front row of a lecture hall, and best of all, the economics of christmas card lists. A joy.
Customer Rating:
Summary: First tools for public policy and social behavior
Comment: Micromotives and Macrobehavior is one of those books (it is a collection of essays) that without being popular and known to many made an impact. First published in 1978 when economics of information was taking shape, this book falls within the realm of public policy with economic analysis foundations of strategic complementarities and expectations. Game theory makes some appearance here and there, after all Schelling first defined the concept of "focal point" in its previous work "The Strategy of Conflict". It does not require much economics or mathematical background to appreciate it. It is instead logic applied to patterns that are recognizable in real life. The leit-motif of the book can be defined as coordinating coordination failures in a wide range of social behaviors, that will become a standard tool in economics later in the 80s thanks to Russell Cooper and Andrew John, and in other social sciences, too. To quote a selected passage from this book: "there are at least two respects in which an ability to choose chromosomes might be unwelcome. One is that some of the things that we might be most motivated to choose have the quality that if we all choose what we individually prefer we are all a little worse off......The other difficulty......The skinny boy whose mother insists on violin lessons may wonder whether he might not have been big like the other boys if his mother hadn't traded size for musical talent before he was old enough to be asked what he preferred." Other than in eugenics, Schelling provides an intuitive and stylized account of many more irrational macrobehaviors led by personal, and sometime contradictory or rational micromotives. The book is highly readable for all kind of readers and recommended to all.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Supplement to an Applied Econ Course
Comment: Schelling explains the world of externalities with fun examples, supported by economic logic and mathematical models. Economists describe externalities as non-optimal market solutions that arise from individuals making decisions in their own self-interest. These are interesting because most of economics deals with describing how Adam Smith's "invisible hand," individuals acting in their own self-interest, produces efficient market solutions. Notable examples of externalities are pollution, traffic congestion, and education. Education is a positive externality, while the former two are negative externalities.
Although you don't have to be a mathematician or economist to understand Schelling's writing, those who aren't may get bored with the litany of mathematical possibilities that he uses to explain why some models help explain much of the phenomena he discusses. Barring that criticism, many of his examples entice the reader to think about things in a new light. For example, why do audiences tend to sit in the middle or rear seats and not up front during performances or why do we suffer from traffic congestion? The author describes how the overall result of too much traffic or empty seats in the front rows occurs from the numerous individual decisions people make on where to sit or drive. Thus, if the front ten rows in an auditorium were empty, everyone would be better off moving forward ten rows. Nothing would change in their relative positions in the audience, but everyone could hear better. Why doesn't this occur? Read Micromotives and Macrobehavior to find out.
As an economics instructor, I would consider using this book as a supplement to a course in applied economics (or mathematics). Schelling's writing could help interest student's in the subject matter of externalities more than many of the textbooks on the market. Great read!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Brain food! One of the best books for the analytical mind
Comment: Schelling's Micro Motives and Macro Behavior is food for the hungry brain. It's written for everyday folks who don't have a background in economics, but are willing to experiment. I'd recommend it for anyone who is studying the social sciences--especially if you're trying to understand where people come up with all these theories about politics, behavior, and the human world at large. Reading Schelling is like watching a favorite TV show. His prose is delightful, his selection of examples is easy for anyone to relate to (like buying lemons or adjusting a thermostat), and the way he writes, you forget that your brain is getting an intellectual workout. This book is positively sublime. You can read through it, cover to cover, in no time at all, and it's not until the end that you'll realize that you've been training your mind in positive economic theory --without the jargon, the mind-boggling graphs and charts, the formal models, the calculus, the supply and demand curves and all that googley-gunk that comes with most any primer on economics. Schelling's work is not just a classic, it's a masterpiece! And you don't need to be an economist or a doctoral candidate to appreciate it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good for the right audience
Comment: I agree with Pierce Inverarity's remarks about this book not being too ground-breaking micro-economics. But the book is still splendid reading for the right audience. When I gave the book five stars, it was not as an economist (yes, I also heard it all in the first weeks on the introductory course in micro-economics). The book is splendid because it teaches a basic economic world-view in a way which can engage people who are utterly uninterested in this kind of thinking.