In this fifth edition of Basic Economics, Thomas Sowell revises and updates his popular book on commonsense economics, bringing the world into clearer focus through a basic understanding of the fundamental economic principles and how they explain our lives. Drawing on lively examples from around the world and from centuries of history, Sowell explains basic economic principles for the general public in plain English.

Basic Economics,which has now been translated into six languages and has additional material online, remains true to its core principle: that the fundamental facts and principles of economics do not require jargon, graphs, or equations and can be learned in a relaxed and even enjoyable way.

Listening Length

23 hours and 47 minutes
Author

Thomas Sowell
Narrator

Tom Weiner
Audible release date

December 2, 2014
Language

English
Publisher

Blackstone Audio, Inc.
ASIN

B00PKQMFT8
Version

Original recording
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	23 hours and 47 minutes
Author	Thomas Sowell
Narrator	Tom Weiner
Audible.com Release Date	December 02, 2014
Publisher	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Original recording
Language	English
ASIN	B00PKQMFT8
Best Sellers Rank	#1,702 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #11 in Economics (Audible Books & Originals) #16 in Economics (Books)

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4.9 out of 5

3,961 global ratings

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Mike

A must read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 20, 2022

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I've read a lot on economics. I try to keep in mind a rough reading list for when people ask me what to read to dip their toe in the waters of economics, to really understand how the economy works. Thomas Sowell is one of the brilliant economics of our time. Fundamental / Foundational ideas are presented in a *very* approachable way. After reading *many* books on economics, this is now in my top list of books to recommend to others trying to understand money and the economy. (My others are The Creature from Jekyll Island, How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes, and Dines' The Invisible Crash (or the updated version: Goldbug!) I can't believe I've made it so many years without adding this one to my list. A true must-read in the field.

12 people found this helpful

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Matthew Fischer

Helps to Teach Economics

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 9, 2023

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I teach microeconomic principles to undergrads. This book provides another way of understanding the intuition underlying many of the topics in our class and is helpful as a supplement. I have found it be useful for developing teaching methods while supplying some real world examples.

One person found this helpful

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Ace

So readable

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 14, 2023

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This book is sooo readable. The writing style is clear and examples are straight forward. Terms are defined for the layman and there are virtually no chart or graphs. Truly a unique resource in economics books.

One person found this helpful

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A. Houser

A must-have for every book shelf

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 28, 2022

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This should be required reading for every student. It is masterfully articulated with language that is easy to follow. I read this after reading Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and it was an excellent pairing. Sowell is one of the great thinkers of our time.

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Andres Londoño

If you are a human, you must read this book.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 26, 2022

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With outstanding clarity, Thomas Sowell explains how the world works regarding the allocation of scarce resources and contradicts very common fallacies. This book is an eye opener. A masterpiece.

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Pure and simply, a must-read.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 29, 2020

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This is a superb introduction to Economics, written without mathematical symbols or equations. It is written for the general reader and should be accessible to any interested general reader. It is a doorstop at nearly 700 pp. but it reads quickly and holds the attention well.

TS begins with a single concept and plays it out in a multiplicity of contexts: resources are scarce and can be put to multiple uses. Wood can be used to make desks, paper, mulch, etc. Beginning with that notion he explores prices, markets, work, pay, time, risk, the national economy, international economy, and so on. He provides a brief history of Economics and even asks a set of questions that a teacher (particularly a home schooler) might utilize.

Beginning as a Marxist, TS studied Economics with Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago. He is a 'Chicago-style' economist as well as one of the country's top public intellectuals. A few of his key comments will indicate his general orientation. He is skeptical of governmental intrusions and controls and is quick to point out the fact that many intelligent and educated people have a way of forgetting the basic laws of economics. Economics is often called the 'dismal science' because it has a way of undercutting wishes and dreams that may ultimately be delusionary. Rent control is a prime example of a 'nice' idea that inevitably brings negative results. Two lovely comments from his summation at the end of the book:

"Invidious comparisons and internecine struggles are the stuff of social melodrama, which in turn is the lifeblood of the media and politics, as well as portions of the intelligentsia" (p. 633).

"Empirical questions are questions that must be asked, if we are truly interested in the well-being of others, rather than in excitement or a sense of moral superiority for ourselves. Perhaps the most important distinction is between what sounds good and what works. The former may be sufficient for purposes of politics or moral preening, but not for the economic advancement of people in general or the poor in particular. For those who are willing to stop and think, basic economics provides some tools for evaluating policies and proposals in terms of their logical implications and empirical consequences" (p. 634).

