“Fabulous—unlike any economics book I’ve ever read! Hate the Game is an edgy, in-your-face demonstration of the power of economic thinking. Fairweather takes the field of economics, strips away the fluff, and delivers only the parts that actually matter in the real world. It should be mandatory reading for anyone who cares about getting ahead in business—or in life.”
—Steven Levitt, coauthor of Freakonomics
What economists know that we should know, translated for all of us.
Should I buy or rent? Do I ask for a promotion? Should I tell people I’m pregnant? What salary do I deserve? Should I just quit this job? Common anxieties about life are often grounded in economics. In an increasingly win-lose society, these economic decisions—where to work, where to live, even how to live—have a way of feeling fixed and mistakes terminal.
Daryl Fairweather is no stranger to these dynamics. As the first Black woman to receive an economics PhD from the famed University of Chicago, she saw firsthand how concepts of behavioral economics and game theory were deployed in the real world—and in her own life—to great effect. Hate the Game combines Fairweather’s elite knowledge of these principles with her singular voice in describing how they can be harnessed. Her great talent, unique among economists, is her ability to articulate economic trends in a way that is not just informative, but also accounts for life’s other anxieties.
In Hate the Game, Fairweather fixes her expertise and service on navigating the earliest economic inflection points of adult life: whether to go to college and for how long; partnering, having kids, both, or neither; getting, keeping, and changing jobs; and where to live and how to pay for it. She speaks in actionable terms about what the economy means for individual people, especially those who have the sneaking suspicion they’re losing out. Set against her own experiences and enriched with lessons from history, science and pop culture, Fairweather instructs readers on how to use game theory and behavioral science to map out options and choose directions while offering readers a sense of control and agency in an economy where those things are increasingly rare.
“For anyone who thinks they can’t relate to the world of economists, Hate the Game will change their minds. Fairweather shows you how to make your best moves—whether it’s negotiating a higher salary, getting that promotion, or buying your first home. She reveals how you can take control of your future by learning the rules of the game. This book takes your favorite movies and popular culture and uses them as metaphors that will inspire a new generation to become interested in economics. Get ready to embrace economic thinking to make smarter decisions!"
—Angela Yee, host of “Way Up"
“Hate the Game offers practical strategies for the hardest competitive negotiations in our lives: those where we face bias and uncertainty. Fairweather shows that by applying just a few basic insights from economic theory, we can turn competition into cooperation—and perhaps even learn to love the game.”
—Roger Myerson, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics
“Insights and reasoning from economics can, in the hands of a superb communicator, help us understand and undertake actions that improve human lives. Hate the Game is the rare book that masterfully serves this function in ways that are both entertaining and important. Fairweather has a rare gift for making economics feel not only essential, but personal, too.”
—Kerwin Charles, Dean and Professor of Economics, Yale University School of Management
About Daryl
Daryl Fairweather is chief economist at Redfin, where she analyzes US housing markets and consumer behavior, and a member of the advisory council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. A former senior economist at Amazon, she is a regular contributor to Forbes, and she has been featured in 60 Minutes, Today, the New York Times, and Bloomberg, among other outlets.
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