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A review by qog314
Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell
4.0
I finished the 600 page updated book with extra chapters.
This book was interesting, but could have been half the length as the author says the same thing over and over again. Free market = good. Everything else = bad.
The examples beg the question most of the time: For example, the author talks a lot about rent control in this manner: rent control is bad because it doesn't allow the free market to dictate prices. Why is not allowing the market to dictate prices? because then you get rent control.
Most examples used to illustrate how the free market is successful assume that the reason something is not working is because it's not a free market. In other words, there is a major conflagration between correlation and causation. I would have liked the author to dig into examples more and look at all the potential variables surrounding the situation to try to pull apart the incentives.
I did appreciate discussions on politicians incentives vs business incentives and why certain things make more rational sense for a politician to espouse than a business person.
But the author assumes that a) decisions happen automatically and instantaneously based on magical decentralization of knowledge, b) there is no place for intervention in the free market, and c) that businesses, banks, and people all have their interests aligned.
This book was interesting, but could have been half the length as the author says the same thing over and over again. Free market = good. Everything else = bad.
The examples beg the question most of the time: For example, the author talks a lot about rent control in this manner: rent control is bad because it doesn't allow the free market to dictate prices. Why is not allowing the market to dictate prices? because then you get rent control.
Most examples used to illustrate how the free market is successful assume that the reason something is not working is because it's not a free market. In other words, there is a major conflagration between correlation and causation. I would have liked the author to dig into examples more and look at all the potential variables surrounding the situation to try to pull apart the incentives.
I did appreciate discussions on politicians incentives vs business incentives and why certain things make more rational sense for a politician to espouse than a business person.
But the author assumes that a) decisions happen automatically and instantaneously based on magical decentralization of knowledge, b) there is no place for intervention in the free market, and c) that businesses, banks, and people all have their interests aligned.