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Nature 447, 1057 (28 June 2007) | doi:10.1038/4471057b; Published online 27 June 2007

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A better way of thinking?

Frances Cairncross1

BOOK REVIEWEDThe Soulful Science: What Economists Really Do and Why It Matters

by Diane Coyle

Princeton University Press: 2007. 288 pp. $27.95/£17.95

Alan Blinder, an American economist, once conducted a survey among his friends. He asked them whether there should be one queue in a crowded cafeteria at lunchtime, or two: a fast one for people paying higher prices and a slow one for everyone else.