Pocket Economist: The Essentials of Economics from A-Z

I teach at the college level, and have made this reference a mandatory part of my class in "Pocket Economics". It overcomes Dr. Galbraith's reference to astrology in the study and understanding of the economy.

This book delivers what it promises: a brief overview of the essential economic expressions of our time. Most interesting are its style and format. It certainly delivers on The Economist's guarantee of quality writing and the encyclopedia-like entries make it simple to find what you want, jump from one topic to another (even easier thanks to the cross references are in capital letters) or simply skip around the book. I would say that this is a non-technical publication, perfectly accessible for the interested layman. Not as comprehensive as the bulkier Dictionary of Economics also published by The Economist, but a great reference title on its own. It covers basic topics but also some more unusual ones like positional goods or the tragedy of the commons. A good companion would be The Economist Guide to Economic Indicators that goes more into depth on several subjects. Also interesting is that you can find a shorter online version of this book at The Economist's website, called Economics A-Z. It is not as comprehensive but certainly quite handy. Unlike other reviewers, I did not like so much the author's introduction on the dismal science... In any case, throughout the volume, the author's style is brilliant and most effective when covering complicated terms, as he beautifully summarizes the essentials of each expression. I believe it to be a very useful volume in our global environment, as understanding economics has become more important than ever.

This badly named but invaluable book is vintage Economist style, method, and theory. If it is not what its title leads one to believe, this is pardonable on the grounds that it is perhaps better than that. ESSENTIAL ECONOMICS is comprised of a lively and informative essay by Matthew Bishop that plays upon the oft-cited designation of economics as 'the dismal' science, followed by brief encyclopedia-style entries written with the Economist's trademark brevity of style and commitment to ideological restraint within a market framework. Bishop's 'The Joy of Economics' (!) should be required reading for high school and college students. This delightful essay explains almost as much about what (free-market) economists *don't* say about reality as about what they affirm. These ten careful pages constitute a virtual primer on economic discussion in broad historical outline and the state of the question today. Entries from A ('Absolute advantage') to Z ('Zero-sum game') then fill out this handbook-sized volume with intelligent summary and effective cross-referencing. Brilliant, concise, unapologetic, sized for the desk, shelf or briefcase, ESSENTIAL ECONOMICS is worth its modest price, which should prove no 'barrier to entry' to dismal scientists and lay enthusiasts in virtually any 'optimal currency area'.

Economics is not an exact science. Neither is it the "dismal science" that Thomas Carlyle claimed it was back in the days when Britannica still ruled the waves. Economics is a social science, a "historical" science, a science that can seldom rely on experiment to test its theories but must make do with observation. We do not know whether a tax cut for the rich, for example, will be good for the economy as a whole. It can be tried and when the results are in some years or decades down the road, we may come to some conclusion; but because we could not also see what would have happened had there been no tax cut or a different sort of tax cut, we really cannot be sure that it was the tax cut for the rich that led to economic growth or (as the case may be) revolution.Nonetheless, while the knowledge we receive from a rigorous and disciplined observation of facts and events gives us nothing like certainty, it does lead us to know how to place our bets. And in an uncertain world that is really all we can expect. Even in closed systems like mathematics there are things unknown and not fully understood; and even in the most rigorous of the sciences such as physics, there is no presumption to absolute knowledge.This attractive pint-sized publication from The Economist includes an opening essay entitled "The Joy of Economics" by Matthew Bishop that summarizes the current thinking of economists and presents a report on the state of the art. Unlike many essays written by economists, it is easy to read and directed at a general (but, of course, educated) readership. It serves admirably not only as an introduction to this volume but to current economic thought as well. I especially like his point that "better measures of economic success or failure" than "a purely monetary measure" such as GDP are needed, most clearly some measure that takes "environmental and other non-monetary factors into account." (pp. 8-9) Also good is his question about what effect the information explosion will have on economic thought and practice.After Bishop's essay there follows hundreds of mini-essays and definitions arranged alphabetically on matters economic. If one compares these entries to those in the similar, but larger Dictionary of Economics also put out by The Economist, one quickly sees that there are fewer entries here but they are presented in a more readable fashion. This is then a less technical publication and not as inclusive; yet for most readers I would say it makes the ideas of economics more accessible.Furthermore, Matthew Bishop, who wrote the entries has a slightly different slant on some economic ideas than those of the editors of the Dictionary of Economics. For example, on "adverse selection" Bishop concentrates on the market failure likely to be experienced by insurance companies selling insurance to, e.g., "55-year-old male smokers" while the Dictionary of Economics zeroes in on what it calls "the lemon problem." In both cases the problem i