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Dear Undercover Economist, Tim Harford, Abacus, 2009, paperback edition, 320 pages, £7.99, ISBN 978-0349121543.
EBEA members will be familiar with Tim Harford's previous books. They seem to be a staple of reading lists for ?-level students. Dear Undercover Economist gathers together the best of readers' questions and Tim Harford's answers from his column in the weekend edition of the Financial Times. The EBEA's reviews editor has passed on this small volume with the request that I suggest how it might be used in the classroom, and my initial response is that it can't! Admittedly, using game theory to calculate whether you should fake orgasms might get the class's attention, but do you really want the attendant News of the World headline dogging your career for evermore?
You could, of course, ignore my advice and consider using the chapter that illustrates the economic principle of sunk costs using bikini waxing as an example. Or perhaps you could teach...