Skin in the Game: The Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life
Reviewed on , book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Not my favourite of Taleb’s, but a solid, solid book about incentives, rent-seeking and the dangers of creating systems where people are separated from their actions (en elegant definition of bureaucracy). And how such systems grow in complication until their final collapse. The book’s filled to the brim with observations on systems where incentives aren’t aligned. As always, packed in in Taleb’s endearing self-indulgent tone with about 1 classic reference per page (personally, I love it, but to some, it’s off-putting).