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The Economics Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained (2012)

by Niall Kishtainy(Favorite Author)

4.1 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0756698278 (ISBN13: 9780756698270)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

DK Publishing

review 1: "The Economics Book" by DK Publishing is a decent resource. After having completed several introductory financial and classical economics courses, I came to realize that much of the material I had studied had a built-in presumption that the tenets should be taken at face-value. I knew this was problematic because my first foray into economics required reading through the principal works of various big league economists in order to establish the general evolution of economic thought--turned policy--turned implications; throughout the 20th century (thesis-based research). From there, I read several contemporary books on political economy where modern economists reflected on these works, the times those economists lived in, and the exceptions to each rule they came up with ba... moresed on the resulting implications. Thus, by the time I got to the more formal textbook study of classical economics, I felt it was important to find a resource that provided additional context to gain a more fundamental understanding of the discipline as a whole. "The Economics Book" helped me achieve this. The authors describe, chronologically, where economic ideas have come from, the limitations of each (in addition to their usefulness for analysis), and what real-world drawbacks and benefits tend to unfold. One reason I picked up The Economics Book specifically was because of the format. I wanted a bedside book that delved into each concept in bite-sized pieces so I could digest 2-to-3 a night. It served this purpose well but as I got going and the depth of the content improved, I started reading it in earnest, and finished it far in advance of what I had originally intended. The only drawback of this book is that it is designed for someone with no economics background. Because of this, the beginning is mind-numbingly dry but once you get about half-way it picks up and challenges much conventional thinking (based on my analysis of financial and news media, and other contemporary works). For example, even if people have studied economics they may have studied it at a time when a certain school of thought dominated without being able to see the implications that have arisen since that time (based on faulty assumptions or changing circumstances). Or, people may have been taught it through a certain discipline that picks and chooses what it wants to emphasize to confirm a self-interested bias. This book is decent for calling all assumptions to account in that respect. 3 stars for DK Publishing!
review 2: This was an good book if you want a very simplified understanding of some of the main economic concepts and theories. Some were too general and misrepresented some issues. This was also another book that did not fully represent some Keynesian thought on government spending; such that during down times the government should run a deficit and during up times it should run a surplus, thus over time it will be balanced. Most and this book included only focus on the deficit idea. less

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