The “Look Inside” text for The Big Questions should be up on Amazon’s website in a few days. Meanwhile, Snorri Godhi suggested in comments that I should post the index for your perusal. Good idea, Snorri. Just click on “Index” at the top of this page.
Thank you, but … did I say “index”? Yes, I did; but what I meant was “table of contents”. Sorry about that, but if anybody other than me looked at the index, then this is an example of how random mutation can bring a benefit.
Speaking of which, I have a couple of questions about The Armchair Economist, if you don’t mind. My more complex question can wait until I have re-read chapter 8. My simpler question (which might still require a complex answer) is: who introduced the concept of incentives in economics? that is, who introduced it explicitly, not implicitly.
Incidentally, I embraced the concept of incentives with enthusiasm because I had previously learned to think of human behavior in terms of maximizing rewards/payoffs. This concept goes back to Edward Thorndike to the best of my knowledge.