Economics: The User's Guide
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
From the internationally bestselling author and prizewinning economist--a highly original guide to the global economy.
In his bestselling 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism, Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang brilliantly debunked many of the predominant myths of neoclassical economics. Now, in an entertaining and accessible primer, he explains how the global economy actually works-in real-world terms. Writing with irreverent wit, a deep knowledge of history, and a disregard for conventional economic pieties, Chang offers insights that will never be found in the textbooks.
Unlike many economists, who present only one view of their discipline, Chang introduces a wide range of economic theories, from classical to Keynesian, revealing how each has its strengths and weaknesses, and why there is no one way to explain economic behavior. Instead, by ignoring the received wisdom and exposing the myriad forces that shape our financial world, Chang gives us the tools we need to understand our increasingly global and interconnected world often driven by economics. From the future of the Euro, inequality in China, or the condition of the American manufacturing industry here in the United States-Economics: The User's Guide is a concise and expertly crafted guide to economic fundamentals that offers a clear and accurate picture of the global economy and how and why it affects our daily lives.
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.
