Econopower: How a New Generation of Economists Is Transforming the World

Apparently economists are becoming more, not less important. Politicians use them to justify what they already decided to do and that can make economics undeservedly suspect. Skousen offers a treatise that informs of much of the latest developments and breakthroughs in the field. Economics is one of the broadest fields in academia, reflected by these new studies and economists themselves. It seems that every few weeks an economist has proven or developed something of major import. Skousen uses this knowledge to deal with many subjects, including gold, a contemporary view of the major schools of thought in economics, methods of investing such as "non-correlated," the fact that a great economic depression is a possibility in the U.S., and how economists now are solving problems in many areas of life. Skousen offers information about how economists predict the effect various politicians and their policies will affect a person. This was the only dismal part of the book in my estimation. The rest was upbeat, showing how economists can help improve the quality of life.

According to economist Mark Skousen, there is no way we should be bailing out the banks, automakers, or whoever. Things work better if you let things fail, and then let competition take over for a better future. Government intervention should be kept at a minimum and free the supply-side of things to do its thing - - so that the money will trickle all the way down to you and me. In a nutshell, Skousen is a proponent of something called Say's Law which postulates that supply produces demand, with the keys being productivity and investment in the economy through savings. In short, don't let anything get between the buyer and the seller because "The market is wise and the state is stupid". The Keynesian economic system has been so prevalent since FDR's time but according to Skousen, it may have actually extended the affects of the Depression until after WWII, when the controls were finally lifted. On a closer-to-home level, Skousen recommends HSA's (Health Savings Accounts) to encourage competition for rendering of medical services and incentives for the individual not to overuse his account. Traffic gridlock could be solved by charging drivers according to time-of-day and traffic load according to key lanes. The voucher system for schooling our youngsters could be implemented to create competition among education providers and, at least theoretically, give kids a better education. He does recommend the Modern Portfolio Theory for personal investing - - diversify and hold, though he is skeptical of the Efficient Market Theory - - you can't beat the market because everyone has the same information at the same time. Interesting book and good food for thought!

Mark Skousen has emerged as one of the clearest writers on all matters economic today, the next Milton Friedman, and his latest contribution to the literature is a brilliant primer on the power of economics to change the world through free minds, free trade, and market capitalism. Each chapter is short and to the point, providing readers with the essence of what they need to know to wrap their minds around a particular problem. I found most useful his chapter on what components go into a society that leads to prosperity. Surprisingly, and to Skousen's credit, it is not simply removing government altogether and allowing capitalists to do whatever they like, but instead markets must operate within a society based on the rule of law. Trust between strangers is always tentative, so measures must be in place to insure secure and safe trade transactions, The rest of Econopower is equally honest in its appraisal of the data, and Skousen is no ideologue. Read this book to arm yourself with the essential facts.

This book needs to be read by every American citizen. If you value freedom and want a better future where you control your life and property, read this book and share its wisdom with everyone you know. Beware of any politician who does not understand the law of supply and demand. If they want to give you something for nothing, run as fast as you can to the door.

The late Milton Friedman was considered by many to be the libertarian ambassador to the American establishment. His sprightly laissez-faire perspective was, over the decades, a constant reminder to regnant Keynesian intellectuals of the manifold holes in the ship's hull of their paradigm. With an ever-gracious persona and unfailing logic, Friedman carried the flag of freedom brilliantly to those of this world who think. Now that he is gone, there needs to be someone to take his place. Mark Skousen may just be that man. His works over the past two decades have been both prolific and profound. Like Friedman, he is an economist who can actually write in a prose style that is engaging. With his latest book, EconoPower, Skousen gives us a splendid analysis of why the intellectual progeny of Adam Smith is retaking the battlefield from the Keynesians. EconoPower is all about how economists of the modern day are no longer satisfied with remaining in ivory towers to scribble out theories about the mysterious thing called Economy. Such a focus on "highly abstract mathematical modeling," says Skousen, is what is called the "Ricardian vice, named after the nineteenth-century economist David Ricardo who developed unreal and oversimplified models without testing them against factual evidence." This has taken economics "down the wrong road." Today a whole new wave of Smithian progeny is going out into the real world -- the messy, problematic world that we all have to confront every day -- and showing how the science of economics can be applied to the ever-present problems of history to solve dilemmas often thought to be intractable. And they are doing so with dramatic results. In the first chapter, Skousen presents seven basic economic principles that must be understood and adhered to if humans are to advance their societies. Depending on how closely intellectuals "adhere to or violate" these principles, they will bring good or evil to the world. These principles are a canon of wisdom for civilization, and every professor, politician and pundit exercising authority in this world should be required to learn them thoroughly. They are: 1. Accountability. 2. Economizing and cost-benefit analysis. 3. Saving and investment. 4. Incentives. 5. Competition and choice. 6. Entrepreneurship and innovation. 7. Welfare. With great clarity, Skousen demonstrates briefly how each of these concepts must be applied in order to maintain freedom and justice. Because we have not been paying attention to these crucial guides of right economic thinking for many decades now, we are gradually destroying the very essence of America and the Smithian concept of "natural liberty." Skousen goes on to tell us about a pantheon of remarkable intellectuals and entrepreneurs such as Jose Pinera, John Mackey, Gary Becker, Robert Shiller, Charles Koch, Henry Spearman, etc. who are blazing new trails in the social sciences by using the field of Economics. This book is packed with an incre