Basic Economics : A Common Sense Guide to the Economy

English language

Published June 27, 2011

ISBN:: 978-0-465-02252-6

(1 review)

Basic Economics is a non-fiction book by American economist Thomas Sowell published by Basic Books in 2000. The original subtitle was A Citizen's Guide to the Economy, but from the third edition in 2007 on it was subtitled A Common Sense Guide to the Economy.Basic Economics is focused on how societies create prosperity or poverty for their peoples by the way they organize their economies.

2 editions

Matthew Royal reviewed Basic Economics : A Common Sense Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell

Review of 'Basic Economics : A Common Sense Guide to the Economy' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Touched on a lot of basic macroeconomic concepts, but never approaches the comprehensiveness or usefulness of an Economics textbook. Mostly, Sowell communicates attitudes, and attempts to persuade the reader that any opinion counter to his is shallow and unreasoned, or is secretly Soviet communist in disguise.

It's a useful snapshot in time of what some Republicans believed around Y2K: free trade, laissez-faire economics, and a reference for the Austrian school, in stark contrast with the protectionism and anti-intellectualism of the Trump administration.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend reading this book if you want to understand modern conservative views on Economics in historical context. You'll learn just enough to understand their ideas, but with a heavy inoculation against other viewpoints.