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Basic Economics 3rd Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy | 
 enlarge | Author: Thomas Sowell
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $22.73
You Save: $17.22 (43%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  48 reviews
Sales Rank: 1393
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 3
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 640
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 2
ISBN: 0465002609
Dewey Decimal Number: 330
EAN: 9780465002603
ASIN: 0465002609
Publication Date: April 2, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20081121221340T
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Product Description
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 they create, rather than the goals they proclaim. With clear explanations of the entire field, from rent control and the rise and fall of businesses to the international balance of payments, this is the first book for anyone who wishes to understand how the economy functions.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 43 more reviews...
 A must-read November 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a must-read for anyone desiring to understand economics. I think it's an essential read if you want to know what's really going on in our economy. This book is an easy read too. It's written for everyone no matter what your intellectual capacity is. Don't let the mainstream media tell you what's going on in our economy, understand it for yourself. I knew practically nothing about economics before reading this book. Thomas Sowell is a master at making the seemingly complex easy to understand. This book is on Rush Limbaugh's list of must-reads.
The book everyone should read October 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Thomas Sowell has demonstrated once again that economics does not have to include lengthy, convoluted concepts, charts or jargon. 'Basic Economics' should be in every high school and college library. Economic teachers/professors would be wise to include this gem for classroom instruction as there are excellent concepts and historical content presented logically with great care and clarity.
I applaud this work as it avoids the usual sterile presentation of economics. The book is indeed engaging while maintaining the goal of being informative and factual. Plus, it is so very timely.
Much of what Sowell states in this book can be applied to our current economic situation. In fact, this book was published 18 months ago and provides solid, factual examples and relevant information on what happens when governments provide 'bail-outs' along with reactions of various economic systems to failed entities. We would be wise to consider Sowell's observations and sage advice in such matters.
No matter your interest in economics, get this book! You will find just how helpful, informative and necessary this book is from page one!
difficult, yet worthwhile read October 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Sowell systematically lays out the basis for free market economics.
I must admit, I was exceedingly ignorant of economics as a whole prior to reading this and "Classic Economics", also by Sowell.
This is one of the most important books I've ever read.
Required Reading for Inquiring Americans October 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The phrase, "required reading" is thrown around a lot by the zealots of one particular novel or series. The term is purely subjective, and I rarely yield to their fervor when someone says, "everyone needs to read this book." Fiction is a wholly personal experience, the derived enjoyment purely reliant on each readers interpretation of the text. Basic Economics, however, is something entirely different. This book should be required reading for all Americans. I can say unequivocally that I have not read a more illuminating or insightful text in my life. Thomas Sowell is an economics professor at Stanford and an ardent supporter of objective and empirical approaches when studying the economy. Basic Economics is his attempt at stripping down economics to their most basic principles, supply and demand, profits and losses, etc; In doing so, he reveals many of the fallacies surrounding a free market economy, and contrasts a market economy to both socialist and communist systems.
The strength of Basic Economics lies in the way Dr. Sowell takes the inherently complex nature of macroeconomics and breaks it down into digestible, easy to understand parts. Naturally a scholar of Dr. Sowell's caliber is well-versed in the minutia, the formulas, and general complexities of economics, but his straight-forward approach reveals his passion for instilling in the so-called "everyman" a working foundation in the economic structure he/she is a part of every day. Naturally one may think a book about economics to be "boring", but this is far from the truth. He continually relates abstract theories into concrete examples, allowing the reader to relate to real-life scenarios many of which we deal with on a daily basis.
Politics and economics are inevitable dance partners, and Dr. Sowell does an outstanding job of relating policy decisions to their economic ramifications. The politicizing of the economy is a veritable mind field of demagoguery and crafty rhetoric, and the author is very keen to their consequences. His main argument against the regulation of the economy by politicians, is that a politician works to be elected and to remain in power once he or she has attained it. They don't look at the long term ramifications of something like agricultural subsidies, as they only care about catering to their constituency. Never mind that agricultural subsidies cause artificially high food prices, inhibits our ability to trade with countries around the world, and thereby harming the U.S. economy as a whole. But, politicians don't care, because the totality of the economy is not represented by one influential constituency, unlike the farmers.
Agricultural subsides are but one example of how the short sidedness of politicians has a grave impact on the economy at large. Dr. Sowell systematically breaks done other government efforts, and how oftentimes their intended results actually cause converse reactions. In the end Basic Economics equips the typical American with a working knowledge of how our economy functions unlike any other book before it. If everyone read this book, society would be more aware of how seemingly innocuous actions have outstanding reverberations on the entire economy. As we approach a pivotal election, we would be wise to break down the heady rhetoric employed by both sides of the aisle and reach an educated conclusion to their actual intentions and their consequences as a result.
 Illuminating if not entirely convincing. October 13, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
As an economic primer, this book is a mixed bag. On one hand, it is clearly written and organized, making it easy to pick up and read. On the other, it has a definite ideological slant. The message of this book is that government intrusion into the economy is always wrong, because they do almost all things poorly -- and the things that they can do well, they won't because they are beholden to politics.
Never mind that there isn't always perfect information in a market and people can't be counted on to be 100% rational 100% of the time; Sowell tells us if the government just kept its mitts off, everything would be A-OK!
For example, this book taught me that the California electricity crisis was entirely the fault of the state government. What's this about a company called Enron? Never heard of it. Moody's and Standard and Poor's were prescient and performed their function well when they downgraded California's credit rating for that, but their blind faith in the toxic CDOs that started the current economic crisis? Let's ignore that, shall we?
This book also contains the highest usage of the phrase "Two Soviet economists" outside of the Eastern Bloc.
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