The Price of Everything - by Eduardo Porter (Paperback)

About the Book

Porter sets out to uncover the hidden logic of price and value that drives people's actions. The connections he uncovers are unexpected, sometimes shocking, always interesting, and ultimately highly enlightening.

Book Synopsis

"Porter's work out to ring up the audience for Steven Levitt's Freakonomics."
-Booklist

Many of the prices we pay seem to make little sense. We shell out $2.29 for coffee at Starbucks when a nearly identical brew can be had at the corner deli for less than a dollar. We may be less willing to give blood for $25 than to donate it for free. And we pay someone to cart away trash that would be a valuable commodity in poorer parts of the world.

The Price of Everything starts with a simple premise: there is a price behind each choice, whether we're deciding to have a baby, drive a car, or buy a book. We often fail to appreciate just how critical prices are as motivating forces. But their power becomes clear when distorted prices steer our decisions the wrong way. Eduardo Porter uncovers the true story behind the prices we pay and reveals what those prices are actually telling us.

Review Quotes

"At a time of seemingly proliferating risks, though, Porter's searching book is a welcome reminder of the necessity of prudent decision making."
-"The New York Times Book Review"
"Porter offers us a shiny new lens for understanding the relationships around us that we too often fail to see"
-"Harvard Business Review"
"Thoughtful, detailed, and fascinating..."
-"BookPage"
"While an elegant and enjoyable read, "The Price of Everything" is also timely: Porter makes a strong case in the wake of the recession that it's silly for economists and policy makers to assume people act according to rational assessments or even in their own best interest."
-"The Associated Press"
..".energetic tour of the daily cost-benefit analysis called life."
-Bloomberg News
..".both entertaining and enlightening."
-"The Financial Times"
"a lively guide through the morass of economic theory... Everything has its price, and here we

About the Author

Eduardo Porter has been on the staff of The New York Times since January 2004, covering economics, and joined the paper's editorial board in July 2007. He began his journalism career in 1990 as a financial reporter for Notimex, the Mexican news agency, in Mexico City. He was a correspondent in Tokyo (1991-1992) and in London (1992-1996). In 1996, Porter was appointed editor of the Brazilian edition of América Economía, a business and economics magazine based in Sao Paulo. In 2000, he became senior special writer for The Wall Street Journal, based in Los Angeles, covering the Hispanic population in the United States. He is a graduate of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He has an MSc in quantum fields and fundamental forces from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London.