Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't add up
Review: The arguments in the books for a FREE market doesn't add up to the conculsions. It cited many failures in government interventions as the basis for a complete free market, however there are no hard evidence that a completely free markets in the sectors covered in the book will work. In particular, it advocate a practical appraoch in that it emphasis what is important is actual experience in the past that matters, not the idealistic socialism. It is however, recent experiences that pointed to the fact that markets are never perfected. The public is misinformed about the safety of automobiles, the pubic is misinformed about the consequences of rent control. In a perfect information market, how can the public be misinformed. The zoning of land use is against free market. On this topic, I invite Mr. Sowell to come to Hong Kong (where I live) to see how developers (not checked by a competent government) can damage one of the most beautiful natural harbour in the world. Mr. Sowell's arguments are only valid if very one in the market are thinking about stage 4, otherwise it won't work. He is as idealistic as the communist. In the real world, we are have to balance between the two exterme and I don't think Mr. Sowell's ideal world exist in any place in the world today.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't add up
Review: The arguments in the books for a FREE market doesn't add up to the conculsions. It cited many failures in government interventions as the basis for a complete free market, however there are no hard evidence that a completely free markets in the sectors covered in the book will work. In particular, it advocate a practical appraoch in that it emphasis what is important is actual experience in the past that matters, not the idealistic socialism. It is however, recent experiences that pointed to the fact that markets are never perfected. The public is misinformed about the safety of automobiles, the pubic is misinformed about the consequences of rent control. In a perfect information market, how can the public be misinformed. The zoning of land use is against free market. On this topic, I invite Mr. Sowell to come to Hong Kong (where I live) to see how developers (not checked by a competent government) can damage one of the most beautiful natural harbour in the world. Mr. Sowell's arguments are only valid if very one in the market are thinking about stage 4, otherwise it won't work. He is as idealistic as the communist. In the real world, we are have to balance between the two exterme and I don't think Mr. Sowell's ideal world exist in any place in the world today.
Rating: 
Summary: Must Read
Review: This book gives a great big picture look into the economics of many issues facing us today. Such issues as prescription drugs, real estate, income taxes, free trade are discussed in an economic light to fully understand all implications of solutions to those issues. In my opinion, it's not political, just economic pricipals being applied. Great read!
Rating: 
Summary: What Comes After the Bold and Noble Ideas
Review: This book is a much-needed antidote for those who measure the value of their policy prescriptions for their surface qualities. Are you for cheap medicine? Then you will want to regulate the prices set by pharmaceutical companies and limit the length of their patents. Are you for cheap housing? Impose rent control. How about fixing the so-called "north-south" inequalities in wealth that you believe are a result of globalization and discrimination? That's simple: increase foreign aid. To these solutions, and many others like them, Thomas Sowell asks a very basic but often neglected question: What happens next? Once you have imposed rent control in a city, for example, what happens to its housing market? By providing preliminary answers to these questions based on empirical evidence, Sowell undercuts the surface moralism of those who promote these ideas. Sowell looks at labor markets, the economics of medical care, housing and discrimination, how risk affects business, and finally provides a chapter on why various countries and regions show such different patterns of development. As with all his work, his writing is crystal-clear and enjoyable. This is a wonderful book, but I gave it four stars because Sowell has written many better.
Rating:
Summary: What Comes After the Bold and Noble Ideas
Review: This book is a much-needed antidote for those who measure the value of their policy prescriptions for their surface qualities. Are you for cheap medicine? Then you will want to regulate the prices set by pharmaceutical companies and limit the length of their patents. Are you for cheap housing? Impose rent control. How about fixing the so-called "north-south" inequalities in wealth that you believe are a result of globalization and discrimination? That's simple: increase foreign aid. To these solutions, and many others like them, Thomas Sowell asks a very basic but often neglected question: What happens next? Once you have imposed rent control in a city, for example, what happens to its housing market? By providing preliminary answers to these questions based on empirical evidence, Sowell undercuts the surface moralism of those who promote these ideas. Sowell looks at labor markets, the economics of medical care, housing and discrimination, how risk affects business, and finally provides a chapter on why various countries and regions show such different patterns of development. As with all his work, his writing is crystal-clear and enjoyable. This is a wonderful book, but I gave it four stars because Sowell has written many better.
Rating:
Summary: Required Reading
Review: This book should be required reading for any freshman course in economics. The author gives well reasoned arguments for the value of long range (beyond stage one) thinking in formulating economic policies. Mr. Sowell effectively contrasts the benefits of carefully thought out economic strategies versus the destructive effects of political expediency. His arguments are forceful but first and foremost rational.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read!
