Economix and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more



or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering
Sell Us Your Item
For a $1.86 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Start reading Economix on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Color:
Image not available

To view this video download Flash Player

 

Economix: How Our Economy Works (and Doesn't Work), in Words and Pictures [Paperback]

Michael Goodwin , Dan E. Burr , Joel Bakan , David Bach
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)

List Price: $19.95
Price: $13.60 & FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $6.35 (32%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it Tuesday, May 21? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $9.99  
Library Binding $26.40  
Paperback, Bargain Price $7.98  
Paperback, September 1, 2012 $13.60  
Shop the Money & Markets Store
Are you a finance, investing, economics or accounting professional? Find books, read blog posts, and discover new authors and thought-leaders in Money & Markets, a new home for finance industry professionals on Amazon.com. > Shop now

Book Description

September 1, 2012
Stimulus plans: good or bad? Free markets: How free are they? Jobs: Can we afford them? Occupy Wall Street . . . worldwide!
Everybody's talking about the economy, but how can we, the people, understand what Wall Street or Washington knows--or say they know? Read Economix.
With clear, witty writing and quirky, accessible art, this important and timely graphic novel transforms "the dismal science" of economics into a fun, fact-filled story about human nature and our attempts to make the most of what we've got . . . and sometimes what our neighbors have got. Economix explains it all, from the beginning of Western economic thought, to markets free and otherwise, to economic failures, successes, limitations, and future possibilities. It's the essential, accessible guide to understanding the economy and economic practices. A must-read for every citizen and every voter.

PRAISE FOR ECONOMIX
"Economix is a lively, cheerfully opinionated romp through the historical and intellectual foundations of our current economy and our current economic problems. Goodwin has a knack for distilling complex ideas and events in ways that invite the reader to follow the big picture without losing track of what actually happened. Any reader wondering how our economy got to where it is today will find this a refreshing overview." --Timothy W. Guinnane, Philip Golden Bartlett Professor of Economic History, Yale University 

"[Economix] brings a lively visual sensibility to this intensely abstruse subject matter without condescending to the reader or dumbing the ideas down." --MotherJones.com

"This witty and elegant volume takes on a number of complex issues--in this case, economics, history and finance--and makes them comprehensible for mere mortals." --Miami Herald

"It's simply phenomenal. You could read ten books on the subject and not glean as much information." -- David Bach founder of FinishRich Media; author of nine New York Times bestsellers, including Debt Free for Life and The Automatic Millionaire

"Goodwin has done the seemingly impossible--he has made economics comprehensible and funny."--Joel Bakan, author of The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power

"An amazing lesson in true-world economics! Delightfully presented, powerful, insightful, and important information! What a fun way to fathom a deep and often dark subject!" --John Perkins, author of Hoodwinked and the New York Times bestseller Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

"Smart, insightful, clear, and as close to the truth as economics can get. The bonus: Who would have guessed that economics could be fun, and--here's the joy--really accessible? Goodwin roots us in history and fills us with common sense understanding. As he puts it early on, economics seems horribly complicated mostly because we're looking at it all at once. Broken down into its component pieces, it's relatively easy to understand. And a good understanding of economics is critical to maneuvering in the world today. If I were compiling a list of the 100 most important books you can read in a lifetime, this would be on it." --Stephen Petranek, editor-in-chief, Weider History magazines, former editor-in-chief of Discover magazine

"Through a potent mix of comics and punchy, concise, accessible prose, Goodwin takes us on a provocative, exhaustively researched, and exceedingly engaging trip through our history and present day, creating an alternately hilarious and scary picture of where we are today as an economy-- and what it all means. More than that, Goodwin makes the arcane, understandable. If your mind either spins or slumbers at the thought of economics, read Goodwin's Economix and all will become clear. --Nomi Prins, author of It Takes a Pillage: An Epic Tale of Power, Deceit, and Untold Trillions

Frequently Bought Together

Economix: How Our Economy Works (and Doesn't Work),  in Words and Pictures + The Economics Book
Price for both: $29.64

Buy the selected items together
  • The Economics Book $16.04


Editorial Reviews

Review

"I just cannot stress enough how amazing this book is!" --James Floyd Kelly, Wired.com

"Dan E. Burr's appealing illustrations add punch, humor, and clarity to Goodwin's already-excellent storytelling skills. . . . Light switches flicked on in my mind every few pages or so, and after reading Economix I felt like I understood many fundamental aspects about the way the world works. . . . Economix is a book I'm going to buy and give to people."--Mark Frauenfelder, BoingBoing

"Michael Goodwin hasn't just written a great graphic novel -- he's written one that should be required for every school, newsroom and library in the United States." --Andrew Smith, Scripps-Howard News Service

"Economix eliminates stupidity in the face of economics-speak. . . . You'll come away from Economix with a slew of newly understood concepts, from mixed economy to stagflation, but the most important thing you'll come away with is a newfound confidence in your ability to understand how the economic world works for and often against us. --Bob Duggan, BigThink.com

