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Thomas Sowell

Basic Economics Hardcover – Dec 2 2014

by Thomas Sowell (Author)

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The bestselling citizen's guide to economics

Basic Economics is a citizen's guide to economics, written for those who want to understand how the economy works but have no interest in jargon or equations. Bestselling economist Thomas Sowell explains the general principles underlying different economic systems: capitalist, socialist, feudal, and so on. In readable language, he shows how to critique economic policies in terms of the incentives they create, rather than the goals they proclaim. With clear explanations of the entire field, from rent control and the rise and fall of businesses to the international balance of payments, this is the first book for anyone who wishes to understand how the economy functions.

This fifth edition includes a new chapter explaining the reasons for large differences of wealth and income between nations.

Drawing on lively examples from around the world and from centuries of history, Sowell explains basic economic principles for the general public in plain English.

ISBN-10

9780465060733
ISBN-13

978-0465060733
Edition

5th ed.
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

Dec 2 2014
Language

English
Dimensions

16.51 x 5.4 x 24.13 cm
Print length

704 pages
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Popular Highlights in this book

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Economics is the study of the use of scarce resources which have alternative uses.
Highlighted by 2,196 Kindle readers
There has never been enough to satisfy everyone completely. That is the real constraint. That is what scarcity means.
Highlighted by 1,627 Kindle readers
Economic policies need to be analyzed in terms of the incentives they create, rather than the hopes that inspired them.
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Review

“Clear and concise… Among economists of the past thirty years, Thomas Sowell stands very proud indeed.”―Wall Street Journal

“Basic Economics is not only valuable for a general lay-person audience; it would also benefit lawyers, politicians, and yes, economists as well.”―Washington Times

“Basic Economics is a healthy main course disguised as a rich dessert…Thomas Sowell’s smooth writing, irresistible logic, deep knowledge, and flawless economics make each page an explanatory treat to experts and novices alike.”
―Thomas Hazlett, Professor of Law & Economics and Director, Information Economy Project, George Mason University

“Badly needed…Anyone who has been subjected to biased and dreary economics textbooks should read Basic Economics as a bracing corrective.”―Claremont Review of Books

“Basic Economics reveals in every chapter why Thomas Sowell is one of America’s greatest thinkers. It is must-reading for anyone who wants the truth about how the laws of economics govern so many of the events in our daily lives.”―Arthur C. Brooks, President, American Enterprise Institute and author of The Battle: How the Fight Between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America’s Future

“Basic Economics demonstrates Thomas Sowell’s ability to make economics understandable to a person who hasn’t set foot in an economics class. It’s a book rich with explanations and examples of everyday economics issues.”―Walter E. Williams, John M. Olin Distinguished Professor Economics, George Mason University

“The unyielding truths of economics befuddle social engineers of all stripes. Thomas Sowell, in exemplary fashion, strips the mystery from those truths, making them intuitive—even obvious.”―David Boaz, Executive Vice President, Cato Institute and author of Libertarianism: A Primer

“[Basic Economics, 4th Edition] covers the whole range of economic concerns…It eliminates the usual graphs and equations, presenting readable text instead that any reader might find convincing.”―Book News, Inc.

“Sowell’s volume [Basic Economics, 4th Edition] does a fantastic job in cultivating the reader’s ‘economic imagination’…[Sowell] does a masterful job in helping to fill in the process of economic adjustment that blackboard equilibrium analysis often leaves out.”―Choice

“Thomas Sowell's classic provides an engaging — and at times entertaining — crash course through economics and its application to public policy and personal finance…Sowell helps readers understand how economics applies to everyday life. It isn’t about revenue, profits, stocks and bonds, as much as it is about making choices…His language is eloquent, as well as accessible…Basic Economics is a useful guide for someone who wants to know more about how the business world operates and also how to interpret public policy proposals.”
―Deseret Morning News

“It [Basic Economics, 4th Edition] is also one of the most — if not the most — lucid, comprehensive and eminently readable overviews of economics fundamentals you are ever likely to encounter.”―Redstate (blog)

“A valuable book…Basic Economics is a comprehensive, yet understandable explanation of how economics works…Sowell presents economics in prose that is easily understood and engaging to read…Basic Economics is one of those books anyone wishing to be an informed citizen should read — and it is interesting enough to make enjoyable reading.”
―The Daily News, Galveston County Texas

About the Author

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is the author of dozens of books including Charter Schools and Their Enemies, winner of the 2021 Hayek Book Prize. He is the recipient of numerous other awards, including the National Humanities Medal, presented by the President of the United States in 2003.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0465060730
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; 5th ed. edition (Dec 2 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 704 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780465060733
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465060733
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 990 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16.51 x 5.4 x 24.13 cm

