Economics

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis, W. W. Norton & Co., 2011

Heaven On Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism  by Joshua Muravchik, Encounter Books, 2002.  Summary This book presents a history of socialism organized into chapters for each major economic figure. My summary includes only those chapters that I found most interesting.  Babeuf Gracchus Babeuf was a radical egalitarian of the French Revolution. In addition to liberty and property of the Anglo-American enlightenment, the some leaders of the French revolution added a more radic

The Failure of the "New Economics": An Analysis of the Keynesian Fallacies  by Henry Hazlitt, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2007 (originally published in 1959).  Great Depression This book of Henry Hazlitt, published in 1959, is a criticism of John Maynard Keynes’ earlier book The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, published in 1936. In his book, Keynes tried to disprove the traditional economic belief that free-market capitalism will have only a small amount of

The Myth of American Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate  by Phil Gramm, Robert Ekelund, John Early. Rowman & Littlefield...

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoğlu, James A. Robinson Crown Currency, 2012.

Knowledge and Decisions  by Thomas Sowell, Basic Books, 1996.  Knowledge Has a Cost Sowell makes the point that knowledge has a cost. Sowell talks about the relationship between economics and knowledge. The kinds of knowledge that are relevant are supply and demand. That is, what people can produce and how much labor is required to produce it, and what people want, and how much they are willing to pay for it. The market and pricing are a way for producers and buyers to commun

Hidden in Plain Sight: What Really Caused the World's Worst Financial Crisis—and Why It Could Happen Again  by Peter J. Wallison,...

The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good  by William Easterly, Penguin...

Property and Freedom  by Richard Pipes, Alfred A. Knopf, 1999.  The Ancient World The institution of private property predates the...

Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics  by Henry Hazlitt, Crown Publishers, 1979.  Cause and Effect The author approaches economics from the perspective of cause and effect. In order to properly understand economic one must study not just some of the effects of an action, but all of them. One must study not just the short-term effects, but also the long-term effects.  Zero-Sum Game For every job created in public works, the taxes th

World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability  by Amy Chua, Anchor, 2004.  Ethnic Minorities In many countries throughout the world, wealth is concentrated in the hands of successful ethic minorities. The ethnic majorities often operate cottage industries which do not evolve and which cannot compete with the dynamic entrepreneurs. This disparity in business success generates much envy in the majority ethnic group. The poor see