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You see where this line meets that line? That's why poor people should starve
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Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
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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.
640 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1,2000
This edition
- Format
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640 pages, Hardcover
- Published
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April 3, 2007 by Basic Books
- ISBN
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9780465002603
- ASIN
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0465002609
- Language
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English
About the author
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Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social philosopher, and political commentator. He is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. With widely published commentary and books—and as a guest on TV and radio—he became a well-known voice in the American conservative movement as a prominent black conservative. He was a recipient of the National Humanities Medal from President George W. Bush in 2002.
Sowell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and grew up in Harlem, New York City. Due to poverty and difficulties at home, he dropped out of Stuyvesant High School and worked various odd jobs, eventually serving in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. Afterward, he took night classes at Howard University and then attended Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1958. He earned a master's degree in economics from Columbia University the next year and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1968. In his academic career, he held professorships at Cornell University, Brandeis University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked at think tanks including the Urban Institute. Since 1977, he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he is the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy.
Sowell was an important figure to the conservative movement during the Reagan era, influencing fellow economist Walter E. Williams and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He was offered a position as Federal Trade Commissioner in the Ford administration, and was considered for posts including U.S. Secretary of Education in the Reagan administration, but declined both times.
Sowell is the author of more than 45 books (including revised and new editions) on a variety of subjects including politics, economics, education and race, and he has been a syndicated columnist in more than 150 newspapers. His views are described as conservative, especially on social issues; libertarian, especially on economics; or libertarian-conservative. He has said he may be best labeled as a libertarian, though he disagrees with the "libertarian movement" on some issues, such as national defense.
Sowell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and grew up in Harlem, New York City. Due to poverty and difficulties at home, he dropped out of Stuyvesant High School and worked various odd jobs, eventually serving in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. Afterward, he took night classes at Howard University and then attended Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1958. He earned a master's degree in economics from Columbia University the next year and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1968. In his academic career, he held professorships at Cornell University, Brandeis University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked at think tanks including the Urban Institute. Since 1977, he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he is the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy.
Sowell was an important figure to the conservative movement during the Reagan era, influencing fellow economist Walter E. Williams and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He was offered a position as Federal Trade Commissioner in the Ford administration, and was considered for posts including U.S. Secretary of Education in the Reagan administration, but declined both times.
Sowell is the author of more than 45 books (including revised and new editions) on a variety of subjects including politics, economics, education and race, and he has been a syndicated columnist in more than 150 newspapers. His views are described as conservative, especially on social issues; libertarian, especially on economics; or libertarian-conservative. He has said he may be best labeled as a libertarian, though he disagrees with the "libertarian movement" on some issues, such as national defense.
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This book is exactly what it purports to be: a basic guide to the economy. Though originally published in 2000, it has a timeless quality because Sowell isn't focusing on current events. He is describing the way economies and markets work in laymen's terms and it spans beyond the advent of technological shifts like Google and Amazon. In fact, reading it, it feels more like he might have predicted this shifts than have any theories undermined by them.
While this might be the first time I have formally finished this book, I've read sections of it and been in turn influenced by it most of my adult life. I am confident I will be returning to it. Certainly I've picked up more from it than whatever course I took for my economics class in high school.
While this might be the first time I have formally finished this book, I've read sections of it and been in turn influenced by it most of my adult life. I am confident I will be returning to it. Certainly I've picked up more from it than whatever course I took for my economics class in high school.
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Se trata de un manual básico sobre Economía organizado en 7 capítulos que versan sobre aspectos elementales como precios y mercados, la industria y el comercio, trabajo y remuneración, el tiempo y el riesgo, economía nacional e internacional y algunos mitos sobre esta disciplina.
Cuanto a su literatura, el libro está escrito con un lenguaje claro y conciso haciendo de su lectura muy fácil. La terminología empleada propia de esta ciencia ha sido muy elemental y ello permite al lector no experto en esta materia de seguir el argumentario de principio a fin. Los ejemplos predominantes se encuentran enmarcados en EE.UU. aunque frecuentemente expone contraposiciones históricas entre economías capitalistas y comunistas.
Las ideas expuestas están definidas dentro del corte liberal donde lo primordial es la gestión de los recursos en pro de una máxima eficacia y eficiencia, aboliendo el papel de los bancos, fronteras o de las subvenciones; argumentando la dicotomía entre ricos y pobres bajo el precepto de que la Economía no es una ciencia de “suma cero” (lo conseguido por los ricos no es en detrimento de los pobres). Una disciplina engrasada y compuesta por múltiples engranajes es mejor regulada por decisiones individuales que por gobiernos que tocan unas partes sin poder predecir cómo afectará en su conjunto; el dinero donde mejor está es en bolsillo de cada individuo (economía liberal-política conservadora, de Derechas). Algunos ejemplos liberales expuestos, recogidos en la historia y acompañada de su su climatización me seducieron hacia el neoliberalismo.
