| In the last few years, many textbooks in Economic Psychology have been published. However, the majority of such textbooks are edited volumes that include contributions from several different authors. Sometimes, this makes their structure fragmented, and the reader might find it hard to grasp a homogeneous and linear picture of the discipline. The textbook written by Erich Kirchler and Erik Hoelzl is a welcome exception, because it is entirely written by the two authors. This avoids many of the drawbacks of edited books, including the fragmentation and disparity of styles, as well the possible repetitions between one chapter and another. Furthermore, “Economic Psychology: An Introduction” succeeds in incorporating also the pros of edited books with several contributors, namely the extreme specialization and depth of analysis deriving from the fact that each chapter is written by an author that ranks among the best experts in their own disciplinary field. At least two reasons can be found to support this. First, Kirchler and Hoelzl are among the world’s top scholars in many of the specific domains of economic psychology which are addressed in the book (e.g., the psychology of taxation, money management in households, the psychology of credit use, consumers’ perception of prices, etc.). Moreover, they served for many years as the Editors in chief of the Journal of Economic Psychology, so that they accumulated a deep and wide knowledge of the different lines of research in the area. Therefore, the book succeeds in balancing specialization and scientific updating with consistency of rhythm and style of writing along all the nearly 400 pages. For these reasons, each section of the book shows a clear and logical flow, both within and between chapters. |