"Goodwin brilliantly contextualizes economic theories with historical narrative, while Burr's simple but elegant illustration employs classical techniques like caricaturing politicians and symbolizing big businesses (as a gleeful factory) to help the reader visualize difficult concepts. If the book has a prime message, it's that the economy is quite understandable and when things go wrong, the effort and thinking of a whole society must be applied to bring everything back into line." --Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

About the Author

Michael Goodwin is a writer and editor with a degree in Chinese studies. He has lived in China, India, and now New York City. Dan E. Burr illustrated the classic graphic novel Kings in Disguise. He lives in Milwaukee.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Abrams ComicArts (September 1, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0810988399
  • ISBN-13: 978-0810988392
  • Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,657 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Much needed, mixed results October 31, 2012
Format:Paperback
The author's concept, communicating basic economic theory through a graphic novel is very interesting and creative. It must have been terribly difficult to achieve such a good result in so few pages.

The odd thing about the book is that you whiz from Adam Smith to the 1950's in about 1/2 of the book and then you hit an increasingly political diatribe and the deft talent that the author showed in the first half of the book for quickly describing complicated and difficult topics starts to disappear, replaced by an increasingly tone-deaf one-sided one-size-fits-all philosophy. This is too bad as the author does a VERY nice job of laying out his arguments and would have been considerably more convincing if he had come across as a teacher who has lots of disturbing questions about the official line instead of as a person who knows everything.

In spite of the disappointment at the end, the book earns 4 stars from me for two reasons:
- The first part of the book is solid gold and should be required reading for every high school student
- The author admited that he was going over the edge before he got too far into his arguments. This kind of self-awareness is rare in textbook authors and I encourage more to emulate the author's confidence and sense of humor
Was this review helpful to you?
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Great introduction, with plenty of sources to follow up on September 23, 2012
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I read about this book on Boing Boing and bought the book mostly on whim - it was very enjoyable, and informative. The author is clear throughout the book that the book represents his 'take' on economic history and the various schools of thought. Parts of the book may seem 'anti-capitalist' (or at least 'anti-business') to certain readers, but in my view the author was fair in his handling of the issues surrounding large multinational corporations and their various collisions with democracy and the people(and let's not forget - the idea that the 'military-industrial complex' was a problematic thing came from President Eisenhower, a Republican -- so that part of the book isn't exactly communist propaganda).

The books best lasting value though is the bibliography - if you aren't sure you agree with parts of the book, it's very clear where the ideas came from, so you can go check the sources and see if you can't come up with a better answer.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A Strong Foundation in Economics! August 27, 2012
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
What an incredible way to learn about the history of economics. I was skeptical as I began to tiptoe into this book, already thinking I was a lost cause as it related to understanding how money, business, and government worked. But, Economix makes its subject fascinating and understandable. Goodwin somehow makes our history clear and often hilarious, although it's justifiably a tragic humor.

This book has given me clearer understanding of market crashes, communism, the New Deal, laissez-faire, etc. The collaboration between Goodwin and his illustrator, Burr, is solid.

Goodwin expresses his wish for the book to be a foundation for people learning about economics and I can't imagine a stronger one.
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars right to the point, perfect for starters of economics
I read this book, and i am simply happy to have read such a book. I am not an economist or sth close to it. I was always curious about how it worked though. Read more
Published 17 days ago by B. Erdogdu
4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful primer
This one is overflowing with content - historical context, theories defined, macro and micro constructs - its all here and Michael Goodwin does a fantastic job distilling all of... Read more
Published 19 days ago by Sibelius
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best book on the economy I have read
I am in the process of reading, enjoying and learning the history of economics from this book. I have encouraged friend to read it also. Easy to understand, very through and fun.
Published 19 days ago by Paul L. Thrash-
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Ive never read a comic novel before but very much enjoyed this one. I think it delivered its points very clearly and very well. Read more
Published 29 days ago by Dan
1.0 out of 5 stars Thinly veiled lefist propaganda
If you are interested in a true representation of economics and how national economies function, do NOT read this book. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Kenneth G Frey
5.0 out of 5 stars great book
one of the great explanations of economic theory, it also shows how an unbiased look at the situation leads one to a conclusion quite different from the opinions of "very... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Allan Franta
3.0 out of 5 stars History seen through economics, and not by an expert.
The title and subtitle ("how our economy works (and doesn't work)") makes you think that this book will teach you economics. Forget that. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Michael Nahas
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Introduction to Economics
The development of modern market economics from the beginning to the present. Clear, concise, easy to read. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Larry Waldman
5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative and funny, though partisan.
If you're a GOP type, you won't like this. Deal with it. I'm more of a liberal and even though it gets quite political towards the end, I think it's a necessary evil when the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Timothy Kelly
4.0 out of 5 stars Economics Without Goobbledygook
Economix is clear, concise and informative for someone not an economist nor interested in becoming one. Above all it ties in some basic economics with real world historical events. Read more
Published 4 months ago by walter winch
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Forums

There are no discussions about this product yet.
Be the first to discuss this product with the community.
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 



So You'd Like to...



Look for Similar Items by Category