Hubiese preferido un enfrentamiento más extenso entre las ideas de Adam Smith y John Maynard Keynes, aunque me gustó mucho que rescatase pasajes comunes neoliberales con economistas de ideales tan diametralmente opuestos como Karl Marx.
Paralalemente a su lectura de este manual he ido inconscientemente asociando sus términos y ejemplos concretos económicos a ideales políticos propios de la Derecha/Izquierda.
Cuanto a su literatura, el libro está escrito con un lenguaje claro y conciso haciendo de su lectura muy fácil. La terminología empleada propia de esta ciencia ha sido muy elemental y ello permite al lector no experto en esta materia de seguir el argumentario de principio a fin. Los ejemplos predominantes se encuentran enmarcados en EE.UU. aunque frecuentemente expone contraposiciones históricas entre economías capitalistas y comunistas.
Las ideas expuestas están definidas dentro del corte liberal donde lo primordial es la gestión de los recursos en pro de una máxima eficacia y eficiencia, aboliendo el papel de los bancos, fronteras o de las subvenciones; argumentando la dicotomía entre ricos y pobres bajo el precepto de que la Economía no es una ciencia de “suma cero” (lo conseguido por los ricos no es en detrimento de los pobres). Una disciplina engrasada y compuesta por múltiples engranajes es mejor regulada por decisiones individuales que por gobiernos que tocan unas partes sin poder predecir cómo afectará en su conjunto; el dinero donde mejor está es en bolsillo de cada individuo (economía liberal-política conservadora, de Derechas). Algunos ejemplos liberales expuestos, recogidos en la historia y acompañada de su su climatización me seducieron hacia el neoliberalismo.
Hubiese preferido un enfrentamiento más extenso entre las ideas de Adam Smith y John Maynard Keynes, aunque me gustó mucho que rescatase pasajes comunes neoliberales con economistas de ideales tan diametralmente opuestos como Karl Marx.
Paralalemente a su lectura de este manual he ido inconscientemente asociando sus términos y ejemplos concretos económicos a ideales políticos propios de la Derecha/Izquierda.
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Great primer on economics for someone who does not care about the mathematical intricicies, but would rather get an intuitive understanding of why certain policy works, and why certain policy doesn't.
This book is absolutely a must read for anyone who aims to have a relevant political opinion on anything economically involved. It is a very simple, straightforward book that emphasizes the simplicity of economics but the complexity that evolves when considering so many variables at once. It is a must read because if the economic background that is given here is not replaced somewhere else (there are definitely alternatives out there), then I don't think it is possible to have an informed opinion on economic policy. Just keep in mind, this book does not make you an economist, it is severely lacking in rigor. Think of it like reading a pop-science book on a physics topic, you now have a very topical understanding of many areas within the field.
This book is absolutely a must read for anyone who aims to have a relevant political opinion on anything economically involved. It is a very simple, straightforward book that emphasizes the simplicity of economics but the complexity that evolves when considering so many variables at once. It is a must read because if the economic background that is given here is not replaced somewhere else (there are definitely alternatives out there), then I don't think it is possible to have an informed opinion on economic policy. Just keep in mind, this book does not make you an economist, it is severely lacking in rigor. Think of it like reading a pop-science book on a physics topic, you now have a very topical understanding of many areas within the field.
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Professor Sowell can be quite biased and overly sarcastic at times but I still count this book as one of the most important books I've read in the last few years. Anyone of voting age should seek out a greater understanding of our market economy and this book is a great resource particularly because of the emphasis on how economics affects and is affected by government policy. After reading this book, I am now very interested to find a book that argues against the pro-free markets arguments in this book to better understand what might actually happen when policies like increased minimum wage are put into effect.
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I was uneasy that the subject matter of this book would be drab. In addition, I was a bit concerned that this book (written in 2003) would be a bit dated. Don't fool yourself, the examples given may have occurred nearly 2 decades past, and even a century prior, but the events are also excessively relevant to today's world. Mr Sowell did a great job of writing this in plain English - allowing the content to be readable and spell-binding based on our country's current state of affairs.
With socialist ideas on the rise, it is important, if not critical, that citizens understand economics and why a socialist system ineveitbly will collapse. The author does not politicize anything but merely cites examples using historical data and historical outcomes. You will learn (or be reminded) why rent contols, minimum wage, and other government controls lead to a weakened middle class and a greater amount of poverty.
I reserve 5 stars for those books I would consider reading again. This is one of them. I would encourage everyone to read this book. It will not only provide an opportunity to understand government policy but will likely help in making better personal monetary decisions.
92 out of 100
With socialist ideas on the rise, it is important, if not critical, that citizens understand economics and why a socialist system ineveitbly will collapse. The author does not politicize anything but merely cites examples using historical data and historical outcomes. You will learn (or be reminded) why rent contols, minimum wage, and other government controls lead to a weakened middle class and a greater amount of poverty.