Since logic, reason and empirical argument are in particularly short supply these days, this fifth edition of a contemporary classic is particularly useful. Note that it adds a new chapter (Chapter 23) on international wealth disparities. It may just be the best chapter in the book, because it takes a subject on which we are endlessly harangued and approaches it by offering examples from across the globe and from the beginnings of history. This is characteristic of TS; rather than mucking about in simplistic controversy he offers material from across the social sciences, diluting the issues of their fiery (and often irrational) atmospherics and provides insights and examples from areas and times with which contemporary controversialists are often unfamiliar.

This is a must-read.

15 people found this helpful

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Roman

A Classic, And A Must Read for Anyone..

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 14, 2021

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..wanting to further their understanding of economics whether they're of introductory or advanced level. I have read all of Sowell's major works, and this was actually the first of his I ever read, so I decided to finally write a review for it. One of the main reasons I decided to write a review is because I noticed that a lot of the negative reviews on here can be very misleading for those looking to purchase this book, and probably used by those with an agenda as a means of deterrent in order to help preserve their ideological house of cards..

The foremost complaint I see from negative reviewers (as well as the top critical comment listed on the page) is that "not all government regulation is bad.." and that the "book doesn't go into explaining government regulation.." etc. (1) The book has an entire chapter entitled "Government Function", and Sowell does elaborate on necessary government regulation such as "external costs" and more. (2) If anyone wants to further advance their understanding of the "how" and "why" of economic function in a complex modern society (whether capitalist, socialist etc.), as well as a detailed analysis on government regulation, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND his landmark work "Knowledge and Decisions", which I consider to be his most profound alongside "A Conflict of Visions"..

Also, many of those that have reviewed negatively seemed to nitpick and criticize certain parts of an argument while disregarding the rest of the argument - rent control for example - that is further embellished upon and strengthened later on throughout the book. This leads me to believe that many of those complaining in this way did not read the entire book, and decided to set it down when they could not read past their emotions - especially when it comes to sensitive topics that are still in vogue. Others seem to say that this book is heartless, which completely misconstrues the purpose of why it was written: that forcing immediate results and/or political intention does not equal outcome and almost always leads to unintended and unwanted consequences. Again, the reader not looking past bias and allowing emotions to get in the way..

That said, this is perhaps Sowell's most popular work, as well as his greatest contribution to the world in that he is able to help the general population become economically literate in a way that has never before been achieved. He possesses a great gift for translating the most complex and abstract topics into logical and easy to understand language, which always manages to be entertaining and hard to put down. Highly Recommend.

7 people found this helpful

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Kevin

Not Great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 10, 2022

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Heavy bias makes this book difficult to read, as you never know whether you're getting all the facts or not. For example Sowell insinuates that Americas private medical system is better than other developed countries, using a few vague statistics about waiting time differences and one specific example about a girl getting a cosmetic surgery, with no context for either (this forms part of a well-argued segment showing why government control of prices produces poor outcomes). However he completely fails to mention that these other health care systems rank far higher than the US in almost every metric, and he doesn't even comment on the American systems glaring deficiencies. He also says subsidised healthcare always "costs far more than initially expected", despite the US spending by far the most money per capita on healthcare in the world???? (...this isnt mentioned either).
Because of this I have no idea whether his arguments are even valid, and have had to check how true each of them are myself with further research, defeating the point of buying this book in the first place.

Moreover he also argues about the negative effects of minimum-wage laws and regulation of working conditions, and again makes Western Europe seem behind the US, using vague statistics about the increased output and productivity of American workers (no studies are cited in this book), blissfully ignoring the fact that many of these countries have a higher gdp per capita, higher standard of living and higher citizen happiness than the US.

I'm honestly staggered this book has such good reviews, but I'm assuming its mainly targeted at Americans who are happy to gobble up the "socialism bad USA good" narrative and ignore the blatant bias. Also way too long.

18 people found this helpful

mister tom

Basic Economics, oder: Was jeder Mensch über Ökonomie wissen sollte!

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on September 18, 2018

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(Zum Zeitpunkt der Rezension las ich 50% des Buches;
Negatives kommt am Ende zur Sprache)

Das Buch wurde von Thomas Sowell, der in den 1960ern als Schwarzer an Harvard studierte, und die affirmative actions aufs schärfste verurteilt, geschrieben! Alleine das ist Grund genug das Buch in die Hand zu nehmen.