Best Sellers Rank: #25,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3 in Economic Theory Textbooks
- #8 in Political Ideologies Textbooks
- #22 in Government Management

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4,115 global ratings

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Alex

This book changed my life.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on October 29, 2022

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I've been a marxist most of my life. Since 2015 or so, I started my transformation into more of a centrist as I kept learning more facts about reality leftism started making less sense. However, in 2020 I was introduced to Thomas Sowell and I became intrigued. Since I have already been lied to by leftists essentially my whole life, I didn't trust anything anyone told me and I started fact checking everything from him and for all the stuff I've been able to fact checked, it's turned out to be completely accurate. I'm impressed with how humble and thorough this man is. I am now a rightist, because as some people have said, the facts of life are right-wing and the more I learn, the more I realise this to be true. It was also relatable to know that Sowell also fell for the lies of Marxism/leftism for a big chunk of his life.

Basic Economics is the first book of Sowell's I read and the more books from Sowell I read the more I feel like I can see the code in the Matrix and really know how the world works.

8 people found this helpful

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Bruce D Link

Compelling reading for all world citizens

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 4, 2021

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As politicians continue to buy our votes with our own money, and their policies continue to fail to produce good results, and as special interest groups push morally enticing programs that harm the people who are supposed to be helped, a basic understanding of economics is an essential part of everyone’s toolkit.

This book is a good supplement for anyone who wants to help people, as well as anyone who wants to be selfish. Whatever social or political side you find yourself, this book will help understand how the world works (hint: it is not always according to what we wish).

Most of Sowell’s books are worth reading. This one is an easy, no-math primer to an essential subject.

6 people found this helpful

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Things you never knew

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on July 26, 2022

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This book is a great read for those who are into financial things. Got this for a gift and he loves
It so much. I saw this book as one of the top books to read and he agrees!

2 people found this helpful

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John Harte

Brilliant writer - sees the truth behind false assertions.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 11, 2021

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The eminent and famous Thomas Sewell possesses the unusual intelligence, judgment and perception to recognize the numerous and deep falsities in ideas and statements and fake news, and the experience and command of English to explain why it is false. This is not a dull or confusing book like most literature on economics, because as an experienced teacher in the past he knows how to make the subject exciting. Strongly recommended to all CEOs, managers and business executives. - John Harte of John Harte Books.

4 people found this helpful

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Ron Payne

Every voter should read this book!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on October 22, 2021

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Great book -solid overview of economics - easy to read with many sensible examples of how economics and politics affect our daily lives.

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Perception changing book!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 28, 2021

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I’m sure there are lengthy detailed reviews discussing every single bit of the book. My review is simple and concise: This book has the potential to change the way your perceive the world around you. You don’t want to deprive yourself of this opportunity.

9 people found this helpful

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al

A terrific and insightful read

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 15, 2020

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I recommend this book to anyone that would like to brush up on their understanding of economics. The author has written the book in a way that is easy to read with insightful anecdotes. It's a bargain at any price!

7 people found this helpful

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Ellie

Nice but….

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 1, 2021

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A good book to improve your knowledge about economy.
But I expected some definitions of economic concepts and how we can use economy in day to day life.
Nice but not practical

One person found this helpful

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Kevin

Not Great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 10, 2022

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Heavy bias makes this book difficult to read, as you never know whether you're getting all the facts or not. For example Sowell insinuates that Americas private medical system is better than other developed countries, using a few vague statistics about waiting time differences and one specific example about a girl getting a cosmetic surgery, with no context for either (this forms part of a well-argued segment showing why government control of prices produces poor outcomes). However he completely fails to mention that these other health care systems rank far higher than the US in almost every metric, and he doesn't even comment on the American systems glaring deficiencies. He also says subsidised healthcare always "costs far more than initially expected", despite the US spending by far the most money per capita on healthcare in the world???? (...this isnt mentioned either).
Because of this I have no idea whether his arguments are even valid, and have had to check how true each of them are myself with further research, defeating the point of buying this book in the first place.

Moreover he also argues about the negative effects of minimum-wage laws and regulation of working conditions, and again makes Western Europe seem behind the US, using vague statistics about the increased output and productivity of American workers (no studies are cited in this book), blissfully ignoring the fact that many of these countries have a higher gdp per capita, higher standard of living and higher citizen happiness than the US.

I'm honestly staggered this book has such good reviews, but I'm assuming its mainly targeted at Americans who are happy to gobble up the "socialism bad USA good" narrative and ignore the blatant bias. Also way too long.

25 people found this helpful

mister tom

Basic Economics, oder: Was jeder Mensch über Ökonomie wissen sollte!

