An Economist Walks into a Brothel
A review of

An Economist Walks into a Brothel

And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk


Outlier Risk Managment

by David Meyer

Economist Allison Schrager offers eccentric examples of risk management to clarify the concept for laypeople.

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.” 


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