A review by murffinator
Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt

4.0

An enlightening and sometimes eye opening quick read that's split into short chapters, each covering a particular topic or fallacy, and then the truth about that same topic or fallacy. The "one lesson" the title refers to is stated at the beginning of the book, which is that the science of economics consists not only of looking at the direct/seen and short term impacts or results of any particular policy or economic activity, but also at at the indirect/unseen and long term impacts or results. The book's premise is that most people and politicians, knowingly or unknowingly, only focus on the direct/seen/obvious, short term impacts while ignoring the rest, which often end up harming people and the economy rather than helping. Each chapter emphasizes that point and traces the impacts through to their conclusion.

I found the book very interesting and helpful, particularly the chapters on the role of profits and losses, and inflation. Even though the book was written in the 1940's, some of the authors comments ring even more true today and were quite prophetic.

One thing to keep in mind is the book is a high level summary and the author makes that clear. Each chapter could end up being a book of its own, however there are some citations and other references. So even though I wish some more detail was provided on certain topics, that's not the point of the book.