Issue 22, Spring 2002

William A. McEachern, Editor

The Evidence Files
AN ECONOMIC ROMANCE

In 1978 Kenneth Elzinga of the University of Virginia and William Breit of Trinity University in San Antonio published Murder at the Margin, a mystery about an economist-sleuth who solved crimes using economic reasoning. Writing under the joint pseudonym of Marshall Jevons, the two continued along these same lines with The Fatal Equilibrium in 1985 and A Deadly Indifference in 1995, essentially inventing this new genre.

Russell Roberts of Washington University now follows with The Invisible Heart: An Economic Romance (MIT Press, 2001), a novel that examines capitalism largely through the dialogue between two teachers at a Washington, D.C. prep school. Sam Gordon teaches economics and places a high value on economic freedom; he finds most government regulations useless or worse. Laura Silver teaches English and hasn't thought that much about economics, but she doesn't like big business. Laura's limited understanding of economics allows Sam to explain issues to her (and to the reader) during their many discussions. Sam's ignorance of literature allows Laura to fill in those blanks, though with less frequency. To add some suspense, Sam is under threat of dismissal from the school, but we know not why.

Across town, Erica Baldwin heads a government watchdog agency trying to pin down Charles Krauss, a "ruthless CEO." Book chapters alternate between the Gordon-Silver romance and the Baldwin-Krauss confrontation. One challenge for the reader is to figure how these separate narratives relate.

According to the dust jacket, Milton Friedman found the novel "A page-turning well-written love story that also teaches an impressive amount of good economics." I agree with Friedman about the economics. In fact, a subtitle for the novel could be Free to Choose: The Novel. But I think the "page-turning" characterization is a stretch. I found the parallel narratives with alternating chapters distracting. You just start getting interested in the Sam-and-Laura story, when the book pulls you back to the business saga, which never did get off the ground for me. I can't say more about the book's split personality without giving away a central conceit.

Following Sam and Laura's "romance" was like watching snow melt-"Her kiss was softer than he could ever have imagined" (p. 174). The real "romance" is not between Sam and Laura but between Sam and capitalism. That's where the author's passion comes through. I like the fact that Sam talks the talk and walks the walk with regard to capitalism, even though he realizes his words and actions will often be misunderstood. Sam says, "Capitalism involves struggle, but it has an invisible heart beating at its core that transforms people's lives" (p. 170). So capitalism works not only with an invisible hand but with an invisible heart.

I think Roberts is onto something in wanting to pack more emotional punch into economic discourse. He also provides readers something not usually found in a novel-"Sources for Further Reading."

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