I reserve 5 stars for those books I would consider reading again. This is one of them. I would encourage everyone to read this book. It will not only provide an opportunity to understand government policy but will likely help in making better personal monetary decisions.
92 out of 100
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This is the book that got me interested in economics, a/k/a the study of how to get the most out of life. A decade after I first read this in college, I decided to return to the newest edition, having read hundreds of economics-related books in the interim. The book that inspired such enthusiasm for the subject still holds up today. Unlike my high school AP econ textbook, whose ultimate goal was to "teach to the test," Basic Economics can get loose and have fun, with no charts or graphs required. I've given my hardcover fourth edition to friends and family, most of whom end up reading from cover to cover, to their own surprise.
The overarching theme of Basic Economics is "the study of scarce resources with alternative uses." Our decisions are always constrained by the need to ration resources, knowledge, and time against competing demands. When we analyze the surrounding status quo and consider potential reforms to it, we first need to disentangle our intentions from predictable second-order effects. Interventions by governments and other institutions to redistribute scarce resources always impose costs onto third parties, which often drastically outweigh the benefits. The chapter on the negative second-order effects of rent control has been unforgettable to everyone I've given this book to, as it brings home how our collective ignorance of inescapable economic trade-offs can wreck havoc on our communities.
I consider Thomas Sowell's distillation of these invisible tradeoffs as a transformation of my thinking, comparative to an MBA education. He also opened the door to the fascinating public choice scholarship that was the bedrock of my undergraduate thesis, Democracy's Externalities and American Race Policy. Every chapter has incredible eviscerations of the fallacious arguments underlying the well-intentioned socialists and misguided mercantilists whose beliefs entail tragic second-order effects.
Despite my effusive praise, with hindsight I can say that everyone who reads this ought to read countervailing books to get a balanced understanding. Thomas Sowell's math and jargon-free textbook is implicitly quite ideological, a libertarian conservative's distillation of the Chicago School of Economics, a center-right academy which defaults to an implicit support of existing social hierarchies as being ordained by the law of laissez faire. Rather than being unfalsifiable doomsters about government attempts at betterment, mainstream econ textbooks are far more upfront about the existence of universally acknowledged market failures, as well as the upsides of many of the government interventions to mitigate such failures. Sowell the octogenarian became quite rhetorically reactionary and embittered during the Obama years, even cozying up to such quackery as Dinesh D'Souza and The Heritage Foundation out of spite for the majority's rejection of his philosophy. Fortunately, Sowell's intellectual decline in his dotage left this edition largely untouched and something I can reread and recommend to others for the rest of my life. - June 2020
The overarching theme of Basic Economics is "the study of scarce resources with alternative uses." Our decisions are always constrained by the need to ration resources, knowledge, and time against competing demands. When we analyze the surrounding status quo and consider potential reforms to it, we first need to disentangle our intentions from predictable second-order effects. Interventions by governments and other institutions to redistribute scarce resources always impose costs onto third parties, which often drastically outweigh the benefits. The chapter on the negative second-order effects of rent control has been unforgettable to everyone I've given this book to, as it brings home how our collective ignorance of inescapable economic trade-offs can wreck havoc on our communities.
I consider Thomas Sowell's distillation of these invisible tradeoffs as a transformation of my thinking, comparative to an MBA education. He also opened the door to the fascinating public choice scholarship that was the bedrock of my undergraduate thesis, Democracy's Externalities and American Race Policy. Every chapter has incredible eviscerations of the fallacious arguments underlying the well-intentioned socialists and misguided mercantilists whose beliefs entail tragic second-order effects.
Despite my effusive praise, with hindsight I can say that everyone who reads this ought to read countervailing books to get a balanced understanding. Thomas Sowell's math and jargon-free textbook is implicitly quite ideological, a libertarian conservative's distillation of the Chicago School of Economics, a center-right academy which defaults to an implicit support of existing social hierarchies as being ordained by the law of laissez faire. Rather than being unfalsifiable doomsters about government attempts at betterment, mainstream econ textbooks are far more upfront about the existence of universally acknowledged market failures, as well as the upsides of many of the government interventions to mitigate such failures. Sowell the octogenarian became quite rhetorically reactionary and embittered during the Obama years, even cozying up to such quackery as Dinesh D'Souza and The Heritage Foundation out of spite for the majority's rejection of his philosophy. Fortunately, Sowell's intellectual decline in his dotage left this edition largely untouched and something I can reread and recommend to others for the rest of my life. - June 2020
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Brilliant, insightful, fascinating and challenging. A long, impressive ride for anyone with even a minor interest in macroeconomics. Should be mandatory reading for any politician hyped up on promises without any concern for consequences.
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