Basic economics
by Thomas Sowell · first published 2000
73% recommend23% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Plain-language, example-rich introduction to economics that skips the math and focuses on incentives, supply and demand, and real-world policy; suits curious laypeople wanting a first economics book.
Common criticism: Some find it biased against regulation and one-sided
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Why are homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks of New York in the winter, when the abandoned apartment buildings in the city have four times as many dwelling units as there are homeless people in the city? Why are people hungry in Moscow when there are vast amounts of some of the richest farmland on the continent of Europe within easy driving distance? Why did unemployment reach 25 percent and American corporations as a whole operate in the red for two years in a row during the Great Depression of the 1930s?". "All these very different - but equally puzzling and needless - tragedies
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"Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell. Not an easy read, but it deeply changed the way I think about incentive structures and the law of unintended consequences. It's a tough pill to swallow for people (like myself) who…
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗"Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell. Helped me gain a more intuitive understanding of economics. On a side note, the man is a machine. He's been writing close to a book a year since the age of 80 (he's 92 now).
on “Ask HN: Do you recall any book or course that made a topic finally click?” ↗…gone. Through cratering rents San Francisco is finally proving to opponents of growth that supply and demand apply to housing too. Intelligent people will twist themselves in knots trying to disprove basic economics. I see long threads on HN all the time of brilliant people convinced that supply and demand is just "far too simple" or "totally disproved" etc. etc. This book is a classic https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465...
on “The Abundance of Silicon Valley” ↗…plain English is beneath their dignity,” Sowell once said, “and some seem to regard logic as an unconstitutional infringement of their freedom of speech.” Sowell is unique in this respect. He's book, "Basic Economics" is full of extremely relatable examples of economics in practice. It's one of the few books on economics that's a great read regardless of your background or level of academic achievement.
on “Thomas Sowell interview” ↗I highly recommend Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell. The title is not very imaginative but I found it a great place to start before looking at more complicated concepts. http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-2nd-Ed-Citizens/dp/046...
on “Good book for economics” ↗Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics[1] is a superb book on the subject. It's lengthy but very readable, especially for its real-world examples. Particularly excellent are the explanations for the unintended consequences from price controls.…
on “A New Way to Learn Economics” ↗Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt: http://jim.com/econ/, http://www.fee.org/pdf/books/Economics_in_one_lesson.pdf Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell Applied Economics by Thomas Sowell Free to Choose by Milton Friedman (video series, too) Use of Knowledge in Society by Hayek (short, non-technical paper which is full of brilliant…
on “Ask HN: Best book(s) to learn about the basics of economics?” ↗Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell
on “Ask HN: Best book(s) to learn about the basics of economics?” ↗Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell is the book that got me interested in economics. It's a large but easy to understand read.
on “Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?” ↗I really enjoyed Thomas Sowell’s _Basic Economics_. It’s a fun read that covers a variety of economic concepts with logical analyses in a narrative format.
on “Recommend me resources for self-teaching economics on undergrad level” ↗1. Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning by Jonah Goldberg 2. The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich A. Hayek 3. Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell 4. An American Life by Ronald Reagan 5. The Rust Programming Language by Steve Kablink
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗"Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy" by Thomas Sowell. I read this as a teenager with only limited exposure to economics and it cleared up many misconceptions I held. "Psycho-cybernetics" by Maxwell…
on “Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?” ↗I've read six Thomas Sowell books in the past few years. His book Basic Economics is a classic, but my favorite of his is Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One. It covers the things that the former does but, as the title suggests, applies it to a real-life scenario. He then…
on “Thomas Sowell interview” ↗For European, I would recommend Basic Economics from Thomas Sowell. To have a total opposite mindset of the socialist we have here was mind blowing for me.
on “Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?” ↗Basic Economics from Thomas Sowell. It show me there is another world if you go outside socialism and that socialism has a lot of bad consequence that are never talked about
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life?” ↗