An Economist Walks into a Brothel

In this Freakonomics-style look at risk management, Allison Schrager – an economist, a journalist at Quartz, a cofounder of the risk advisory firm LifeCycle Finance Partners and a teacher at New York University – travels far afield to deliver an engaging study of how savvy people manage risk. Her view is a readable and fresh take on an often arcane corner of economics and finance. While not an exhaustive study of risk, Schrager’s breezy tome is a welcome entry in the fast-growing genre of economic analyses for the masses.

Kirkus praised this Financial Times Book of the Month as “a colorful, empowering guide to intelligent risk-taking…[that] breaks the mold of traditional starched-collar, data-dense economics journalism.” The New York Times said that Schrager “emphasizes the importance of getting a good handle on investment risk.”