An economist gets lunch

What Hacker News says

1. davidwApr 2017
   Being from Oregon, I had no idea until much later in life how diverse different styles of BBQ are.

   There's some interesting coverage of BBQ as an exception to the homogenous, fast-food culture in the US in Tyler Cowen's book "An Economist Gets Lunch": http://amzn.to/2nZDa0k

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2. erikwiffinFeb 2015
   Not just alcohol. An interesting observation in An Economist Gets Lunch (one of my favorite books on food) is that Prohibition is responsible for putting many great restaurants of the era out of business (restaurants make money on alcohol). The remaining restaurants adjusted to a more "family-friendly" palate, (think grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, and cheeseburgers) and away from more subtle flavors.
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3. davidwNov 2014
   I was really blown away to discover just how regional barbecue is - from a book by an economist of all things:

   http://www.amazon.com/Economist-Gets-Lunch-Everyday-Foodies-...

   Where I'm from in Oregon, there are a few places, but they're few and far between, and I doubt the quality measures up to areas where there is more knowledge and competition between establishments. Indeed, I have to admit to having had absolutely no clue about real barbecue growing up.

   I think it's pretty cool that it's such a local thing, in an age when so much of life is so homogeneous in the US.

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4. khcJul 2014
   Poor Economics - Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo

   Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman

   The Signal and The Noise - Nate Silver

   Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely

   This Time is Different - Carmen Reinhart & Kenneth Rogoff

   Subliminal - Leonard Mlodinow

   Fooled by Randomness - Nassim Taleb

   For something more lighthearted, I also enjoyed:

   An Economist Gets Lunch - Tyler Cowen

   Inside Jokes - Matthew Hurley & others (mostly skipped the dense parts)

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5. tjicJun 2012
   > It's only when you get into strip-mall-landia where things start appearing incredibly boring and monocultural

   A famous economist / foodie has written an entire book about how you've got it EXACTLY backwards:

   http://www.amazon.com/An-Economist-Gets-Lunch-Everyday/dp/05...

   The best food, he asserts, is in strip malls. You just have to know a few tricks to find it.

   Great book. Go read it.

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6. legitsterFeb 2025
   This immediately reminds me of Tyler Cowen's book "An Economist Gets Lunch". He infers all sort of rules for profiling restaurant quality.

   In fact, he makes this very observation - high foot traffic areas command higher rents, and it's harder to provide both good quality and good value where rents are high. But restaurants that can be successful without good real estate are a green flag.

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