Tyler Cowan in Playboy

I’m jealous- Tyler Cowan’s book reviewed by Playboy.

Economists deal in scarcity, and Cowen believes that "in our highly civilized society the scarcities I notice most often are those of attention and time." He devotes his chapters to taking back control of these resources in our normal lives through a series of incentive exercises, tips and introspection. He devotes an entire chapter to the "dangerous and necessary art of self-deception" -- i.e., how as a society we will simply overlook counterproductive ways of spending our time. Brainstorming meetings at work fall under this kind of "illusion of group productivity." Membership at a gym is another delusion we all work under, as most often we'll never work out as much we think we will, or calculate how much we'll pay to think we will.