Demystifying Economics: The Book That Makes Economics Accessible to Everyone

I picked this book up when I realized I needed to brush up on some economics and cover some bases I did not study adequately enough in school. As an introduction to economics for the layman, it does its job, thus the 4 stars I give it. I knew since reading Paul Krugman that the national debt was a serious problem, but Table 10-1 of this book, which shows its growth over the past few decades, leaves haunting images within me. I am very concerned about our national debt, in a way I was not before, with the author clarifying for me the nature of the national debt and its relationship to the budget deficits. Clarifying concepts is what Dr. Allen W. Smith does best. The book covers the characteristics of individual proprietorships, partnerships and corporations, and explains supply-side economics, monetarism, and absolute and comparative advantage, among many other things. The clarity with which the writer expresses these concepts has made me think hard about the pitfalls of starting my own business, in which I would be totally liable for any debts that I incur. Dr. Smith's explication of the importance of marginal revenue and marginal cost to determine optimal production levels is very good. In school I learned that you can maximize profit when marginal revenue equals marginal cost, but the book allowed me to understand the reasoning behind it. It's a short book, with a mini-dictionary at the end, and is never boring. It is strongly recommended for those who want to learn more about economics or at least brush up on some topics. I suspect the book is too elementary for those hard-core into economics, but it has great value for most of the "educated" public.

With all this talk lately about the condition the economy is in, I thought I'd do myself some good and actually read up a little bit on what the economy is actually all about - I'm in my 30's and it's been some years since those highschool economics classes. I actually picked this up at my local library - but I liked it so much it's now on my Wish List. The author takes a subject that's frankly not very exciting or clear to most, and puts it in words almost anyone can understand and states examples of how different concepts would work. In this book I learned about such things as:-The laws of Supply and Demand-Different types of business organizations and what monopolies, oligopolies, and anti-trust laws are all about-Labor unions and their effect on the workforce, and why some trades tend to make so much more than others due again to supply and demand-What the gross domestic product is and how fiscal policies effect the economy-Where the money for unemployment checks comes from and how the government determins what the unemployment rates are-What causes inflation and why it's not necessarily a bad thing-How the Federal Reserve System works and what banks do with my money after I make a deposit-How internation trade effects the economy, and why buying foreign goods is actually good for the economyAlthough this book doesn't cover everything there is to know about economics, it certainly is a great book for "US Economics in a Nutshell," and I feel I have a much better understanding of how the economy works now.

DEMYSTIFYING ECONONOMICS takes a complex subject and makes it possible for both beginning students and older adults who have forgotten a lot from school days, to understand the basics of economics. The author has over 28 years of teaching experience and it shows. He is a writer who cares about students and the public, not just other economists. The careful reader will learn about the basic problem of economics, that is scarcity. Nations and citizens must choose because we have unlimited wants and limited resources. Readers will learn: the varied ways in which business firms are organized, labor economics, government policies designed to keep from boom and bust excesses, money and banking and international trade etc. The book also tells the story of how our national debt zoomed from 290.5 billion in 1960 to 5 trillion,711.4 billion (est) in 2000. This book belongs in libraries, as a companion text in schools and colleges and in the personal libraries of citizens who wish to make informed choices.