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No Free Lunch: Six Economic Lies You've Been Taught And Probably Believe
Title | No Free Lunch: Six Economic Lies You've Been Taught And Probably Believe |
Writer | |
Date | 2025-06-02 22:45:08 |
Type | |
Link | Listen Read |
Desciption
"A welcome addition to the literature striving to eradicate one of the greatest social ills humanity faces-basic economic illiteracy." --Peter J. Boettke, University Professor of Economics and Philosophy George Mason UniversityMost people don't think economics can be life-changing because they confuse it with forecasting, charts, diagrams, numbers, math, and politics. The book you're holding in your hands will change all of that. In plain English, Caleb Fuller shares how economics is about people, how they pursue their dreams, and what hinders them along the way. He shows how you've been too easily persuaded by pithy catchphrases and bumper-sticker slogans, even outright lies, that fail to grapple with the rich complexity of your life and human society as a whole. You'll be offended when you realize that you've been "had," but ultimately relieved when you see economics, and your life, through a new lens. Read more
Review
This book is ideal for those who have never taken a course in economics and/or who think economics is nothing but a heartless social science characterized by confusing graphs and overly complex theories. That's what I thought, and No Free Lunch disabused me of these misimpressions.Economics is rightly a social science, because it not only helps us understand how society functions economically, but it is also explains how and why humans behave certain ways (individually and collectively) in relation to monetary exchanges while providing predictive insights into likely consequences of government policies. This book taught me how to use the basic concept of opportunity cost to better understand why various well-intentioned public policies do not work and that much of the so-called compassion invoked as the rationale for public policies actually ignores the broader suffering and long-term economic inequities these policies create down the road.No Free Lunch avoids unnecessary jargon, is filled with illustrative examples, anticipates and addresses counter claims, provides authoritative sources for those interested in following up with his/her own research, and is a delight to read. I encourage Dr. Fuller to develop this book into a fundamentals of economics textbook for general education university courses designed for non-econ majors.