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Summary: Clear mind, clear ideas, good results
Review: Probably the best economics book ever written for the non-economist, and that means most politicians and media people... who desperately need this type of knowledge
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Summary: In my top five
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read of all kinds. It simply and clearly explains how and why government interference damages the economy. Even though it's over 50 years old, the underlying economic principle is timeless. Hazlitt was a journalist and knew how to write. His influence on my economic and political thought will last for the rest of my life. I also recommend that you read Bastiat's "The Law", a 150 year-old classic.
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Summary: Interested in economics? Start right here!
Review: I've been interested in economics for years... I even bought a brand new economics textbook once to try to figure it out, but that was hard sledding. I discovered an ancient (printed in 1962 and it was already a classic then) - copy of this book at a by-donation book sale, so I plonked down my 50 cents and took it home. What a great book! I'm pleasantly surprised to see it is still in print - it deserves to be. If you are interested in economics, by all means, start right here!! Incredibly succinct and well written presentations of concepts that are much maligned and misunderstood by wanna-be socialist "economics experts" every day, especially up here in Canada. I would concur that there might be some counter arguments to some of this material, but EVERYONE should at least understand the basic arguments for neo-classical economics and against socialist intervention in the economy before they embrace left-wing views, and nowhere is "right-wing" economic theory more passionately (and humanely) presented and defended than here.
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Summary: Rush Limbaugh would love this one
Review: If you're a right-wing fanatic, you'll love this book. It's all about affirming selfishness and how the rights of big business are much more important than the rights of the individual. Additionally some of his arguments are VERY flawed. For example, he says that there can never really be a trade deficit because American dollars can only be exchanged for American exports. Well Henry, that's not quite true as we learned from the Japanese. American dollars also work quite nicely for buying American real estate and American businesses. It turns out you can do more with a dollar than buy exports. The author also argues that you can not make money by giving away your products, but you can. All you have to do is force your competition out of business by giving away your product until you establish a monopoly. Then you can charge whatever you like. For all his rhetoric about not being short-sighted, he sure mucks it up himself. Although the author has the occasional valid point, most of his arguments are extremely pro-corporation and anti-labor. But hey, it makes a great gift for your favorite reactionary.
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Summary: An excellent primer in basic economics
Review: The average American knows very little about economics or monetary theory. That's why they tend to believe whatever they see and hear on their televisions. By reading this short book, you'll gain a basic understanding of economics, and an explanation of the many myths that are taken as truths. In the final chapter of this book, Hazlitt revists his work 30 years later (he was writing in 1978, and the book came out originally in 1946). He surmises that during that period, nothing was learned. If anything, he says, subjects related in the book (wage rates, price controls, government "make work") have become more political. I wonder what Hazlitt would say now. You need to read this book in order to appreciate the real consequences of actions your government wants to take. The theme emphasized over and over in the book is that actions must be thought through to see what the long term effects will be, not just the highly visible short term ones.
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Summary: The Best Summary Available
Review: This is the best book I have seen for beginning an understanding of economics. Hazlitt presents each subject in easy language, giving good examples at every point. My only criticism is that some sections are much too short, leaving the reader with some unanswered questions. Still, this is a wonderful and clear work.
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Summary: A great refutation of many economic fallacies
Review: This book is a very broad overview of Economics. The principles are well laid out and easy to understand. Hazlitt ensures that not only are the short-term consequences taken into consideration, but also the long-term consequences of a particular policy.
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Summary: Worth Reading (Twice)
Review: If you're just starting to study economics and want an introduction to the subject that will not bore or scare you away, you can do no better than to begin with Hazlitt's ECONOMICS IN ONE LESSON. The book keeps to one general theme which is explained clearly at the outset (in chapter one) and thereafter touches briefly on topics ranging from minimum wage requirements to rent control laws. Each subject, however horrifying they may sound to a first-time reader, is dealt with in such a way that it becomes wholly intelligable. Take, for example, Hazlitt's introduction to the field of minimum wage laws: "We have already seen some of the harmful results of arbitrary governmental efforts to raise the price of favored commodities. The same sort of harmful results follow efforts to raise wages through minimum wage laws. This ought not to be surprising, for a wage is, in fact, a price." Here Hazlitt begins a topic by reference to one that has already been mastered. He shows not only the indirect relationship to what was earlier learned (both involve an arbitrary use of government power) but also the direct relationship (a wage is a different way of saying a price -- it is the price paid for labor). Later on, he will show that both of these relate back to the lesson learned in chapter one. Because of this manner of treating economics, the book reads like a marvelous integration of economic thought (in fact, that's exactly what it is) and it's accessible to the average reader. More than that, it's exciting. After reading it, I was left eagerly wanting to know more about economics -- not in the manner of a student who learns a subject for the mere fact of learning it, but because I saw the relevance that it had in the politics of today, in the food I ate this morning, the clothes I will wear tomorrow and in the quality of music or literature I can enjoy at some future date. Now, assuming you value your life (along with all that makes it enjoyable) as I do, it is safe to say that you'll love this book. You won't know everything about economics after reading it, but you'll have a solid foundation for learning more in the future. (And you'll want to know more because you'll see its relevance.) If such is the case -- as I am tempted to say will surely be -- I suggest progressing to any of the works of VON MISES or a work by Frederic Bastiat called ECONOMIC SOPHISMS. For grounding your economic thoughts in a sound philosophical base, I also recommend reading Rand's CAPITALISM: THE UNKNOWN IDEAL.
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Summary: Read this if You're Stupid and wish to be Fanatically Stupid
Review: Very Stupid. Once you enslave your mind to a blind, fantasy-based, utopian distortion of capitalist society, which has nothing to do with the actual functioning of that system on any level, at anytime whatsoever (and the top beneficiaries wouldn't have it any other way - no matter what this economic-libertarian garbage espouse), this is what comes out of your pencil. Read this book, turn off the real world, and turn on to a reactionary and libertarian-utopian rehash of greed, plunder, pillage and plutocracy WORSHIP touted as "common sense."
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Summary: A Lesson Learned
Review: This is a book that looks at the shadow side of government altruism in economics. Henry Hazzlit's main thesis is that when we focus our economic policy on a particular group, we somehow ignore other groups that are adversely effected. A high tariff on cars may help manufacturers of cars, but it hurts those who buy cars. Artificially boosting milk prices may make the farmer feel rich, but it's out of the pockets of the milk buyer. Since there are far more consumers than producers, the special attention harms more people than it helps. In essence, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The government focuses on paying Paul, but not stealing from Peter. Hazzlit argues that both deserve their due. Usually Paul is big and easy to see, but even if Peter is a conglomeration of people and hard to find, he still exists and he is still being hurt. He also argues that Job Works programs like the New Deal are more harmful than helpful, because they absorb resources that could be more productively used in the free market. People are a component of productivity, argues Hazzlit, and when their use is diverted to inefficient means, the loss of productivity costs every taxpayer and citizen a better life. Hazzlit gets a lot done in this short volume. He uses the kind of common sense that seems to be absent from most economic theories and his writing style is very easy to follow.
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