Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work

The secret insights of economics, translated for the rest 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.

Table of Contents:
A Note from the Author Introduction 1. Inside Game, Outside Game    Negotiating Power    Graduating into Uncertainty    Comparative Advantage    Game Recap 2. Choosing Games    Skill versus Luck    Rules and Starting Conditions    Marginal Benefit and Marginal Cost    Cheating    When to Challenge the Rules    The Value of Winning    Changing Goals    Game Recap 3. Information Is an Advantage    Ultimatums    Deception    Fearing the Unknown    Negotiating under Uncertainty    Overthinking    Mitigating Risk    Game Recap 4. Dreams of Dream Jobs    Differentiating Yourself    Selecting the Optimal Employer    Moving for a New Job    Creating the Perfect Resumé    Preparing for a Job Interview    Playing the Interview Game    Curating References    Unanimous Decisions    Game Recap 5. Buying a Home    Deciding to Move    Understanding the Housing Market    Creating a Housing Budget    Identifying Needs and Wants    Avoiding Common Mistakes    Bidding on a Home    Game Recap 6. Workplace Conflict    Workplace Bullies    Employee Satisfaction    Gender Stereotypes in the Workplace    Evade or Confront?    Identifying Enemies and Allies    Signaling Strength    Game Recap 7. Getting Promoted    The Meritocracy Myth    The Challenges of Performance Evaluations    Backward Induction: The Secret Path to Victory    Corporate Hierarchies    Influencing the Kingmakers    The Importance of Allies    Game Recap 8. Balancing Family and Career    Social Pressures and Gender Norms    Marriage Is a Game    The Benefits of Commitment    Marriage as a Financial Strategy    Working while Pregnant    Unconscious Bias    Discrimination and the Persistence of Stereotypes    Game Recap 9. Knowing Your Worth    Reassessing Inside Options    Understanding Reference Points    Higher-Order Beliefs    When the Keep Your Mouth Shut    Signaling Outside Options    Bluffing    Knowing Your Worth    Game Recap 10. Optimizing Your Life    When Optimizing Isn’t an Option    Saving    Investing    Rebalancing Work and Life    Game Recap 11. Selling a Home    Assessing Home Values    Preparing to Sell    Setting the Price    Selecting a Buyer    Game Recap 12. A Code For Winners Epilogue Acknowledgments Glossary Notes Index

About the Author :
Daryl Fairweather is chief economist at Redfin, where she analyzes US housing markets and consumer behavior, and a member of the academic 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.

Review :
"Hate the Game emphasizes game theory, a branch of economics and mathematics that focuses on decision-making in competitive situations, when each player’s outcome depends on the behavior of others. Fairweather’s goal, she explains, was to use her own experiences less as examples to follow and more as “a vessel for all of the economics that I wanted to teach someone that I thought would be useful to them in their careers.And the book’s (frequent) Beyoncé references? 'If you notice that almost every time I bring up pop culture, it’s about a Black woman, that was deliberate, because I’ve never seen an economics book center Black women,' Fairweather says. She wanted to use metaphors that she knew would resonate with 'younger women and women of color, and I wanted them to feel like this book was for them.'" “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.” “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!” “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.” “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.”  "Fairweather's new book is a quick overview of economic principles, backed by representative academic research, all housed in an engaging memoir. Economics wants universal prosperity. We don't have that. Learning the rules of the game is one tool to get us closer."