Sowell erklärt sehr genau (teilweise zu genau) wie die Wirtschaft funktioniert, bzw. wie sich verschiedene Eingriffe des Staates in die Wirtkschaft auswirken. Er zeigt mit einer unglaublichen Anzahl an Beispielen aus den verschiedensten Teilen der Welt und zu unterschiedlichsten Zeiten, wie das Prinzip von Angebot und Nachfrage bis ins Detail funktionieren.
Man merkt ihm dabei an, dass er seine Theorien nicht auf Ideologien basiert, sondern auf Beobachtungen des Marktes.

Ein Beispiel: Mietpreisdeckelung. Es hat mich zutiefst erstaunt, wie Sowell mit Beispielen erklärte, dass eine staatlich verordnete Mietpreisbremse mehr negative Konsequenzen nach sich zieht, als wenn man den Markt freie Hand lässt.
Noch mehr erstaunte mich, dass alles was er über Mietpreisdeckelung in seinem Buch vorhersagt 1:1 in Wien beobachtbar ist!
Wenn ein Staat die Mieten deckelt passieren mehrere Dinge:

1. Bauträger nehmen Abstand vom Bau neuer Immobilien, da der Immobilienmarkt einen der langsamsten Umschlagraten hat, Kapital also tröpfchenweise (über mehrere Jahre und durch kleine Zahlungen (Mieten)) wieder reinbekommt. Deckelt man Mieten, dauert der Umschlag noch länger. Und Bauträger bauern entweder in anderen Gegenden (wo sie entsprechende Miete für ihre Leistung bekommen), oder sie bauen Eigentumswohnungen (wo sie das Kapital sofort wieder bekommen, und das verlangen dürfen, was die Wohnung wert ist).
Mittel- und Geringverdiener können sich Eigentumswohnungen nur schwer leisten. Zudem werden kaum neue Wohnungen gebaut und die Meite in bestehenden Wohnungen ohne Mietpreisdeckelung steigt.
Lässt man hingegen dem Markt freie Hand, steigen die Mieten, aber dadurch steigen auch die Neubauten, weil Bauträger sehen, dass sich in dieser Stadt mehr Gewinn durch Mieten erwirtschaften lässt, als wo anders. Es wird mehr gebaut. Der Markt sättigt sich langsam und die Mieten fallen wieder. Bis der Bedarf wieder steigt. Simples Gesetz von Angebot und Nachfrage.

2. Bestehende Wohnungen werden nur mehr an Menschen vermietet, die zuverlässig ihre Miete zahlen (können). Das heißt, dass man Nachweise über Einkommen vorlegen muss. Auch bevorzugen Vermieter höher Gebildete und höher Verdienende grundsätzlich, weil diese Gesellschaftsschicht am zuverlässigsten Miete bezahlt. Und diejenige, die eigentlich von der Mietpreisbremse profitieren sollten (Mittel- und Geringverdiener) bekommen erst recht keine Wohnung.

3. Wohnungen, die durch die Mietpreisdeckelung unrentabel werden, weil die Betriebs- Renovierungs- und Erhaltungskosten die Mieteinnahmen übersteigen, werden nichtmehr vermietet. Die Vermieter wollen verständlicherweise nicht ins Minus wirtschaften. Dadurch verfallen Häuser und Wohnungen, die von Mietpreisbremsen betroffen sind. Die Stadt Wien löst dieses Problem zum Beispiel durch Strafen auf Leerstand.

Warum werden also überhaupt Mietpreisdeckelungen von der Politik gefordert? Vassilakou forderte 2013 eine Miepreisdeckelung und Kern forderte sie 2018. Warum? Weil man mit dieser Polemik auf jeden Fall gutes politisches Kleingeld schlagen kann. Niemand zahlt gern Miete. Aber man sollte es als Service betrachten. Ich zahle schließlich nicht für ein Zugticket, weil ich keine Strafe zahlen will, wenn ich beim Schwarzfahren erwischt werde. Ich zahle für ein Zugticket, weil ich einen Service in Anspruch nehme. Aus dem selben Grund zahle ich auch gerne Miete, weil ich nicht auf der Straße schlafen will und dem Vermieter für seine Bereitstellung seines Wohnraumes an mich einen fairen Preis zahlen möchte.
Und das bringt mich zum letzten Punkt:

