Choice and Consequence

This book consists of 15 chapters and Shelling intends to make use of his line of economic reasoning to throw light on a considerable variety of intriguing real world issues such as organised crime, circumstances of dying, policy ethics, vicarious problem-solving, self-command, and mind consumption. To him, economists are used to tilt towards the efficacy of money. Compromising between the hard question of efficiency and equity, public policy is always concerned with the distribution of income and wealth to the unfortunate and the disadvantaged and it is used to involve the question of `how much'. The line of economic reasoning helps decision makers to compare identifiable or something better alternatives in order that distributional objectives can be accomplished in a least wasteful way. It also contributes to the clarification of issues that involve misplaced or misidentified ethics. In discussing on how people think, behave, and act for themselves, Shelling suggests that people do not always adopt the individualist-utilitarian approach and they can have different goals and tastes at different times. It is not surprising that an individual can make a rational choice at a time but he finally does not act accordingly. For instance, an individual knows that smoking is detrimental to health but he cannot keep himself from smoking because an alternate self is in command. Moreover, people loves reasoning their way into a menu of beliefs and disbeliefs they know to be false. Human mind is something of an embarrassment to economists and other social scientists who have believed that people are used to act as rational consumers in making orderly successive comparisons of products. He suggests that the deprivation of `pareto superior' through physical constrains or coercive environment can minimise opportunity abuse and maximise prediction of human behaviour. In dying, Individual life saving or reducing individual death is viewed by Shelling as a moral judgement instead of an economic consideration because economists cannot completely assign values to it. Children are different from livestock so that it is difficult to assess their costs and benefits as a result of death. Nor does the US have a national policy on human life so that the cost of human death cannot be substantially reflected. The employment of discounted lifetime earnings to estimate how much an individual should pay for death avoidance is not too relevant. Putting morality aside and using the consumer point of view as an analytical framework, Shelling likes the idea of being allowed to die provided that an individual can relieve others of the emotional burden and the expense. In addressing the issue of organised crime, Shelling believes that organised crime involves huge social costs such as tax evasion and corruption but it is more preferable to disorganised crime because it internalises some of the costs that falls on the underworld itself if criminal activity is decentralised.It

Thomas Schelling was awarded the 2005 Nobel prize for economics, and readers of this book will be able to tell you why. Choice and Consequence represents a collection of 15 essays written by Schelling between the late 60s and early 80s, covering a broad range of subjects such as governments' social policies, how to deal with death, how game theory applies to weapons treaties, and organized crime. Schelling is an academic, and it shows in his writing: his ideas are brilliant, his thinking is extremely logical and rigorous, but his prose is sometimes obtuse. It is not the easiest read, but what is lacks in readability it more than makes up for in intellectual interest. I have rarely, if ever, come across a book whose ideas are more clearly articulated, all while being applicable to situations that readers can understand and in many cases identify with. This is definitely not a book for everyone; if you are looking for an easier book that discusses everyday situations with economic thinking, read Freakonomics. However, if you are looking for something a little more intellectual, this is your book. It will be extremely useful to anyone who wishes to improve their rational thinking.

Most people reading this review will know Schelling as a renowned game-theorist/economist, and perhaps as a nobel-prize winner. This is bound to lead to an impression that his books must most likely be economic discourses full of the metrics and highfalutin theoretical abstractions that usually pervade the field in academic circles. I'll dispel that myth and have you know that Schelling's books -- notably this one and his seminal "Strategy of Conflict" (SOC) -- are as close as you'll come to a readable yet gripping compendium of his fascinating economic thinking. His writing is purposefully simple, and his sharp arguments evoke thoughts about matters that can and will appeal to just about any Joe Bloggs. But this book is different from any of Schelling's other published works. SOC for instance was a compilation of roughly a dozen essays discussing negotiation, conflict and strategy...the applications of which were international -- diplomacy, deterrence, arms control, foreign aid, environmental policy, nuclear proliferation, organized crime, racial segregation and integration, tobacco and drugs policy, and ethical issues in policy and business. While most of Schelling's work including SOC has been of a macro-economic bent, the essays in this book extend his theories to a more personal, social level -- things such as how people maneuver in traffic jams, how parents negotiate with their kids (toughest customers in my book), how they behave when confronted with ransom demands, or file suits, or devise agendas for a meeting or their daily lives. I would draw your attention in particular to chapter 6, "Strategic Relationships in Dying" which touches upon some very interesting subjects such as the relationship between a patient and his doctor, especially a terminally ill patient -- where significant human "choices" need to be made to withhold information, to authenticate assertions, and the conflict of interest that arises within small groups. This article truly underscores that apart from being a leading political economist, a métier Schelling has clearly excelled at, he is also at heart a fabulous thinker and writer. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in strategy, or economics, or negotiation, or even a basic thought-provoking intelligent read. Shashank Tripathi

This book taught me nothing less than how to think correctly about social and political issues - not through instruction, but by example. I was lucky enough to have it assigned to me, and in introduction the professor said, "Schelling is my guru." Count one more acolyte.

A very interesting book. I read it when it first came out, and I still refer back to it from time to time. Schelling takes a look at a myriad of social issues from taxation policy to the cost/benefit analysis of new airport lights for a small community and always makes the reader think. He has a great way of turning situations around so that one can see both sides of an argument and then make informed, and sometimes, rational decisions. A good book on public policy which can turn a liberal into a conservative and vice versa!