Economics: The User's Guide
A Pelican Introduction
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4.2 • 13 Ratings
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
What is economics?
What can - and can't - it explain about the world?
Why does it matter?
Ha-Joon Chang teaches economics at Cambridge University, and writes a column for the Guardian. The Observer called his book 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism, which was a no.1 bestseller, 'a witty and timely debunking of some of the biggest myths surrounding the global economy.' He won the Wassily Leontief Prize for advancing the frontiers of economic thought, and is a vocal critic of the failures of our current economic system.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cambridge economist Chang (23 Things They Don't Tell You about Capitalism) wants to popularize his field through accessible writing and explanations of our material world. The result is a synthesis half textbook, half browser that the author suggests should be read in snippets. Chang notes depressingly that economic history has, for economists, turned into a "harmless distraction, like trainspotting, and at worst as a refuge for the intellectually challenged who cannot handle hard' stuff like mathematics and statistics." The book's first section tries to reconcile and differentiate lines of thought, examining capitalism as a system through classical, Marxist, Keynesian, Schumpeterian, and other perspectives. In the bracing chapter, "Dramatis Personae," Chang presents a sharp-edged summary of individuals and organizations that comprise the world economy. Despite these highlights, too much of the book dutifully checks off significant-topics-in-economics boxes. Chang stresses the seriousness of global poverty and environmental constraints, for example, but in clich d language. The book's whole is less than its parts, partly because the large print and minimal graphics make its many moving parts hard to grasp. Still, it works as an accessible introduction to the field. What Change shows is that economics in its many guises is vitally important to our everyday lives, and as such remains fascinating, the opposite of Carlyle's so-called dismal science.
Customer Reviews
Decent introductory book
This is a vey good book at explaining different theories and using some real life, and interesting, examples to show in practice ‘real world’ economics.
My main gripe with this book is how dull it can be reading some of the chapters on the international finance system and how global capital works. I am fairly familiar with a lot of what the book talks about so maybe it’s a personal problem. I, however, wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone who wants to introduce themselves into economics. It became a real struggle to get over some of these chapters which I think would put a lot of people off who potentially are picking up their first book in economics.
Overall Ha-joon Chang does a great job of challenging your view on the world and how it works. Although I may not agree completely with his conclusion, it’s what you look for when reading a book in economics.