Reviews for Method and Appraisal in Economics

The average rating for Method and Appraisal in Economics based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-07-06 00:00:00 Christopher Bhattacharyya When I saw the surprisingly low average rating and the critical reviews of this book on Goodreads, I thought that Heller might be being slimed by the Internet Zombie Army of Libertarian Trolls for the heresy of daring to suggest that more more more private property (the bone-chilling cry of IZALT) wasn't always the answer to all of the world's problems. But alas, the criticisms are justified. Heller's style gets in the way of his good ideas. Like others, I was distracted by Heller's fondness for "I" and "me", and returning to the same anecdotes again and again. Also alarming was his apparent conviction that there is not enough jargon in the world, so he must feverishly make more. Still, the next time you see a beautiful historic urban structure falling down, wait needlessly for hours at an airport, or wonder why US cell phone service is mediocre, you may wish to consider plowing through the repeated anecdotes and manufactured jargon in this book, because Heller has a good case to make about public and private ownership. I would also like to praise whomever is responsible for this newish book costing $4.41 for a Kindle download (as of 13 March 2011). Hour-long November 2009 interview with Heller about this book available for free streaming or downloading at

Review # 2 was written on 2020-08-14 00:00:00 Sarah Rosindale How full of himself is Michael Heller? Well, for starters, he names the central irony that underlies his book the "Heller Paradox" . . . The major problem with this book is that Heller spends far too much time placing him at the center of what is a novel but not very complicated idea, rather than elaborating with examples. More specifically, he doesn't elaborate with enough DIFFERENT examples. We hear about storefronts in Russia five times before he eventually devotes an entire chapter to the example, and by the time you reach the chapter, you already know what the conclusion is because the concept isn't difficult to grasp. Indeed, Heller, like a latter-day Adam naming the animals, spends almost all of his time creating an entirely unnecessary new vocabulary that is just a little too winking and self-indulgent. I entered this book very prepared to jump on-board with the concept, but I found that the actual discussion wasn't much more enlightening than the description of the book on the inside flap. It was like going to a movie only to find out that not only are the best parts of the movie in the trailer, but the rest of it is completely annoying. For all of Heller's pomp, there is no reason this should be a book rather than a 70, nay 60, page law review article. But hey, at least the cover is clever.