This is a book that, despite its impressive length, is intended to communicate economic reality to an audience that is not familiar with the terms. However, the number of those terms is small. Certainly there are terms that have particular meanings that Sowell takes pains to define. (3) Sowell’s Basic Economics is written largely in plain language. Rather than leaving the concept in the abstract, Sowell makes the effort to give concrete examples, which helps convey the message more clearly than other texts I have read. Given the number of examples and the basic connections he makes with every day concepts, the absence of graphs and equations is well compensated for. (2) To compensate for the absence of graphs, Sowell includes a multitude of plain language, everyday examples to illustrate the principles he is describing. For some who learn better through visual representation, the absence of graphs may make this book a bit less helpful. However, Sowell is not equipping his readers to become economists, but to become economically literate. Even my high school economics course (which was a while ago) included graphs and equations that were supposed to demonstrate the validity of what the author(s) were writing. (1) There are no equations in this volume.
Sowell distinguishes his volume in three ways: This is little different than any other college level text. Sowell covers prices and markets, industry and commerce, work and pay, time and risk, national economics, international economics, and some select special economic issues. Those books are helpful because they are much shorter and even more basic than Basic Economics, but Sowell’s volume belongs on the reading list because it more closely follows the syllabus of a basic economics course and is thus more comprehensive.Īs an economics textbook, Basic Economics does not differentiate itself by having a unique table of contents.
For those unschooled in economics (or who haven’t read anything about it since High School), I would recommend beginning with Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson, followed closely by Gwartney and Stroup’s Common Sense Economics. Having just finished reading the fifth edition of Sowell’s Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy, I would advocate that this book be read widely. As an advocate of realistic economics with a free market emphasis who dealt with facts rather than political talking points, his common sense approach that relies on economic realities rather than wishful thinking made him a helpful voice in contemporary economic discussions. Thomas Sowell recently announced his retirement from writing regular columns.
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