The underlying theme of the book, as Landsburg states on the first page, is that "[m]ost of economics can be summarized in four words: People respond to incentives."

[2] The now Rochester Professor of Economics released his first book, Price Theory and Applications in 1989 and followed it up in 1993 with the first edition of The Armchair Economist.

[3] Since then he has written for many different publications such as Slate, The Wall Street Journal as well as releasing numerous other books surrounding the topic of Economics.

[3][4] In 2012 Landsburg released a "revised and updated" version of the original work, aiming to present the same ideas within a 21 century context.

He achieved this by rewriting some chapters while also adding over 80 pages bringing the book into the contemporary age.