• Man vs. Markets

  • Economics Explained (Plain and Simple)
  • By: Paddy Hirsch
  • Narrated by: Dean Sluyter
  • Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (20 ratings)

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Man vs. Markets  By  cover art

Man vs. Markets

By: Paddy Hirsch
Narrated by: Dean Sluyter
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Editorial reviews

Paddy Hirsch of NPR’s "Marketplace" provides an accessible and colorful explanation of financial systems for the layperson who knows little more than basic economics. Narrator Dean Sluyter’s confident performance will reassure those who might otherwise be intimidated, and he narrates with great timing and aplomb the amusing analogies that Hirsch employs to explain financial concepts, including how a family's attempts to order a Thanksgiving turkey may be likened to derivative products. Listeners will be pleasantly surprised to find themselves laughing along while learning more about economic systems.

Publisher's summary

Man vs. Markets by Paddy Hirsch of NPR's "Marketplace" is economics explained, pure and simple, for the layperson who wouldn't know a "bond" from an "option," and who believes that a "future" is when we'll all have flying cars. Here is an illuminating, insightful, and wonderfully witty journey of discovery through the often confusing financial markets, offering clear, relatable explanations and definitions of the system's various instruments, yet less simplistically than the popular...for Dummies series. Man vs. Markets is a must-listen handbook for everyday investors, serious students of finance and economics, and everyone who wants to understand what they're reading when they open their newspapers to the business section.

©2012 Paddy Hirsch (P)2013 Audible Inc.

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Plain English + goofy examples = good intro

I wish every high school student could hear this, just to get a decent start understanding our market economy, banking, regulation, and related topics. I have taught business law in a similar style for many years, and was for a time a trial lawyer, requiring similar skills. While plenty of this is obvious to me, I was yet pleasantly surprised from time to time throughout it, by elegantly simple images clarifying a concept. Imagine water passing from tanks into a kids' pool to explain the banking system, money supply and liquidity; and a pyramid of champagne glasses catching pouring champagne, sequentially, to explain tranches in a CDO. Likewise, we get a clear depiction of the web of derivatives and other interconnected deals enmeshing the banks as the '08 crisis unfolded. I am a fan of having a good simple starter image, the mind can readily grasp, and upon which a more advanced understanding can be built. Missing this elementary stage often slows my learning process. If a teacher cannot give us at least a good working basic image, in this manner, I'll wager (1) it is not a very good teacher, or (2) the teacher doesn't really understand the subject, and hides behind the jargon. More please, Paddy Hirsch!

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