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on September 18, 2018

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(Zum Zeitpunkt der Rezension las ich 50% des Buches;
Negatives kommt am Ende zur Sprache)

Das Buch wurde von Thomas Sowell, der in den 1960ern als Schwarzer an Harvard studierte, und die affirmative actions aufs schärfste verurteilt, geschrieben! Alleine das ist Grund genug das Buch in die Hand zu nehmen.

Sowell erklärt sehr genau (teilweise zu genau) wie die Wirtschaft funktioniert, bzw. wie sich verschiedene Eingriffe des Staates in die Wirtkschaft auswirken. Er zeigt mit einer unglaublichen Anzahl an Beispielen aus den verschiedensten Teilen der Welt und zu unterschiedlichsten Zeiten, wie das Prinzip von Angebot und Nachfrage bis ins Detail funktionieren.
Man merkt ihm dabei an, dass er seine Theorien nicht auf Ideologien basiert, sondern auf Beobachtungen des Marktes.

Ein Beispiel: Mietpreisdeckelung. Es hat mich zutiefst erstaunt, wie Sowell mit Beispielen erklärte, dass eine staatlich verordnete Mietpreisbremse mehr negative Konsequenzen nach sich zieht, als wenn man den Markt freie Hand lässt.
Noch mehr erstaunte mich, dass alles was er über Mietpreisdeckelung in seinem Buch vorhersagt 1:1 in Wien beobachtbar ist!
Wenn ein Staat die Mieten deckelt passieren mehrere Dinge:

1. Bauträger nehmen Abstand vom Bau neuer Immobilien, da der Immobilienmarkt einen der langsamsten Umschlagraten hat, Kapital also tröpfchenweise (über mehrere Jahre und durch kleine Zahlungen (Mieten)) wieder reinbekommt. Deckelt man Mieten, dauert der Umschlag noch länger. Und Bauträger bauern entweder in anderen Gegenden (wo sie entsprechende Miete für ihre Leistung bekommen), oder sie bauen Eigentumswohnungen (wo sie das Kapital sofort wieder bekommen, und das verlangen dürfen, was die Wohnung wert ist).
Mittel- und Geringverdiener können sich Eigentumswohnungen nur schwer leisten. Zudem werden kaum neue Wohnungen gebaut und die Meite in bestehenden Wohnungen ohne Mietpreisdeckelung steigt.
Lässt man hingegen dem Markt freie Hand, steigen die Mieten, aber dadurch steigen auch die Neubauten, weil Bauträger sehen, dass sich in dieser Stadt mehr Gewinn durch Mieten erwirtschaften lässt, als wo anders. Es wird mehr gebaut. Der Markt sättigt sich langsam und die Mieten fallen wieder. Bis der Bedarf wieder steigt. Simples Gesetz von Angebot und Nachfrage.

2. Bestehende Wohnungen werden nur mehr an Menschen vermietet, die zuverlässig ihre Miete zahlen (können). Das heißt, dass man Nachweise über Einkommen vorlegen muss. Auch bevorzugen Vermieter höher Gebildete und höher Verdienende grundsätzlich, weil diese Gesellschaftsschicht am zuverlässigsten Miete bezahlt. Und diejenige, die eigentlich von der Mietpreisbremse profitieren sollten (Mittel- und Geringverdiener) bekommen erst recht keine Wohnung.

3. Wohnungen, die durch die Mietpreisdeckelung unrentabel werden, weil die Betriebs- Renovierungs- und Erhaltungskosten die Mieteinnahmen übersteigen, werden nichtmehr vermietet. Die Vermieter wollen verständlicherweise nicht ins Minus wirtschaften. Dadurch verfallen Häuser und Wohnungen, die von Mietpreisbremsen betroffen sind. Die Stadt Wien löst dieses Problem zum Beispiel durch Strafen auf Leerstand.

Warum werden also überhaupt Mietpreisdeckelungen von der Politik gefordert? Vassilakou forderte 2013 eine Miepreisdeckelung und Kern forderte sie 2018. Warum? Weil man mit dieser Polemik auf jeden Fall gutes politisches Kleingeld schlagen kann. Niemand zahlt gern Miete. Aber man sollte es als Service betrachten. Ich zahle schließlich nicht für ein Zugticket, weil ich keine Strafe zahlen will, wenn ich beim Schwarzfahren erwischt werde. Ich zahle für ein Zugticket, weil ich einen Service in Anspruch nehme. Aus dem selben Grund zahle ich auch gerne Miete, weil ich nicht auf der Straße schlafen will und dem Vermieter für seine Bereitstellung seines Wohnraumes an mich einen fairen Preis zahlen möchte.
Und das bringt mich zum letzten Punkt:

