The Concise Guide to Economics

by Jim Cox

To understand economics is to understand the practical case for freedom. The great merit of this book is to bring out the connection in the clearest and shortest possible way.The Concise Guide To Economics is a handy, quick reference guide for those already familiar with basic economics, and a brief, compelling primer for everyone else. Professor Jim Cox introduces topics ranging from entrepreneurship, wages, money, trade, and inflation to the consequences of price controls and anti-price gouging laws.If it were read alongside the daily newspaper, it would undermine most all the fallacies that appear nearly every day. Along the way, he defends the crucial role of advertising, speculators, and heroic insider traders.Thus does the book combines straightforward, common sense analysis with hard-core dedication to principle, using the fewest words possible to explain the topic clearly. And each brief chapter includes references to further reading so those who are curious to dig deeper will know where to look next.The popularity of this book has been growing for several years. A website dedicated to it is already very popular. One organization dedicated to public activism buys it by the hundreds, viewing it as the shortest and best way to counter economic fallacy.The Concise Guide makes a great gift to those who have never thought about the workings of economic logic, and thereby misunderstand the case for free-market capitalism.From the Introduction by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, "The beauty of Cox's book comes from both its clear exposition and its brevity. He offers only a few paragraphs on each topic but that is enough for people see both error and truth. Sometimes just mapping out the logic beyond the gut reaction is enough to highlight an economic truth. He does this for nearly all the topics that confront us daily."Many people only have a moment. That's why the guide is essential. It is probably the shortest and soundest guide to economic logic in print. May it be burned into the consciousness of every citizen now and in the future."

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction, Politics

136 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 2007

Reviews

[Miriam Cihodariu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This went a bit better than my usual dive into non-fiction (I seem to hate most non-fiction recommendations that come my way, finding them silly / too embedded in the realm of self-help). It managed to explain some concepts I didn't really grasp, albeit through very libertarian rose-colored glasses. All in all ok, an useful read.

[Tyler Storm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent summary but kind of biased. As a relative newbie to econ, I would prefer a guide to economics to be unbias. later I can gravitate towards specific views/schools of thought. This was a quick read.

[Juan Pablo Alarcon LC · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, well written, and concise.
Anyway, it had some parts that were hard to understand, and overall the subject was more an apology for free market in different areas than a neutral introduction.

[Fernando · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the tittle say, is a concise text about economics, chapters are no more than 3 pages long. Fantastic!

[Apatheia · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is good to have all the sloganeering in one place when dealing with ideologues.

[Cheng Jun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny book.

[Drish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Least libertarian Alabaman economist

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jim Cox's Concise Guide to Economics is a collection of essays on...you guessed it...economics. I really enjoyed the topics that at first seemed counter-intuitive, like speculation and price gouging in times of emergency. Speculators make informed bets on the price of goods based on expected future conditions. If they're poor, speculators bet on an increase in prices, and an increase in prices gives people the incentive to conserve. The same goes with price gouging. When prices rise because of an emergency and an expectation of a shortage, people conserve resources and make sure goods are put to their best use. It's not about sky-high profits. These are just two examples of the great explanations found in this book.

I couldn't give the book five stars due to some of the analogies Mr. Cox employs to explain certain principles. I found them to not be persuasive. But other than that, you're doing yourself a favor by reading this brief book.

[Wissam Raji · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a very brief summary of many concepts in economics from the Austrian school libertarian perspective. It discusses and refutes many fallacies and misconceptions from the monetary school, marxist school and Keynesian school. Very interesting approach to the concepts of Profit/Loss, minimum wage, antitrust laws, federal reserve, etc... The most interesting chapter is the assassination of the marxist labour theory through rational and well given examples. Highly recommended read... However, in very few sections, stronger and more convincing examples could have been used mainly when he discusses monopoly.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great primer on Austrian economics. The author also compares and contrasts Austrian economics with other major schools of economic thought. The chapters are VERY concise and should serve to pique the reader's interest in investigating the ideas the authors puts forth. The author provides excellent references for further study.

[John Boettcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone wanting a great basic understanding of the Austrian School of Economics, or just of Economics in general should read this book!!

[Olli Kytömäki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Austrian school approach in a nutshell.

[Antti Mäkinen · Rating 4 out of 5]

hc shittii :)