The Undercover Economist is a popular non-fiction economics book by Tim Harford that attempts to explain basic economic principles through everyday examples in an easy-to-understand and engaging way. The author shows how the forces of supply and demand, prices, incentives, hidden costs, and market behavior operate behind common economic activities, such as why a cup of coffee at the train station is expensive, why it's difficult to find a quality used car, or why poor countries remain poor while others thrive.

The book doesn't delve into economics with complicated technical terms, but instead uses anecdotes and real-life cases to demonstrate how economics governs personal choices, policies, and market structures at both the global and local levels.