Success and Luck, Robert H. Frank
Success and Luck, Robert H. Frank
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Success and Luck
Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy

Author: Robert H. Frank

Narrator: Robert H. Frank

Unabridged: 5 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/19/2016


Synopsis

How important is luck in economic success? No question more reliably divides conservatives from liberals. As conservatives correctly observe, people who amass great fortunes are almost always talented and hardworking. But liberals are also correct to note that countless others have those same qualities yet never earn much. In recent years, social scientists have discovered that chance plays a much larger role in important life outcomes than most people imagine. In Success and Luck, bestselling author and New York Times economics columnist Robert Frank explores the surprising implications of those findings to show why the rich underestimate the importance of luck in success—and why that hurts everyone, even the wealthy.Frank describes how, in a world increasingly dominated by winner-take-all markets, chance opportunities and trivial initial advantages often translate into much larger ones—and enormous income differences—over time; how false beliefs about luck persist, despite compelling evidence against them; and how myths about personal success and luck shape individual and political choices in harmful ways.But, Frank argues, we could decrease the inequality driven by sheer luck by adopting simple, unintrusive policies that would free up trillions of dollars each year—more than enough to fix our crumbling infrastructure, expand healthcare coverage, fight global warming, and reduce poverty, all without requiring painful sacrifices from anyone. If this sounds implausible, you'll be surprised to discover that the solution requires only a few, uncontroversial steps.Compellingly readable, Success and Luck shows how a more accurate understanding of the role of chance in life could lead to better, richer, and fairer economies and societies.

About Robert H. Frank

ROBERT H. FRANK is the H. J. Louis Professor of Management and Professor of Economics at Cornell University’s Johnson School of Management. He has been an Economic View columnist for the New York Times for more than a decade and his books include The Winner-Take-All Society (with Philip J. Cook), The Economic Naturalist, The Darwin Economy (Princeton), and Principles of Economics (with Ben S. Bernanke). He lives in Ithaca, New York.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Scott on July 18, 2019

You've got to ask yourself one question - Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk? That’s a question we should all ask ourselves, and the answer (generally) is in the affirmative. Because we are. Just the fact that you’re alive and reading this is evidence of that – plenty of people haven’t made it as far a......more

Goodreads review by Brandon on May 10, 2016

This book is a mixed bag of goodness, thought provocation, and then a seemingly random diversion into tax policy. There are some great dinner party conversation starter ideas contained herein, and if you have ever given this topic any thought, this is worth the time. In my own personal self-evaluatio......more

Goodreads review by Atila on September 17, 2016

Um livro curto mas muito bom, com a melhor discussão de meritocracia que já encontrei. O autor faz uma grande discussão sobre porque tendemos a achar mais que o nosso sucesso é devido apenas à competência pessoal conforme ganhamos mais. Também fala sobre o papel da chance e de infraestrutura para al......more

Goodreads review by D. on May 12, 2019

Whether or not you want to acknowledge the role of luck in your life, it is there, argues Frank in Success and Luck. 7 of 8 world record holders in track had tailwinds at their back the day they broke their record. 7 of the 8 previous world record holders also had a tailwind pushing them along. And......more

Goodreads review by Fredrik on December 31, 2023

I'm usually annoyed by the whole "does just what it says on the tin" thing, but that's a pretty accurate summation of this book - it promises a look at the empirical research on the role of luck in success, and finds (surprise!) that luck is in fact very influential on who succeeds and who doesn't.......more