Capitalism for Beginners [Paperback]

Robert Lekachman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 174 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon; Second Printing edition (May 12, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394738632
• ISBN-13: 978-0394738635
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #819,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Capitalism from the viewpoint of Democratic Socialism, May 26, 2003

By 

OAKSHAMAN "oakshaman" (Algoma, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Capitalism for Beginners (Hardcover)

This is another of the excellent documentary "comic books" published by Pantheon Books. However, just because it is a "comic book" and uses well-selected illustrations to drive home its point (often with considerable good-natured humor), do not think that it isn't also an insightful and well-researched guide into the workings of the capitalist system.

This book isn't a piece of "free market" propoganda. The author consistantly points out the shortcomings, absurdities, and out right injustice of the system. In fact, his examination of why so many Americans continue to support the capitalist system, when it is clearly contrary to the best interests of 9 out of 10 of us, is among the best I've seen.

After reading this book you will know the basic textbook concepts of economics. You will know mecantilism from monetism, and microeconomics from macroeconomics. You will be familiar with the theories of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, F.A. Hayek, and Milton Freidman. You will understand the law of the falling rate of profit, and how paying lower wages can only temporarily offset this. You will know what a multinational corporation is and how they operate. Indeed, the author's warning about "corporatism" (in 1981) is down right prophetic.

Some people might be tempted to write this book off as dated or obsolete because it was first published in 1981. On the contrary, because of the good old "business cycle" conditions are once again very simular to those of the early eighties....

The author is no wild-eyed radical. He was a Distinguished Professor of Economics at the City University of New York.