Frivolous Business: Essays on Excess, Play, and Pataphysics in Economy

Books on business, management, and the economy tend to be very serious—sometimes to the point of being unreadably dull. But the real world of business isn’t just about the serious; it’s filled with frivolities, playfulness, excess, and pure pataphysics. This collection of essays by Professor Alf Rehn explores the other side of economics in a celebration of the silly, the stupid and the sometimes seriously unreal. Rehn considers a wide range of subjects, including toys, really expensive hamburgers, copycat entrepreneurs, cartoons, and dressing up for the office. As with so many things in life, the seriousness of the subject matter depends entirely on perspective. One person’s frivolity is another’s professional business interest. Rather than making the frivolous serious, take a serious approach to frivolity and rediscover the fun and the fabulousness of our economic world. It all adds up to a lot of Frivolous Business.