Review by New York Times Review
ADAM SMITH and the fathers of traditional economics gave us the idea of humans as rational economic actors, primed to make self-interested decisions that lead to good outcomes for everyone. We have the founders of behavioral economics to thank for tearing this idea down over the last few decades. The leading lights in the field, such as the psychologist Daniel Kahneman and the Chicago economist Richard Thaler, have cataloged the seemingly countless ways in which we fool ourselves into making bad decisions that lead to problematic economic outcomes. Claudia Hammond, a BBC journalist, has come along to provide an approachable and very practical field guide to putting these findings into use and making smarter decisions with our own money. Employing the time-tested tools of pop-science journalism - chatty tone, self-deferential personal anecdotes and real-world examples - she animates all the various research findings. To explain the concept of "anchoring," for instance, she looks at credit card companies and the minimum monthly payments their customers are required by law to pay. While intended to protect customers, they also work to the companies' advantage: With the set minimum, the research shows, customers end up paying less than if there were no minimum at all, racking up ever more debt. Our thinking gets anchored to the minimum as the proper amount to pay. There's a self-help quality to Hammond's approach. On anchoring, she says that in negotiations or when putting your Tommy Bahama shirt on eBay, avoid setting an opening price. Any number you provide will establish a guideline for what your shirt is worth and will discourage bidders from going much higher. Hammond also draws out broader social consequences. To stick with anchoring, she notes that when lawyers in an experiment were given the facts of a shoplifting case and were then asked to randomly roll some dice, they recommended a longer sentence if the number on the dice they rolled was higher, a hint of the way unexpected and unrelated stimulus can wield enormous influence. In a particularly sharp chapter, Hammond looks at the pitfalls of financial incentives. Studies of children who have been paid to paint pictures show they lose their intrinsic motivation to paint. And when Israeli parents were fined for picking up their children late at preschool, they started being late more often. They came to see their timeliness as part of a transaction rather than a social responsibility. "The offer of money had 'crowded out' people's sense of civic duty," she writes. The whole chapter serves as a potent reminder of how counterproductive market-based solutions can sometimes be. Too much of "Mind Over Money" will be unsurprising if you've paid even passing attention to the work being done by behavioral economists and the numerous financial advice columns they have inspired. Most readers probably have heard that there's more joy to be gained spending money on experiences rather than on things - or that winning the lottery will not make you happier in the long run. But Hammond still spends six pages describing those unhappy lottery winners. At the end of the book, she mentions having cited 263 different studies, and by this point, it comes as no surprise. The book occasionally feels like a long night at the bar with a bunch of researchers recounting every study they've ever done, with only the thinnest of connective tissue. Some readers may just want to go back and read those who pioneered this research, like Kahneman and Dan Ariely, often good and entertaining writers themselves. But in a society that seems eager to introduce markets and money into more and more elements of daily life, there can be no shortage of reminders of how these markets - and our own irrationality in dealing with them - can lead us astray. NATHANIEL POPPER is a business reporter for The Times.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [January 1, 2017]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Hammond combines her considerable skills as a journalist, writer, and psychology teacher in this witty, wise, well-researched look at humans' complicated relationship with money. She begins, The ills of our society are not caused by money itself, but the way we use it. So how can we all do a better job of using money for good rather than ill? She devotes the rest of her entertaining, convincing book to answering that question, citing 263 studies to bolster her arguments. Some takeaways: spend on experiences rather than just things; pay with cash rather than credit cards (or at least envision the cash); and recognize that judicious praise can be a bigger motivator than money. (Young kids offered money to draw pictures put down their pencils the second a bell rings for break, whereas those who aren't paid keep intently making art.) Beware of deals, too. Part history, part anecdotes, part research, part tips, Hammond's deep look into our conflicted, world-shaping involvement with money provides striking insights, sage advice, humor, and much food for thought. For example: Money will only help us to live a more fulfilled life if we know what to do with it. --Springen, Karen Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
BBC radio host Hammond (Time Warped) writes, "Psychology shows that although sometimes we appear to make irrational choices about our money, in the longer term those decisions can turn out to be quite sensible." That may be true, but the argument isn't much helped by Hammond's concise summaries of numerous-by her count, 263-psychological experiments researchers have conducted to learn how money changes our thoughts, feelings, and actions. What's missing is a clear rationale for including consumer-focused insights into such subjects as pricing, attitudes toward poverty, and saving side by side with advice for charity fund-raisers and an analysis of compensation schemes for London financiers. Instead of actionable advice, Hammond offers 32 tips such as "Don't choose the same lottery numbers every week or you will never be able to stop playing" and "When you go to a restaurant with a group of friends, don't agree to sharing the bill equally until everyone has ordered." Britishisms such as "loo rolls" and examples that use British pounds and euros rather than U.S. dollars may put off some American readers of this U.K. import. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
BBC Radio 4 presenter Hammond (Time Warped) presents an intriguing analysis of the psychology of money and the complexity of our relationship with it. Delving into research in psychology, behavioral economics, neuroscience, history, and sociology, Hammond explains why currency has such a powerful influence on human behavior and thinking. She also includes numerous tips and tricks designed to help use and save it. The clearly written chapters address the early relationship with money formed during childhood, the puzzling carelessness the more expensive an item, why we hate losing money while recklessly gambling to win it, the importance of product pricing, the dynamics of saving, the joy of spending, why giving money away makes us feel better, and the influence of poverty on IQ and bad financial decisions. VERDICT While Hammond's blend of diverse research results covers more fields than found in Eric -Tyson's Mind Over Money or Brad Klontz's and Ted Klontz's Mind Over Money, either of those works should suffice for most public libraries. University libraries might prefer -Hammond's title with its broader empirical base that summarizes numerous experiments about money, while connecting with readers interested in learning more about the rich, complex relationship most people have with money.-Dale Farris, Groves, TX © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
