Basic Economics, Fourth Edition

A Common Sense Guide to the Economy

By: Thomas Sowell

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Length: 23 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

The fourth edition of Basic Economics is both expanded and updated. A new chapter on the history of economics itself has been added, and the implications of that history examined. Among other additions throughout the book, a new section on the special role of corporations in the economy has been added to the chapter on government and big business.

Basic Economics, which has now been translated into six foreign languages, has grown so much that a large amount of material previously found in the back of the book has now been put online instead so that neither the book itself nor its price will have to expand. The central idea of Basic Economics, however, remains the same: 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.

©2011 Thomas Sowell (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Clear and concise…Among economists of the past 30 years, [Sowell] stands very proud indeed.” ( Wall Street Journal)

Mildly interesting

Was Basic Economics, Fourth Edition worth the listening time?

The author discusses the law of supply and demand and other basic economic laws. It is mildly interesting, but nothing out of the ordinary. The author is obviously a fierce capitalist, but really does not give other points of view a fair review.

Real world examples explaining economics

Thomas Sowell is one of my favorites. He has a way of using real world examples to make economics understandable to laymen - it's a shame our politicians don't get it.

Excellent book

Who knew a book on economics would be so readable? I gave the book 5 stars because the material is so important. The reader is decent, but it's a book where it is a bit harder to judge the reader's talents...

Truly important book

If this book does nothing else it will impress upon you that economics is far more complicated than the slogans of politicians.

Great for basics!

If you could sum up Basic Economics, Fourth Edition in three words, what would they be?

thorough, basic, thoughtful

Would you be willing to try another book from Thomas Sowell? Why or why not?

Yes, he did a great job of reading the text. Never once detracted from the content.

Any additional comments?

Because of the content being presented, it did not always keep my attention, but that is more the fault of the topic I chose to learn more about, not the content itself. For someone who knows very little about economics, I thought it was a great introduction and would recommend it to anyone looking for basics.

Great course on economics for a layman

What did you love best about Basic Economics, Fourth Edition?

I loved the current and historical examples that were used to flesh out points rather than just dry theorizing.

What did you like best about this story?

It helped me review basic economic concepts in an interesting and understandable way.

Have you listened to any of Tom Weiner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No I did like his voice

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

Thomas Sowell is a brilliant thinker and very clear writer.

Clear and Detailed

If you could sum up Basic Economics, Fourth Edition in three words, what would they be?

Thomas Sowell gives very clear explaination of economics with many detailed examples. I will be looking into others books by him.

college grade education in an easy Liston

Would you listen to Basic Economics, Fourth Edition again? Why?

Next time i get a call for a donation to a senator or president for re/election i would really like to just donate them this book. I think it clearly outlines what we know about economics in an easy to understand format.

If you need to understand economics for a class this is a great base to get started.

Excellent beginner's treatise on economics

This book teaches you to think about the incentives created by certain economics decisions made by our governments, rather than the initial goals. Thomas Sowell gives us many examples in favor of free-market, price driven economic policy and Tom Weiner keeps the listener interested with a good pace.

Let the free market be totally unfettered

This is a dense well researched book that presents a lot of "counter-intuitive" aspects of economics and shows logically although they may be counter-intuitive, they are true. This should be required reading for anyone complaining about the "evils of capitalism" or aggressively pushing alternative economic models like communism.

The author is extremely pro-free-market and I don't think there was a single case where any type of regulation was presented as a positive in the book. I did wonder about where taxes, tax credits, or fines are used to incent a desired behavior or discourage an undesired behavior. For example, taxes on cigarettes because of the negative effects on aggregate health and increased health costs as a result. Or credits for a purchase of an electric car to accelerate development of the market for electric cars to supplant gas cars. Or fines for companies that excessively pollute. I suspect there are economic negatives associated with all these, but wonder if some social benefits can still result.