Review: This excellent, short, clear book should be part of everyone's reference library, particularly those who wish to understand standard conservative economic thought. The distinctions author Thomas Sowell draws between political and economic logic should become a valuable part of each voter's mental apparatus. Writing to educate the general reader, not to further instruct the sophisticated economist, the author advocates minimal government interference. He calls for as little regulation as possible, mainly because regulations have unintended and usually undesirable economic consequences when seen with a long-range perspective. Sowell's concise, easy-to-read style cuts through the jargon of most economic discussions to lay bare the underlying, plain heartwood. It is easy to quibble here and there. Sowell doesn't offer lots of statistics and back-up material. And, he seems to argue against individual economic decision making when he tilts a drug pricing discussion into a sermon against Americans buying medicine at low Canadian prices. However, we find that his book stands on its merits nonetheless, as long as you understand that the author has a political - as well as an economic - point of view.
Rating:
Summary: Elephant's Trunk
Review: This is another in a long history of books written by blind men describing the elephant's trunk. Other great books and essays in this tradition include "Free to Choose" by Milton and Rose Friedman, "The Law" by Frederick Bastiat, and "Economics in One Lesson" by Henry Hazlitt. All these books are quite good at describing the trunk (or a tree), but miss the elephant (or the woods) in the process.
For what it covers, it is a fine book.
However, Sowell forgets to apply all of his principles to the most influential business organization in the market, the corporation. The corporation has the perpetual life, limited liability and personhood. The qualities of limited liability and personhood could not be reproduced without government intervention in the market. Yet, limited liability and personhood are ignored so that he can focus on rent control or price controls. Are rent controls really more important to the economy than a corporation?
Before the libertarians and conservatives that are reading this get their [...] bunched over a corporation being able to be created without government intervention, think about a third party being hurt by a corporate action. If a corporation mistakenly dumps toxic waste on land that you own then goes out of business, who is responsible? Answer: No one. You made no contract with the offending corporation, neither explicitly nor implicitly. You are left paying for the mistake that others made because the government granted limited liability (or limited irresponsibility) to corporate investors.
Is limited liability so trivial that it can be ignored? If yes, then let's get rid if it. No more limited liability. If no, why doesn't Sowell explore the unintended consequences of this government intervention?
I suggest you take Sowell's advice and think about the secondary and tertiary consequences of corporate limited liability and personhood. Now that could make a good book. Does limited liability change incentives? Does the gathering of capital through limited liability have an impact on political campaigns and lobbying (and through lobbying, changes in the law)?
This book is just more stuff, on a pile of stuff that was better written.
Rating:
Summary: Applied Brilliance
Review: This is Thomas Sowell's amazing companion book to 'Basic Economics'. Applied Economics is his attempt to show the average voter how economic principles are applied to major current issues such as medical care and housing. He discusses what the consequences are when external forces insert constraints on the free market in an effort to 'solve' a problem. He repeatedly demonstrates how the results of a policy can have disastrously different results than from what was originally intended. Often these policies are put in place out of political expediency without considering what the long-term consequences are for the society at large. Sowell challenges the reader to think beyond the intent of a policy and consider what the actual results will be when such a policy is applied against the incontrovertible laws of economics. What is astounding about Sowell is how his mind appears to be free of the constraints of time, culture and borders. To him the world is one timeless and seamless swirl that is relatively ordered and predictable when you apply the principles of supply and demand. Every thought is supported with a cascade of facts and such impenetrable logic that it can hurt your head. He can speak on virtually any topic with resounding authority. At one moment he can discuss the northern migration of the present day Ibo of Nigeria, shift to the Roman occupation of Britain, then describe the effects of the Gulf Stream on Northern Europe's climate, and then explain how the volume of water in the African Zaire river impacts the region's cultural growth. He does this with amazing fluidity and ease. If the mark of genius is the ability to simplify complex information then Sowell easily stands as one of America's greatest thinkers. The only downside to this book is that if you're a regular reader of Sowell's columns then much of the information in the book will be very familiar to you. For example, in his review over housing, I skipped over his analysis of the Northern California housing situation. Perhaps it's because he lives in the Bay Area and doesn't like the obscene prices for ordinary homes in his community but Sowell discusses this ad nauseam in his columns. However, if you don't read his columns you'll find his book refreshingly educational. This is a tremendously insightful and valuable work from a brilliant man. This is a must read for anyone who wants to be a well-informed voter.
Rating:
Summary: Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One
Review: This new book is a spirited and controversial examination of how economic choices in public policy often result in unforeseen consequences. Sowell, a professor of public policy at Stanford and author of Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy, examines labor, medical care, housing, and other areas of economic activity. He says that in stage-one thinking, making housing affordable by setting rent controls would seem to be self-evident but that such rent controls both reduce the stock of low-rent housing and cause that stock to deteriorate in condition. He explains that many landlords don't bother to offer properties when rents are low and that those who do find very little incentive to maintain them. On the institution of slavery in the American South, Sowell says slaves were usually better cared for than other laborers because of the slave owners' economic self-interest. He defends the existence of slums as low-cost housing that in the past allowed the residents who chose to live in them to use their funds for other purposes. His predictably laissez faire approach to economics will grate on many readers, but his reasoning is clear and thoughtful. Every library covering economics or public administration will require a copy.-
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