Economic Facts and Fallacies
by Thomas Sowell · first published 2007
62% recommend38% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A short, plainspoken tour of common economic myths, with chapters on gender and race pay gaps and the role of prices and markets. Readers value its reasoning and long list of references for checking claims.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Author here! I came across the original study referring to the "physicist" and the "English Professor" while reading Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell. It's an interesting read that addresses almost all of the hot political topics of today.
on “The rate of obsolescence of knowledge in software engineering” ↗…have existed if we still needed 90% of our population to farm just so that we would not starve. Now like 1% of our population is farmers. It's progress. Read: 'The Choice' by Russell Roberts Read: 'Economic Facts and Fallacies' by Thomas Sowell Read: 'Economics in One Lesson' by Henry Hazlitt
on “We’re not going to have a jobless recovery. We’re going to have a jobless future” ↗Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell is a book that changed my views a decade ago. I have skimmed through it a few times in the years since, through a full market cycle, and he continues to be spot on.
on “Books to Understand Economics” ↗Check out the book "Economic Facts and Fallacies" by Thomas Sowell, it has about 30 pages of references, and he provides books and studies.
on “The Provocations of Camille Paglia” ↗I agree, this is a great book. Just about anything by Sowell is worth reading, but _Basic Economics_ and _Economic Facts and Fallacies_ are good starting points. Also consider _Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics _ by Henry Hazlitt. It's coming from a strong Austrian school perspective,…
on “Recommend me resources for self-teaching economics on undergrad level” ↗…mantra of many since the 1990s, and I continues to get proven false (generally). There are so many variables here. If you want to read a book that directly talks about this, check out Thomas Sowell's "Economic facts and fallacies". There are chapters for both gender and race economic differences. Even though the book is ~14 years old, it counters these kinds of arguments.
on “Leaked Google pay data shows how much employees report making” ↗"Economic Facts and Fallacies" by Thomas Sowell is a very good book that talks a lot about this (indirectly). https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/economic-fac...
on “Institutions try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution” ↗…values can be/are altered by things like taxes and government subsidies, of course, but saying capitalism "tries" to do [X] is like saying gravity "tries" to make objects fall down. "Basic Economics" and "Economic Facts and Fallacies" by Thomas Sowell are two books that do a pretty good job of clarifying how and why economies work (or fail to work) in the ways that they do. https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/basic-econom...…
on “Parable of the Sofa” ↗Any specific book of him you recommend? I love to read, so will definitely add it to my to read book. I recently read Thomas Sowell's book called Economic Facts and Fallacies which I can recommend.
on “World emissions hit record high, but the EU leads trend reversal” ↗The first book of his I read was Intellectuals and Race. Economic Facts and Fallacies is similar in terms of how the arguments are framed (though it touches on different subjects). I'm not sure if this is true of all his books but I would recommend looking through his complete works (there's…
on “The rate of obsolescence of knowledge in software engineering” ↗…Lowell High School switching from partially-merit-based admission, to lottery-based admission. (And the court order from a few days ago, declaring this switch null and void.) 3. Thomas Sowell's books 'Economic facts and fallacies' and 'Charter schools and their enemies'. One of the points in these books (which include data) is that, when you adjust for things like parental educational level, number of parents in home, differences…
on “California moves to recommend delaying algebra to 9th grade statewide” ↗…nations likewise differ in the levels of honesty. Bicycles can be left parked without locks in Tokyo but doing so in many other countries would be a virtual guarantee that they would be stolen. [1] [1] "Economic Facts and Fallacies" Thomas Sowell
on “The high price of mistrust” ↗Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗…- Demand Side Sales - Odyssey by Homer - Full Stack Tao by Alex Kondov - Logic for Programmers - The Story of Philosophy - The Story of Civilization Vol 1 - The Communist Manifesto Karl Marx - Economic Facts and Fallacies Thomas Sowell - The Beginning of Infinity David Deutsch - Obviously Awesome by April Dunford - SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Mary Beard - American Kingpin by Nick Bilton (it's good, just felt irrelevant,…
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗…income, is cumulative. This is also historically constant, for example Thomas Sowell wrote about how most Americans at the time would be in the top 20% of income for at least one year of their life in "Economic Facts and Fallacies" and "Basic Economics". (obviously the UK quintile study notes decreased lower income exit mobility which is bad for poorer people and means dynamic income mobility is reducing).
on “Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC companies, data shows” ↗