The economic naturalist

By Robert H. Frank

This popular economics book, is written by the academic who wrote the Principles of Economics textbook which I dearly love.
This book contains short essays that try to answer from first economic principles puzzling questions like "Why are round trip airfares from Kansas City to Orlando lower than round trip airfares from Orlando to Kansas City?", or "Why is it easier to find a partner when you already have one?", or "Why are soda cans not shorter and wider, and thus cheaper by using less alloy for the same amount of liquid?"

The principles invoked are scarcity, opportunity cost, price discrimination, supply and demand, the tragedy of the commons, externalities. In many cases they fall short of giving a good explanation, and the answers resort to speculation about human psychology. Some answers are altogether unsatisfactory. Soda cans remain a mystery to me.