The Capitalist's Bible: The Essential Guide to Free Markets―and Why They Matter to You – A Political Economy Primer

by Gretchen Morgenson (Editor)

The Capitalist’s Bible, edited by Gretchen Morgenson, an award-winning journalist with the New York Times, is the essential guide to capitalism and its many languages, customs, and practices. Including thinkers like Adam Smith, concepts like supply and demand, and developments like globalization, The Capitalist’s Bible is an essential primer that clarifies, informs, and answers all the questions that need to be addressed and fully understood in these difficult economic times.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction

300 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

Gretchen Morgenson is a business reporter and columnist at The New York Times, where she also serves as assistant business and financial editor. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for her "trenchant and incisive" coverage of Wall Street. Prior to joining the Times in 1998, she worked as a broker at Dean Witter in the 1980s, and as a reporter at Forbes, Worth, and Money magazines. She lives with her husband and son in New York City.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/gretch...

Reviews

[James Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this book. I appreciated the historical perspective of our world economy, and economy from a microcosm level; and how our many microcosm economies impact each other. This book also did a wonderful job of explaining the roles of individuals on inflation, stagflation, troughs, and peaks. I recommend this book to managers, entrepreneurs, leaders, and economists.

Dr. James Williams

[Tom O'Connell · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if someone who isn’t an economist, hasn’t studied economics, and clearly doesn’t like complexity decided to write a “bible” on capitalism, this book is your answer. The author’s grasp of actual economics is so thin you could slip it between two pages of Keynes and lose it.

Calling this a “guide” is generous. It’s more like being led through the economy by someone who couldn't take real economics because they couldn't pass Calculus 101, but insists they’ve unlocked the secrets of wealth because they once read a Paul Krugman quote on Instagram.

In short: if you came here looking for economics, bring your own—because the author didn’t.

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bibles are about myths. This is why I bought this book; to read about the myths of capitalism. The book is really not that good in this department. The author provides a litany of Ameri-centric "tales" about capitalism, without really acknowledging that they are myths. At best this is a reference book on how America thinks capitalism works. It's not a very interesting tale.

[Ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Unfortunately less of a bible, more of a mini encyclopedia"

The title of this book originally attracted me by its offer of a wealth of information. I thought this would be a good beginning to learn some economics and capitalism knowledge. Indeed, the verdict is that overall it is still an interesting book if you wish to get a glimpse of what the money jargon such as bonds, globalization, central banks, etc., are all about. However, just beware that the materials were presented in a disparate way that at times makes it disappointing – not in depth and coherent enough to fulfill one’s curiosity, but technical and complicated enough to frustrate. It is less of a bible, more a mini encyclopedia in semblance.

[Joseph Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a well-compiled fairly impartial view of capitalism and its history.

Flaws: Too short, and some biases, although the author does well to cover them.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

So poorly written and far too slim to be anything close to a "bible." Go pick up an Intro to Microeconomics textbook instead.

[Issouf · Rating 1 out of 5]

easy to read