Trade‐Offs: An Introduction to Economic Reasoning, Third Edition, by HaroldWinter (The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2023), pp. 193

Harold Winter introduces readers to basic economic policy analysis in an accessible, light-hearted manner with his third edition of Trade Offs. Winter seems eager from the beginning of the book to challenge readers by probing thornier issues at the intersection between economic policy analysis and social policy outcomes. Winter presents a three-step approach to resolving social issues using economic thinking: identify the theoretical trade-offs of the issue in question; if possible, empirically verify and measure the trade-offs to determine whether the costs outweigh the benefits or vice versa; and finally, recommend (or implement) social policy based on the first two steps. This is a sound way of framing problem-solving for public policy students with an interest in economics. He demonstrates with ease how using the lens of trade-offs can lead to unexpected conclusions when considering social policy issues. As titled, his focus on trade-offs in economic analysis excludes a more comprehensive conversation on resolving complex social issues. This book is singularly focused on posing questions around trade-offs. My initial sense was that this misses opportunities for contextualising economic problems and risks treating most problems that professionals will encounter to be perfectly discrete, bounded and without any other externalities acting upon the participants or businesses given by his examples. However, this narrower focus gives Winter the ability to take readers through a long list of interesting problems and case studies. I have mixed views about this approach – I find that just as a topic is getting interesting, Winter shifts to the next, and all topics are a mere few pages each, curtailing detail or nuance. I note with interest and with a degree of concern from my own health-conscious biases that Winter challenges readers on fast food (Chapter 21), smoking (Chapter 18) and e-cigarettes (Chapter 20). Winter seems to enjoy challenging moralising instincts by discussing establishing a theoretical market for kidneys as suggested by Gary Becker (Chapter 3), although Winter's brief analysis would have benefited from Mohammad Akbarpour's more comprehensive and thought-provoking work on the economics of kidney exchange.1 Akbarpour has also commented that paying donors for kidneys could spur trafficking and black markets, a negative externality Winter does not consider. Winter's style of writing and easygoing prose invite the reader to feel like they are having a casual conversation with a contrarian-minded economist rather than wading through dense literature. If readers are not discouraged by Winter's appetite to spotlight the potential benefits of social faux pas, they will find in this book a litany of interesting and thought-provoking lessons of using trade-offs to start economic analysis of social policy issues. Winter's main example of trade-offs associated with a negative externality, by exploring the extension of Fontainebleau Hotel blocking the sun of Eden Roc Hotel (Chapter 5), was a clear example of the advantage of Winter's writing style. Using this simple example, Winter could pose questions of what the extension means to one party and what sunlight means to the other party in dollar terms, and provide a short overview of transaction costs and the liability rule. This was a compelling scenario, given the obvious real-world application of this style of problem. Property rights of businesses are often infringed upon by each other, and taking steps to quantify the negative externality can lead to sensible negotiations. The strength of using examples that public policy students can think back on when they embark on their careers is a habit I wish Winter, and other writers, undertook more consistently. Real-world-applicable economic problems are helpful when future policy-makers attempt to consider the impacts of government policy or try to understand the motivations behind certain business decisions. Although discussing alleged well-being benefits of smoking may be an easy and enjoyable method to demonstrate certain economic principles, ideally this would not be a scenario that readers experience often in their professional lives. Winter's examination in Chapter 12 of the monetary value placed on human lives by policy-makers was an interesting exercise that mirrored some of my own studies in economics. Examining the trade-offs we ourselves make for the value of a statistical life is one matter, but Winter also takes readers through the infamous decisions made by business in the famous case of the Ford Pinto as well as decisions made by governments. The Australian government estimates the value of statistical life at $ A 5.4 million in 2023, which is considerably lower than the US$5–10 million Winter gives in his 2023 third edition. Presumably Winter would make a wry comment about the Australian government's priorities. Trade-Offs provides an accessible and thoughtful coverage of using trade-offs as a step to resolving social issues by using economic thinking. Winter's book would have benefited from taking longer to examine some of the issues he covers in more detail; his fast-paced and shallow analysis of problems was at time frustrating. Public policy professionals wishing to expand their understanding of economics would find this book a useful entry point for further study.