| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.75
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.75, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
|
There is a newer edition of this item:
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Clear and concise... Among economists of the past 30 years, (Sowell) stands very proud indeed." Wall Street Journal "Basic Economics is not only valuable for a general lay-person audience; it would also benefit lawyers, politicians, and yes, economists as well." Washington Times"
Product Description
This completely revised and updated third edition of Thomas Sowell's instrumental work includes a new chapter of 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 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.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
An excellent book if, like me, you don't know much about economics. Explains alot of concepts in depth and clearly. Can get a bit long winded at times, but you come away well informed of different ecomomic principles.
Contains some excellent bashing of politicians and politics.
Gets five stars for clarity and content.
Contains some excellent bashing of politicians and politics.
Gets five stars for clarity and content.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Many reviews treat this book as if it were simply an "Economics" textbook. It is nothing of the sort. True, many important economic terms are explained and many economic concepts are illustrated with illuminating examples, but, at bottom, this is a powerful argument for a free market economy and a small (if not minimal) state.
This book expounds the economic system that supports the political system advocated and defended in Sowell's many other works, including "Preferential Policies" and "The Conflict of Visions" to name but two. It does the job by highlighting the unintended consequences that so often follow when governments try to do more than their inherently limited knowledge will allow.
This book is not a balanced presentation of the arguments (are any of them?), but far more one sided and polemical than any textbook could afford to be.
So; Not a textbook, but rather an antidote to the often well-meant but ill-focused and ultimately useless waste of money that passes for policy in much of the developed world. Sowell does sometimes labour the point, but the title is "Basic Economics" and for all that the book is still very readable. A reader can dip in to it here and there for Sowell's thoughts on particular topics or read it cover-to-cover. Depending on their own pre-conceptions they will emerge with either a reinforced arsenal of arguments or a severely challenged worldview.
Just don't expect a graph of the Phillips Curve.
This book expounds the economic system that supports the political system advocated and defended in Sowell's many other works, including "Preferential Policies" and "The Conflict of Visions" to name but two. It does the job by highlighting the unintended consequences that so often follow when governments try to do more than their inherently limited knowledge will allow.
This book is not a balanced presentation of the arguments (are any of them?), but far more one sided and polemical than any textbook could afford to be.
So; Not a textbook, but rather an antidote to the often well-meant but ill-focused and ultimately useless waste of money that passes for policy in much of the developed world. Sowell does sometimes labour the point, but the title is "Basic Economics" and for all that the book is still very readable. A reader can dip in to it here and there for Sowell's thoughts on particular topics or read it cover-to-cover. Depending on their own pre-conceptions they will emerge with either a reinforced arsenal of arguments or a severely challenged worldview.
Just don't expect a graph of the Phillips Curve.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Economics is at the same time a fascinating and rather complex subject. It is fascinating since it touches on so many aspects of our lives, and it is complex due to the highly technical analysis that is oftentimes required to be mastered in order for Economics to be fully appreciated. This technical complexity oftentimes obscures rather simple principles that underlie most economic phenomena. The well known relationship between a supply and demand is one of those, and a good example of a simple concept that is oftentimes misunderstood, ignored, or downright overlooked in everyday circumstances, especially when political considerations are at play.
Thomas Sowell begins the book with one of the most insightful definition of what is economics. In this view, economics is nothing but a study of limited resources for which there are alternative uses. In heaven, there would be unlimited resources; in hell no alternative uses. In the real world we need to take into account the limitations that are imposed on us by the facts. Each use of a product or a resource prevents other viable uses. Economics is ultimately the science of tradeoffs, and it helps us with making the most rational decisions about those tradeoffs.
This book is primarily aimed at general public and its aim is to make this public literate in terms of thinking and understanding economic processes. It is a very readable account, and it contains neither technical jargon nor sophisticated mathematics. All of the examples are taken from everyday experience or the major stories that have been making the news in the recent decades. Hopefully, the book will raise the level of basic literacy and inculcate us from the demagoguery that often accompanies political talk on economic issues.
Thomas Sowell begins the book with one of the most insightful definition of what is economics. In this view, economics is nothing but a study of limited resources for which there are alternative uses. In heaven, there would be unlimited resources; in hell no alternative uses. In the real world we need to take into account the limitations that are imposed on us by the facts. Each use of a product or a resource prevents other viable uses. Economics is ultimately the science of tradeoffs, and it helps us with making the most rational decisions about those tradeoffs.
This book is primarily aimed at general public and its aim is to make this public literate in terms of thinking and understanding economic processes. It is a very readable account, and it contains neither technical jargon nor sophisticated mathematics. All of the examples are taken from everyday experience or the major stories that have been making the news in the recent decades. Hopefully, the book will raise the level of basic literacy and inculcate us from the demagoguery that often accompanies political talk on economic issues.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
simple
It explains in simple examples how alternative uses of already scarce resources affect the allocation of these resources(and vice versa) and affect prices of products and... Read more
Published on 14 Jun 2009 by thesiberian
Excellent book! Top notch!
This is an excellent book that's very well written and easy to understand. It's a must read for every budding economist!
Published on 24 Feb 2009 by Ashraf Ahmed
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