Sowell lässt sich in einem Satz gut zusammenfassen: The allocation of scarce resources with alternative uses.
Diesen Satz liest man alle paar Seiten einmal. Er wird zum Mantra. Das erste Mal habe ich ihn noch unterstrichen, aber weil ich ihn so oft las, ging er mir in Fleisch und Blut über.
Im Endeffekt geht es in der Wirtschaft um die Verteilung von begrenzten Resourcen, die auch andere Verwendungen haben.
Beispiel Wohnraum. Nicht jeder kann in der Haupstadt leben! Warum? Weil es nicht genug Platz für alle gibt. In einem marktwirtschaftlichem System regelt der (fluktuierende) Preis die Verteilung. Eine Wohnung auf der Kärtnerstraße ist nunmal teurer als eine Wohnung im 10ten. Weil die Nachbarschaft anders ist, weil die Lebensqualität anders ist, weil das Angebot unterschiedlich ist.
Eine Mietpreisdeckelung setzt mit einem Schlag alle Wohnungen auf das gleiche Preisniveau. Es ist nichtmehr der Einzelne, der mit seinem Geld abstimmt, sondern der Staat nimmt die Entscheidung, was eine Wohnung zu kosten hat, ab. (Hier lassen sich die sozialistischen Tendenzen der Abhanme von Verantwortung gut erkennen.)

Ein zweites (kurzes) Beispiel:
Ich las Marx' Kapital (in Auszügen). Er setzt den Wert von 1 Rock und 20 Ellen Leinwand gleich. Laut ihm kann man die Gleichung auch beliebig oft umkehren, also: 1 Rock = 20 Ellen Leinwand; und 20 Ellen Leindwand = 1 Rock.
Das stimmt aber mit nichten.
Sowell lehrt: Dem Käufer einer Zeitung ist die Zeitung mehr wert als der eine Euro den er Zahlt. Und dem Verkäufer ist der eine Euro mehr wert als die Zeitung.
Es gibt einen Moment des Profits, den Marx für gierig und ungerechtfertigt hielt (Denn warum soll ich mehr für ein Produkt zahlen, als es tatsächlich kostet?!), und Sowell für notwendig erklärt (Weil Gewinn/Profit Incentives sind um überhaupt Handel zu treiben!).

Insgesamt gehört Basic Economics zu den drei besten Büchern, die ich je gelesen habe und die absolut jeder Mensch einmal pro Jahr lesen sollte!
-Basic Economics; Thomas Sowell
-Explaining Postmodernism; Stephen Hicks
-Gulag Archipelago; Alexander Solschenytzin

Negatives:
Zwei negative Anmerkungen zu Basic Economics:
Erstens, es ist extrem lang und es wir repetitiv (aber nicht weniger spannend), vor allem auch, weil die Mechanismen großteils die selben bleiben. Aber man könnte das Buch gut auf ein drittel zusammenkürzen und hätte trotzdem das meiste abgedeckt.

Zweitens, Kapitalismus hat nicht überall seine Berechtigung. Ich würde zu Sowell ergänzen, dass Privatisierung überall positiv ist, außer in Quasi-Monopolen, wie Wasserversorgung, Stromversorgung, Universitäten, Schulen, Krankenhäusern, Straßenbau u.ä.
Ich bin schon sehr froh darüber, dass ich in Österreich gratis in die Schule und die Universität gehen kann, und nicht 100.000de Euro Schulden machen muss, um mir eine tertiäre Bildung leisten zu können.

Und trotzdem finde ich das Buch ein MUSS für jeden mündigen Bürger! Allein schon um die Mechanismen und die Konsequenzen des Marktes verstehen zu können.

139 people found this helpful

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Book Lover

The best book on economics for the general reader

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 12, 2021

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Thomas Sowell is one of the greatest men you've never heard of - a black guy from Harlem, who joined the US Marines from school in the 1950s, and became a mature student, and finally an economics professor, Sowell is a one-time Marxist who turned to the Chicago school.
Even if you disagree with his conclusions, you will enjoy his clear writing style and the anecdotes and stories he uses to illustrate what can otherwise, and in other hands, be quite dry themes.
I recommend his other books and his many YouTube videos.

12 people found this helpful

Miss Jk Atwal

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

This needs to be given to every 18 year old, the future of our economic prosperity depends on it.

56 people found this helpful

Lawrence Timme

My first economics book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 29, 2018

Verified Purchase

This was my first book on economics and i have to say it does what is says on the cover. It is in plain English with not much technical language so it is easy to understand. it also builds everything up in a sensible order.

35 people found this helpful

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