在当代经济学家中，樊纲的人生经历颇富传奇色彩。1968年，随着"文革"的开始，樊纲在席卷全国的上山下乡运动中来到了北大荒。30年后，樊纲成为中国著名经济学家。 《经济人生》中，樊纲结合自己的人生经历，以最浅显的经济学理论解读人生——在诸事不可兼得的"边际条件"下。人们应该如何做出选择：用"收益与成本"的理论分析，年轻人应该满足于"闲暇"，还是应该对成就怀有"偏好"；"理性人"都在追求一种使幸福最大化的"最优选择"，却为何出现了各种各样的"活法"......(Fan Gang's life experience is legendary among the modern economists. With the start of Cultural Revolution, Fan went to the Great Northern Wilderness during the countrywide Down to the Countryside Movement in 1968. And after 30 years, Fan has become a famous economist in China. In this book, he interpreted the life with the simplest economics theory by combining his life experience – under the "marginal condition" of everything being not able to gain concurrently, how people to make choice: with the theoretical analysis of "income and cost", the youth should be satisfied with "leisure" or have "preference" to make achievement; the "rational persons" always pursue the "optimal choice" to make the maximum happiness but they lead different "living ways"......)