The Representor, From the Business Section, Fall 2007

A book review by Dan Beaulieu
The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas
by Robert H. Frank
Publisher: Perseus Publishing
Hardcover * 236 pages (with index)
Published: May 21, 2007 * Price: $26
ISBN: 9780465002177

If you loved Freakonomics, and if you just could not put down The Tipping Point, then you are going to love The Economic Naturalist by Robert H. Frank. This is another of those books that’s just plain fun (not to mention informative as hell) to read. Frank, a professor or Economics at Cornell University, answers most of those questions that you’ve wondered about ... things that have kept you up nights. He covers questions like:

• Why is there a light in your refrigerator but not your freezer?
• Why do they sell newspapers in open vending machines but not soda?
• Why do supermarkets in even small towns stay open 24 hours a day even though they have only four or five customers a night?
• Why do black and white photographs cost more to develop than color ones?
• Why do drive-up ATMs have Braille?

That last one is my personal favorite. And because it is, I will cave here and tell you why. It’s because the screens are mass produced and it would be expensive to make some special ones just for the drive-ups. You, of course should know that there are walk-up ATMs that should and do have Braille.

All right, I’ll give you another one: Why are whales, but not chickens, in danger of extinction? The answer is that someone owns chickens but no one owns whales. They swim in international waters and thus no one really protects them, so the Japanese and Norwegians can freely kill as many as they want. Yuck!

Anyway, you get the idea. But just in case you don’t, here are a few more questions to whet your whistle:

• Why are brown eggs more expensive than white ones?
• Why are milk cartons square while soda bottles are round?
• Why do bars give away free peanuts? (This is an easy one!)
• Why do some mobile phones sell for 40 bucks while batteries for them cost 60 bucks?
  

Okay ... want to know the answers? Then get over to the business section of your local bookseller and pick this one up for yourself. I bet you can’t get home before opening it and peeking at some of the answers.

Dan Beaulieu is the co-founder of D.B. Management Group L.L.P., a consulting firm specializing in rep-principal relationships. His latest book is Printed Circuit Board Basics, Fourth Edition. He can be reached by phone at 207-873-0793, or by e-mail at danbbeaulieu@aol.com.

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2007 Electronics Representatives Association (ERA), Chicago, IL 60611
Originally printed in the Fall 2007 issue of The Representor
Cannot be reprinted without the permission of the Electronics Representatives Association (ERA)