Basic Economics 3rd Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
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Basic Economics 3rd Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
- ISBN13: 9780465002603
- Condition: New
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This completely revised and updated third edition of Thomas Sowell’s instrumental work includes a new chapter on government finance. Basic Economics is a citizen’s guide to economics–for those who want to understand how the economy works but have no interest in jargon or equations. Sowell reveals the general principles behind any kind of economy–capitalist, socialist, feudal, and so on. In readable language, he shows how to critique economic policies in terms of the incentives the
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(out of 98 reviews)
List Price: $ 39.95
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August 28th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Review by J. Combs for Basic Economics 3rd Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
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This is simply the best book on understanding rudimentary economics available. This book takes a sophisticated subject and makes it very clear and understandable. While not as detailed as a textbook on the subject would be, it gets across the main theories of economics with real examples that can be understood and related to by almost anyone. This is simply the best and most readable source available to get a basic understanding of economic principles.
August 28th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Review by oribiasi for Basic Economics 3rd Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
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When one thinks of economics, one is typically confronted with the kind of malaise that Jimmy Carter once spoke of. However, Sowell’s book is filled with concrete examples of how to apply some basic and interesting principles of economics in daily life, and he explains why these principles are so fundamental to our lives. I think all high-school graduates with any sense should read this before signing up for credit cards or getting a job, and certainly any college student looking for work as well. A fantastic read, which is certainly difficult to do when one is speaking about the economy.
August 28th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Review by DIY_Man for Basic Economics 3rd Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
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Everyone without a degree in Economics should read this book. This is a very easy and practical way to understand basic economic principles. Sowell is a master at making seemingly complex concepts into something very understandable by removing all the unecessary jargon and replacing it with real life examples we can all understand. I’e read this book twice. The second reading two years later than the first. I got as much out of it the second time as I did the first. I’ll share this book around the family, but will definately be getting it back again.
August 28th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Review by Arthur A. Brewer for Basic Economics 3rd Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
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This is simply an excellent read, taking the complicated subject of economics and making it totally understandable. Mr. Sowell, much like Hayek and Friedman, helps you understand how free markets, capital, supply and demand, and pricing are the true keys to freedom. This is a complete explanation as to how we use our talents, in a free society, to create wealth and provide products and services that others want or need. Beyond simple economics, this book helps you see how we all relate to one another through our economies, good and bad.
August 28th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Review by kerrjac for Basic Economics 3rd Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
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In the introduction to A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking wrote that society gains in knowledge not when scientists make key advances, but when these advances are widely understood among the public. Just as that book was meant to inform general public about advances in physics and cosmology, Sowell’s Basic Economics is meant to inform the general public about economics. There’s only one difference: Economics is not rocket science.
The keys to understanding economics don’t lie in peer review journals or extensive mathematical prerequisites, they lie in using basic principles that we’re all familiar with. Sowell explains economics with everyday concepts that anyone could understand. He has a sharp analytic mind that seemed to cut right through issues and keep me absolutely hooked, and he’s a master at avoiding unnecessary jargon. We all deal with money, buy things, work, and follow politics, be it at least from a distance, and Sowell explains economics upon these everyday principles.
What makes this book spectacular, however, is that you never get a sense that Sowell is dumbing down the material or talking down to you. He extensively uses news articles from The Economist and The Wall Street Journal – both those that agree and disagree with his view. The purpose of this is to convey the message that economics is all around you, you just have to look in the right way. If you’re new to economics, you’ll never quite view the news in the same way, and this is regardless of your political persuasions.
Using little more than news and “common sense”, Sowell conceptualizes the economy in a manner that you can grasp immediately. Quite simply, he uses what you’re already familiar with and proceeds from there, rather than trying to teach you obscure terms about the macroeconomy. His bottom-up approach to the economy begins with prices, and the in-depth info that they convey. He then connects the price that you pay for an item at the grocery to the price that an employer pays for labor. And in such a fashion, Sowell jumps from one area to another, using intuitive knowledge that you already have and applying it to areas where you never thought to apply it. I was particularly fond of his section on Time and Risk, where he used a discussion about risk and insurance in order to go into speculation and banking.
This book won’t give you any advanced abstract theory or a comprehensive view of economics as a science. Basic Economics also lacks the neatness and tidyness of a textbook. Some chapters do seem to wander, and every now and then the book did feel loosely put together. But this is all because Sowell errs on supplying extra examples in order to show the extent of his principles’ implications. There were no clear distinctions between neighboring chapters, but this was due to the extent of the connections that Sowell makes in the book. And it’s these connections that turn out to one the books largest strengths; after all, in the real world, there are no clear distinctions between related concepts. My largest criticism is that aside from the news articles, Sowell doesn’t give any recommended books or avenues for the reader to further pursue.
But Sowell does give you an intuitive intro to economics. While Basic Economics would be considered light reading compared to any textbook, Sowell is really aiming much deeper than a textbook ever could: “For those who are willing to stop and think, basic economics provides some tools for evaluating policies and proposals in terms of their logical implications and empirical consequences. If the book has contributed to that end, then it has succeeded in its mission.”