Homer Economicus: The Simpsons and Economics

Joshua Hall, Associate Professor of Economics at West Virginia University, likes to use Simpsons and Springfield references in his lectures. He mentioned the title as a proposed article to Professor Deirdre McClosky who said "that should be a book." I don't know if Hall has a low utility for work or a keen sense of Comparative Advantage, but he elected to solicit essays from other instructors rather than write the book himself.He collected 16, covering "The Economic Way of Thinking," "Money, Markets, and Government," and "Applied Microeconomics." Each appreciates The Simpsons and the result is a very enjoyable read."The invisible hand, as well as the four-fingered invisible "yellow" hands of the Simpsons, applies to more than what people usually consider to be the narrow scope of economic activity.""Unfortunately for Homer, he won’t be creating new money any time soon. For that matter , he won't be multiplying existing money either. Homer finds himself in the same situation as Bart in "I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." That episode begins with Bart writing over and over again on the chalkboard that he is not an FDIC-insured bank. D'oh!"Economics is one area where one is not too surprised to find 16 academics who are sympathetic to liberty and distrustful of government and central planning. Where the discussion wends its way into politics. the distrustful will be sympathetic to the arguments."If we start with the assumption that government is run by socially benevolent and well-informed central planners, then we would be rather indifferent between Pigouvian taxation , regulation, and the assignment of property rights as policy alternatives to correcting externalities. In reality, politicians and bureaucrats are every bit as self- interested as the rest of us human beings, and our judicial system might handle certain industries even more poorly than regulators. This requires us to consider the case-specific practical difficulties of implementing policies. On The Simpsons, 'Mr. Spitz Goes to Washington' provides one such case study of the difficulties involved.""For over a half a century government failure scholars believed that there was a bias in favor of government intervention as a solution to market failure. The Simpsons addresses this bias-- even if the show is possibly biased in the other direction. Even if we do not accept the perspective of The Simpsons on government, there is no getting away from the way in which it invites us to consider the alternative to any proposed government intervention in the economy."Some submissions are, of course, better than others. Andrew T. Young of West Virginia University has one of the longer and better articles on money. Building on the line in the “Trilogy of Error,” where Milhouse pleades, “I can’t go to juvey! They use guys like me as currency!” Young asks "Could Milhouse actually become money in the juvenile hall?" with a serious discussion of the functions of money and whether our bespeckled friend meets those requirements.Both economics and Simpsons geeks will enjoy it. Five stars.

Most academic disciplines disdain popularization in general, and pop culture in particular. This book is an example of why both those attitudes are misguided. It starts with the basics--the first chapters read as though they assume no prior knowledge of economics at all. While this reader was initially disappointed by how basic those early chapters are, I changed my opinion upon realizing that literally anyone who likes the Simpsons can pick up this book and be completely unintimidated by it. Chapter 2 stands out in particular for its quality of exposition and sense of humor. This alone makes Homer Economicus a valuable contribution; the world needs more people who understand the economic way of thinking.Once the basics are established, the book progresses to more advanced topics. There are high-quality chapters on public choice theory, behavioral economics, and other subfields. But if the non-economist reader absorbs the earlier lessons--and even if not, in many cases, so accommodating are the authors--that what once seemed arcane technical gibberish comes alive in easy-to-understand examples from the show.Homer Economicus would make a wonderful teaching tool for high school and undergraduate economics courses; teachers take note. It is also a good read for anyone who is a fan of the show, whether layman or professional economist. Bravo.

This is a decent supplement to understanding microeconomic principles, but don't rely on it as your only explanation of economics.It's been a while since I took a course in economics, and this book provided a decent overview of some of the principles. However, the chapters are a bit uneven. Moreover, a few of them definitely presented a point of view without really identifying the author's bias.On the plus side, it's a pretty clever idea of how to present economic principles. Some of the authors jump into the spirit of things, others less so.It's also a very readable volume, breaking down what can sometimes be very abstract principles that rely on mathematics into explainable text.Overall, the book is good. (I gave it three stars only because I had just finished a different book (not on economics) that, IMO, was better and I just could not justify four stars. So, bad timing. I think the book is most helpful for someone who had a course or four in economics a while ago and wants to review or at least think about microeconomics in a rather painless method. It's probably also pretty good as a supplement to a student who is taking an intro course and would like the principles explained in a different voice to fully understand them.

I teach economics at a university, and I would like students to read this as an introduction to economics. The book is fun to read, and it introduces students to all important economic principles. More advanced students should already know everything contained in this book, but for those beginning their studies in economics, or for those who are not students of economics but want to understand economics just enough to speak about it intelligently and vote prudently, this is a great book.

This is a book that should be an inter-active eBook. The examples are great, but would be much, much more effective if clips of the original cartoons were included.

A Must for Simpsons fans and a brilliant introduction to economics. Hall's collaboration of authors do a fantastic job of discussing 'Human Action' in terms of TV's most interesting and hilarious family, the Simpsons. I loved this book and use it for my Economics classes as a teaching tool.

This is the best introductory level economics book that I have read in a while. It has a fantastic collection of contributors, and who could argue with a title like "Homer Economicus"?

I really liked this book. I am in an entry level economics class and it really helped my understanding of topics. Not to mention, Dr. Joshua Hall is my professor and really knows his stuff! 5 stars!

Great read.

Quizás no profundice mucho en conceptos económicos, pero explica los básicos muy bien. Genial para iniciados en la economía