Sowell lässt sich in einem Satz gut zusammenfassen: The allocation of scarce resources with alternative uses.
Diesen Satz liest man alle paar Seiten einmal. Er wird zum Mantra. Das erste Mal habe ich ihn noch unterstrichen, aber weil ich ihn so oft las, ging er mir in Fleisch und Blut über.
Im Endeffekt geht es in der Wirtschaft um die Verteilung von begrenzten Resourcen, die auch andere Verwendungen haben.
Beispiel Wohnraum. Nicht jeder kann in der Haupstadt leben! Warum? Weil es nicht genug Platz für alle gibt. In einem marktwirtschaftlichem System regelt der (fluktuierende) Preis die Verteilung. Eine Wohnung auf der Kärtnerstraße ist nunmal teurer als eine Wohnung im 10ten. Weil die Nachbarschaft anders ist, weil die Lebensqualität anders ist, weil das Angebot unterschiedlich ist.
Eine Mietpreisdeckelung setzt mit einem Schlag alle Wohnungen auf das gleiche Preisniveau. Es ist nichtmehr der Einzelne, der mit seinem Geld abstimmt, sondern der Staat nimmt die Entscheidung, was eine Wohnung zu kosten hat, ab. (Hier lassen sich die sozialistischen Tendenzen der Abhanme von Verantwortung gut erkennen.)

Ein zweites (kurzes) Beispiel:
Ich las Marx' Kapital (in Auszügen). Er setzt den Wert von 1 Rock und 20 Ellen Leinwand gleich. Laut ihm kann man die Gleichung auch beliebig oft umkehren, also: 1 Rock = 20 Ellen Leinwand; und 20 Ellen Leindwand = 1 Rock.
Das stimmt aber mit nichten.
Sowell lehrt: Dem Käufer einer Zeitung ist die Zeitung mehr wert als der eine Euro den er Zahlt. Und dem Verkäufer ist der eine Euro mehr wert als die Zeitung.
Es gibt einen Moment des Profits, den Marx für gierig und ungerechtfertigt hielt (Denn warum soll ich mehr für ein Produkt zahlen, als es tatsächlich kostet?!), und Sowell für notwendig erklärt (Weil Gewinn/Profit Incentives sind um überhaupt Handel zu treiben!).

Insgesamt gehört Basic Economics zu den drei besten Büchern, die ich je gelesen habe und die absolut jeder Mensch einmal pro Jahr lesen sollte!
-Basic Economics; Thomas Sowell
-Explaining Postmodernism; Stephen Hicks
-Gulag Archipelago; Alexander Solschenytzin

Negatives:
Zwei negative Anmerkungen zu Basic Economics:
Erstens, es ist extrem lang und es wir repetitiv (aber nicht weniger spannend), vor allem auch, weil die Mechanismen großteils die selben bleiben. Aber man könnte das Buch gut auf ein drittel zusammenkürzen und hätte trotzdem das meiste abgedeckt.

Zweitens, Kapitalismus hat nicht überall seine Berechtigung. Ich würde zu Sowell ergänzen, dass Privatisierung überall positiv ist, außer in Quasi-Monopolen, wie Wasserversorgung, Stromversorgung, Universitäten, Schulen, Krankenhäusern, Straßenbau u.ä.
Ich bin schon sehr froh darüber, dass ich in Österreich gratis in die Schule und die Universität gehen kann, und nicht 100.000de Euro Schulden machen muss, um mir eine tertiäre Bildung leisten zu können.

Und trotzdem finde ich das Buch ein MUSS für jeden mündigen Bürger! Allein schon um die Mechanismen und die Konsequenzen des Marktes verstehen zu können.

130 people found this helpful

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Miss Jk Atwal

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 4, 2017

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This needs to be given to every 18 year old, the future of our economic prosperity depends on it.

57 people found this helpful

Book Lover

The best book on economics for the general reader

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 12, 2021

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Thomas Sowell is one of the greatest men you've never heard of - a black guy from Harlem, who joined the US Marines from school in the 1950s, and became a mature student, and finally an economics professor, Sowell is a one-time Marxist who turned to the Chicago school.
Even if you disagree with his conclusions, you will enjoy his clear writing style and the anecdotes and stories he uses to illustrate what can otherwise, and in other hands, be quite dry themes.
I recommend his other books and his many YouTube videos.

12 people found this helpful

Lawrence Timme

My first economics book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 29, 2018

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This was my first book on economics and i have to say it does what is says on the cover. It is in plain English with not much technical language so it is easy to understand. it also builds everything up in a sensible order.

35 people found this helpful

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