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Summary: Excellent book foe beginners and professional economists
Review: A very smooth read from cover to cover. It is NOT a economics 101 textbook. It takes basic economic principals and applies them to the issues that Governments face. In most cases, Sowell makes a clear and compelling argument against Government intervention. In 1 or 2 cases, he actually argues in favor of it. It's too bad Thomas Sowell is a writer and not an elected official. That would be a step in the right direction for our country.
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Summary: Great Book!
Review: Another book that should be required reading in the classroom but will probably never make it there. Dr. Sowell's book is great reading for anyone interested in learning about capatilism and the free market society.
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Summary: Reality Therapy for the Masses
Review: This is one of Thomas Sowell's more cogent works, and it should form the basis for course on economics for every high school Senior. Sowell works very hard to explain technical matters without the use of graphs and formulas, sometimes to ill effect, but on the whole with clarity. His expose of popular fallacies is excellent, but falls far short of its potential. Many economists share Sowell's view of economic reality, and this book could use some of this outside support to keep those PC readers from dismissing this as the work of an out-of-step radical. Moreover, more hard statistical support is needed to illustrate the relative srengths of the various economic and political structures found throughout the world.My major complaint, however, is with the fairly large number of obvious typographical errors found throughout the book.
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Summary: Combatting Gresham's Law
Review: If Gresham was right and bad money drives out good, and as a collary one applies the principle to economics tomes, then one can explain the omnipresent character of most "popular" economic writing today. This being the case, Thomas Sowell dosen't stand a chance. If dispassionate logic and reason, applied to the subject in accordance with unblushingly classical principles of the discipline can turn the tide, then this book is a winner. Professor Sowell takes basic economic concepts, like prices, fleshes them uot with non-technical, math-free, graph-free, but still accurate explanations, and then applies them to real-world situations. For example, Sowell looks at the concept of "prices" in a market economy, and then applies it to demolish the magical thinking that underlies price controls. He demonstrates that there is never a shortage, if prices are unfrozen. In other words, if there is an appearant shortfall in the supply of energy, the price will rise, rationing the available resources so that the most urgent needs, as determined by consumers' willingmess and ability to pay, to restore equilibrium in the market. (Too bad that they haven't tried this in California.) Sowell goes on to show how economics is the study of how scarce resources are allocated between alternative uses. The extra money spent to maintain the same level of gasoline consumption, in the face of rising prices, means that the individual making that choice must forgo spending the additional money that such a choice costs for any other use. The gasoline is also subject to the same competetive pull: crude oil can become many things besides gasoline. Of all the books that I have read on the subject of economics, this one ranks with Hazlitt's "Economics In One Lesson" as the best introductory text. It is free of partisanship, promotes no platform, and seeks (sucessfully) to show how the effect sought after by a policy may not be the one that results from it. This book is truly a public service - and we'd all be better served if it was read widely. -Lloyd A. Conway
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Summary: Should be required reading for every student
Review: Clear, concise, easy read. The examples and metaphors are outstanding. After first reading, the national and international news is seen with a much deeper level of understanding. The reasons that New York rents are so high and that abandon slum housing is rampant suddenly becomes clear. The '74 gasoline "crisis" and the 2001 California oil crisis become abuntantly clear. The misguided but well-intentioned legislation that lead to unintended disasters can now be understood by all. This is a very important book. Brilliant in its apparent simplicity, but truly profound in its contents.
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Summary: A Case for Capitalism
Review: The ultimate book for why Capitalism and a free market is the best choice for people around the world. Although this book could be used more appropriately as a text book for first year economics and business majors, it was a very interesting read. The examples Sowell provides in the first chapter alone is proof enough for Capitalism.
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Summary: An intriguing examination of poverty and unemployment
Review: Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics may sound like an economics primer, but it's much more: an intriguing examination of poverty, unemployment, and how economic principles affect social trends. Sowell's economics background lends to a scholarly discourse.
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Summary: An exceptionally well written book
Review: A better title for this book would have been "Basic Applied Economics" since Mr Sowell explains so well how economics can be applied to current everyday affairs and government spending. What was most interesting is that this book reveals how poorly our leaders in Washington (the Democrats especially) understand basic economics when creating new policies. These policies, which cannot possibly work, go against all economic laws known for hundreds of years. Our government needs fewer lawyers and more economists. Do not miss this one. It will become a classic.
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Summary: Sowell's usual outstanding job
Review: This is the 9th of Dr. Thomas Sowell's books that I have read, and once again, he has not disappointed. What makes his work so useful to the non-economist is that he keeps it simple and uses easily understood examples to illustrate the key points. In addition, this volume is designed to allow you to read the chapters in any order, so they can be used as a "refresher" for concepts you may already know, but in which you may feel rusty. By simply illustrating the nature of our economy, he takes the mystery out of much of its behavior. For instance, after reading the chapter on prices, the gyrations in the cost of gasoline this spring and early summer of '01 seem much more comprehensible. This particular volume would make an excellent gift to any recent high school graduate, in particular, or college grad who didn't major in econ.
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Summary: Don't let the title scare you
Review: This is a wonderful, easy-to-understand explanation into how the economy works and doesn't work and how the best of intentions can have the most disastrous results. Price controls, unemployment, the Federal Reserve Bank, free trade, big business, failing business, Sowell covers it all and more. You're guaranteed to look at the economy, the world, and politics a little differently after reading Basic Economics.
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