Economics in One Lesson
The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics
by Henry Hazlitt · first published 1946
73% recommend20% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Short, readable introduction to basic economics for people with no background. Explains opportunity cost, the broken window fallacy, and the seen versus the unseen through everyday examples, from a free-market view.
Common criticism: Some call its Austrian, free-market framing ideological rather than evidence-based
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
An introduction to free-market economics.
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2012–2018Henry Hazlitt
Jeffrey A. Tucker, Murray N. Rothbard
Recommended by 5 · mentioned by 65 recommend · 6 mention5 recommend · 65 recommend
2010–2022Applied Economics
Thomas Sowell
Recommended by 5 · mentioned by 65 recommend · 6 mention5 recommend · 65 recommend
2008–2026Basic economics
Thomas Sowell
Recommended by 88 · mentioned by 12088 recommend · 120 mention88 recommend · 12088 recommend
2008–2024The worldly philosophers
Robert L. Heilbroner
Recommended by 17 · mentioned by 1817 recommend · 18 mention17 recommend · 1817 recommend
2010–2020How an economy grows and why it crashes
Peter D. Schiff
Recommended by 8 · mentioned by 128 recommend · 12 mention8 recommend · 128 recommend
2009–2023Naked Economics
Charles J. Wheelan
Recommended by 15 · mentioned by 1715 recommend · 17 mention15 recommend · 1715 recommend
Corporate Finance
Stephen Ross, Randolph Westerfield, Jeffrey Jaffe, Bradford Jordan
Recommended by 1 · mentioned by 21 recommend · 2 mention1 recommend · 21 recommend
2009–2020Meltdown
Thomas E. Woods
Recommended by 2 · mentioned by 22 recommend · 2 mention2 recommend · 22 recommend
…are counter-intuitive, and if you're relying only on your beliefs, there's a good chance you'll get it wrong. If you've never taken a class or read a book on economics, please don't vote. (I recommend Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlett [1]) If you've never taken a class or read a book on political philosophy, please don't vote. If you don't know the difference between natural law and utilitarianism, please don't vote.…
on “Remind HN: Vote” ↗The most important aspect of the claim about spending money is the broken window fallacy. Henry Hazlitt wrote a great book on the subject called Economics in One lesson. The simple example is that we can't go around breaking windows to stimulate the economy. Sure, the window manufacturer and the window replacement companies might benefit, however that money which went…
on “Giving Americans Money to Offset Coronavirus Impact Gains Support in Congress” ↗…or $967,250 it wouldn't matter a hill of beans except to the shareholders of each company who might not think such an expenditure is going to pay off all that well. I recommend reading Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson: http://www.fee.org/library/detail/economics-in-one-lesson-pd...
on “Viral video shows how wealth is really distributed” ↗…been tried so many times throughout different cultures and time periods, and by different means. It will not benefit whoever is actually living on the properties, but will detract from their situation. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt has several concrete examples of attempted interventions, and is written to give a basic intuition on why this happens (Spoiler: Opportunity costs). The only permanent solution is just…
on “Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time” ↗Henry Hazlitt - 'Economics in one lesson' Mises - 'Theory of Credit and Money' Adam Smith - 'Wealth of Nations' Milton Friedman - 'Capitalism and Freedom' Murray Rothbard - 'A New Liberty' Have been my personal, but somewhat one-sided favourites.
on “Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?” ↗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…
on “Ask HN: Best book(s) to learn about the basics of economics?” ↗"Economics in One Lesson" by Hazlitt is digestible, a quick read, and gets to the heart of a lot of issues, IMO.
on “Ask HN: what are some good resources to understand economics?” ↗One "Old" Book to Learn Economics: Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics [1] [1] https://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Underst...
on “A New Way to Learn Economics” ↗Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt. It's old but many of the lessons he teaches are still relevant today. It opened my eyes to the danger of only thinking about the things that are easily observable, and ignoring the "unseen"…
on “Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?” ↗Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt is amazing too - https://mises.org/system/tdf/Henry%20Hazlitt%20Economics%20i...
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗Get some conflicting ideas. Two great, short books are The Mystery of Banking by Rothbard (available for free here: https://mises.org/library/mystery-banking) and Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt (free here: https://fee.org/resources/economics-in-one-lesson/). They both conflict quite substantially with the mainstream and might open up a whole new line of inquiry for you.
on “Ask HN: Book recommendations for understanding financial systems?” ↗Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt Human Action by Ludwig von Mises
on “Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?” ↗…incentives and the law of supply and demand. Oh, and of course No Free Lunch. So in that spirit, here are a couple of economics books that I quite seriously believe everyone should be forced to read. Economics in One Lesson, by Hazlitt Free to Choose: A Personal Statement, by Milton and Rose Friedman Freakonomics, by Levitt and Dubner (this book is just so damn fun to read) and for the hackers: The God of the Machine,…
on “What books would you recommend reading? Why?” ↗…perspective put forth by politicians who want to spend spend spend. They want to spend because spending gets them power. But it damages the economy (government spending.) Henry Hazlitt wrote a good book "Economics in one Lesson". It's really a really good primer on economics.
on “How I live on $7,000 per year” ↗…some good points about labor unions. On one hand, a voluntary association is intrinsically moral, and it could be a force for positive good. I don't know if you've read it or not, but Henry Hazlitt's "Economics in one lesson" is a great book. [1] One of the chapters covers unions and he shows how economically they cannot in the end benefit workers. However, even if they are inefficient or foolish, workers have a right to…
on “The freedom to drink coffee” ↗