Free Lunch Thinking

Many policy ideas that Western governments treat as settled fact come under scrutiny in this book. Award-winning investigative journalist Tom Bergin examines eight such assumptions. Among them: countries with smaller governments grow faster, taxes on tobacco are the best way to reduce smoking, and government regulation holds back entrepreneurs.

Bergin does not stop at the theories. He speaks with the people who champion these ideas and with the workers, business owners and consumers who have lived with their consequences. Again and again, the results differ from what the advocates predicted.

The tone is lighthearted and sharp, making the book a good fit for anyone curious about how economies actually work and why they so often fail to match the models that are meant to explain them.