Good summary of pro-market arguments

I'm left leaning, so was looking for a book that would articulate the counter-argument and it does an excellent job of that. It doesn't delve seriously into the more nuanced counter arguments of its position, due possibly to the American slant on "socialism" that few Europeans would recognise, but overall definitely worth a listen

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Clear, accessible economics guide

Very clear and comprehensive overview of the major themes and concepts in free market economics. If you're new to the subject, this is a great gateway book.

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2 people found this helpful

a dispassionate explanation of money of wealth

Thomas Sowell has a gift , he can communicate his field of expertise using factual examples without idealogy, this is a great book.

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3 people found this helpful

Comprehensive introduction to economics... and life

I recommend this book to everybody. Thomas Sowell masterfully explains ideas and matters that might initially seem too complicated for an average person to take interest in.

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A flawed tribute to free-market economics

Overall: interesting, a good introduction to old-style free-market thinking but biased and outdated.

This book provides a good overview of conventional thinking in economics - the benefits of the market, the function of prices, the problems with big government and so on. I didn't actually mind the narrator (though I do agree with other reviews that his intonation takes some getting used to) but I did find myself constantly questioning the actual content.

Firstly, it's very outdated as of 2020. From the obvious (this book was written before the stock market crash of 2007-2008) to the more subtle (the arguments about, e.g. German economic inefficency causing high unemployment are not applicable to 2020 given that unemployment is low there), the arguments in this book are not able to take account of recent events.

More troubling, however, is the ideological basis on which this book is founded. The whole premise can be summed up as: "the most desirable way for society to exist is for scarce resources to be allocated to their most efficient uses, as this is what increases quality of life and therefore happiness". Sounds like a decent premise, until you see that this is used to justify the continuation of poverty, rising inequality and as an argument against any government intervention. Moreover, the author continuously states that this is 'fact', not 'opinion', and states that it is not an ideological way of thinking. This is clearly wildly untrue - it may be considered 'fact' by right-wing Chicago school economists, but it seems more like ideology to the rest of us. It doesn't mean that it is wrong (I agree completely with many of the arguments against rent control, and price caps, and so on), it just creates a pervasive bias that becomes irritating after a while.

The examples used are often simplistic, though some of this would have been necessary due to the target audience. However, I disliked how often the argument was used that 'the Soviet Union did this, and look how they turned out, so we should do the opposite' as an argument for ANY form of taxation, trade restriction, poverty reduction scheme etc. This argument is used dozens and dozens of times through the book and although it is true on many occasions, it is often overly simplistic or just plain incorrect.

So I would only recommend this book as a historical insight into what they used to teach in Economics 101 at universities in the 1990s or early 2000s. Nowadays, with the advent of behavioural economics and the increasing recognition of the flaws of late 20th century free-market macroeconomics, this book seems very dated.

I still found it educational, however, and it manages to cover a broad base of economic theory in readily understandable language, which is an achievement in itself.

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7 people found this helpful

disappointed

oh Lord this man hates the left and misses no opportunity to say that haha. not a fan of all the *facts he brings up or how he does it. lackluster citing, scued framing.

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