Regardless of how you earn a living, you have likely taken time during the pandemic to take stock of where you are and where you want to be in the future. These evaluations inevitably lead to the question: “How do I get there?” The answers may seem hard to find at times, and for a good reason. Every person comes from a different background, with different skillsets, constraints, weaknesses, and strengths. Identifying ways to increase your prosperity is made even more challenging by the reality that the success of your nation’s economy can have a dramatic effect on your own success. Politicians, prickly pundits, and pompous TV personalities will promise answers for you and your nation, but consider this: Are there really one-size-fits-all answers to improve prosperity?

To be clear, this is not a book of simple answers to all of the world’s problems. There are certainly enough “expert opinions” on the planet to go around. Instead, this book provides a method for you to arrive at your own answers not driven by upcoming elections and TV ratings. Throughout the text, there will be a number of explanations, recommendations, and examples to identify solutions to improve your own prosperity and to evaluate the policies that seek to improve the economy around you.

If you want to get the most out of this book, consider a few ground. First, try to approach the examples with as little bias as possible. Consider that this is far easier said than done. Biases, positive or negative, are learned predispositions to the environment around us. Just like every person has different strengths and weaknesses, every person also comes with different biases. Strong beliefs about the way things should be should not stop you from being able to evaluate a situation thoroughly and carefully. This book provides a behavioral-economics-based (data-based) view of prosperity that avoids the pitfalls of using preformed opinions and subsequent biases. In short, drop the dogma and dig into the data!

Second, this book will walk you through the opinions of multiple sources. Evaluation of the authoritative opinions of others allows you access to valuable information you may not otherwise consider. However, like every person, these sources will frequently have a slant to them (politically or otherwise), and yes, some may even include false or misinterpreted information! To help maintain objectivity, you should consider sources from different perspectives, not just those you are most comfortable with. The frequent quotes and references in the text provide further resources, but also highlight the importance of evaluating expert opinions in drawing conclusions for yourself.