Suche books:   



Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics
Henry Hazlitt

Three Rivers Press, 1988 - 218 pages

average customer review:based on 120 reviews
view larger image
 for more information click here

   highly recommended  highly recommended




Definitely a great primer!

If you are even remotely interested in what can be a sometimes boring and usually complex subject, this is a fantantistic introduction. Sure, there are going to be those who point out it's fallacies but the book was written more for the laymen, not graduate studies. Readable and concise.


The criticisms of this book are flawed

Rather than explaining why this is a good book (other revierw's do that), I'll explain why some of the idiotic criticisms levied against this book are wrong.

The most silly criticism of Hazlitt (and other Austrian free-market economists) is that they aren't "scientific" and in short "don't use enough math". This is an absurd criticism. Firstly, human beings are not deterministic particles who's behaviour can be predicted by simple equations. Any attempt to reduce human behaviour to some mathematical equation is pure non-sense. We must consider human beings as individual entities who can choose, not fixed constants in mathematical formuli.

Secondly, there is a mathematics that is relevant to Austrians. It is chaos theory and network theory. Chaos theory is currently used to predict the weather. The calculus used by Keynes and other idiots like him is completely useless for describing the behaviour of chaotic systems where individual choice is involved. Hazlitt may not mention Chaos Theory. For that, see Murray N. Rothbard, "Choas Theory: Destroying Mathematics from Within?"; and Gene Callahan, "Why Austrians Should Care About Network Science". Anyone with any sympathy for Keynes and his idiotic followers should note that Keynes put forth a "treatise" before General Theory, which was demolished by Hayek. Hayek then made a strategical mistake in not demolishing General Theory, feeling that the book's idiocy stood for itself. Also note that while Hayek recieved a Nobel Prize for work which was basically an extension of Mises business cycle theory (Mises died the year before Hayek's Nobel), Keynes received no Nobel, showing that even the dimwits awarding that title realized Keynes work was inherently worthless.

The next criticism is related to the first: that Hazlitt doesn't discuss game theory. The reason for this is that game theory is particularly unworthy of discussion. Nash, founder of Game Theory, showed that in any finite game, there's an equilibrium in which no player can improve his or her outcome given the other player's strategies (the Nash Equilibrium). This is problematic in several ways. Firstly, there is absolutely no relation between the playing of games (which are less than net-zero, with one winner and one or more losers) and economics. Secondly, only Game Therorists behave in real situations in the ways in which Game Theory predicts. Thirdly, strategies are not data, but choices. Fourth, it is possible to break out of the specified game to achieve a superior result.

One particularly ignorant reviewer says that in a completely unhampered free market, monopolies form, destroying competition. This is non-sense. Empirically, Ancient Ireland was a completely Stateless society for a thousand years, with a completely unhampered free market, and no-such thing occured. And of course it is a bunch of non-sense that can't happen in reality anyeways. A monopoly is only harmful if you have monopoly prices. But in a completely free market, even if someone obtains 100% of all (say) rail-roads, there is still competition between that form of transportation and other forms, thus monopoly prices cannot be charged. The only time real monopolies with monopoly pricing have emerged is because of State interference.

This may not be the best book on economics that you can read (look to Mises' "Human Action" for what is most likely the strongest treatise on "economics" [actually praxeology, a much larger field]) ever written.


 for more information click here









 for more information click here


Best intro to economics ever written.

I have read at least 5 of the newer intro to economics books around and this classic is still the best. It is just barely 200+ pages with big easy to read letters, in one weekend this book can transform you from average ignorant american to inspired concerned citizen. The chapter on inflation was worth the price of the book by itself . I have noticed how the reviews for this book have increased dramatically over the last 6 months. It is happening, something wonderfull is about to happen...






Short and Sweet.

For as important as Economics is to the Past, Present and Future of Humanity, its met with a collective yawn and almost completely missunderstood! For just 20 bucks and 8 hours of your time you can have a mental grasp on the engine that drives...everything. Unless you are completely vacant this book can change your mind. Very important ideas. Give this one to everyone you know. If one person reads it, you have helped humanity.


 for more information click here


Choose some alternatives and map them to the real world

Of the positive reveiews, they seem to be amazed that someone can define economics. It's not really rocket science, and, in an age of plenty, it's not really about scarcity. It's about individuals making choices to maximize value. They may be bad choices, uniformed choices or perverse choices, but they have, in the final analysis, impact limited to the individual. And in most cases result in some level of increased individual satisfaction.
The real danger, according to Hazlitt, is when the choices of a few people, with same kinds of fallacies noted above, are coercive, enforced by government or monopolies. Which leads us to to the negative reviews.
The negatives, if we can be allowed to throw out the obvious loser rants, seem to be concerned mainly with rapacious corporations, free trade among inequal countries and natural monopolies. While these are certainly provide distortions of individual choice and informed consent, they do in the long run tend to be self correcting -- see government-sanctioned coal and oil monopolies. The real interest is in how to minimize the effects of these diseconomies.
Hazlitt would argue that they are self-correcting via the collective effect of individual choices. The Marxists would argue that action based upon the sceeding of individual choice to a collective power is the solution. Surely, if we can assume there is no absolute, theoretical winner in this debate, we can look to the real world, based upon the actions of multiple forms of government and millions of individuals to provide some guidance on which path leads to the most for the most.
To that end, I would challenge you to read Hazlitt's book and a Marxist equivalent like Ivan Ilich's "Tools for Conviviality" and then, accepting both as plausibly complete and material, match them against your experience of recent history and your hopes for your personal future.


 for more information click here


reviews: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, page 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20



hot or not?    What's your opinion?     Write a review and share your thoughts!



recommendations

Ron Paul's Reading List for a Free and Prosperous America, Part 1
A Reading List for a Free and Prosperous America, Part 1
Lynn University School of Business Reading List
Economics The NOT so Dismal Science
Becoming an Economist




search for books
economics in one, basic, economics, lesson, shortest, surest, understand, way


Impressum / about us


Suche books: