30 Jul 2010

Lessons for the Young Economist, now on Betamax

Shameless Self-Promotion 5 Comments

The women who edit the books at the Mises Institute want me to stress that this is the BETA version, but here is the PDF of my forthcoming principles textbook, Lessons for the Young Economist. I am really happy with the way this turned out.

Even though it’s aimed at junior high kids, glance through it and I think you may pick up some useful lessons yourself. In particular, check out the chapter on Drug Prohibition. I think you may have this reaction.

And of course, if you know someone–including yourself–who would want to listen to me for ten weeks walking through (some of) this book, then act now.

5 Responses to “Lessons for the Young Economist, now on Betamax”

  1. Michael Hand says:
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    I got caught up reading the first chapter. Its got a great flow to it.

  2. f4kingit says:
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    “The pilot landed the helicopter because he wanted to use the bathroom.”

    That example will definitely hit home for high school students 😛

  3. Joe Peric says:
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    From the table of contents and the little bit of reading I did, I have to say that this would make a great “first” economics textbook for people, possibly ahead of Hazlitt’s One Lesson. The Hazlitt book is great for discourse and covers many topics, but some people lacking a foundation of economics might not get the full appreciation of the arguments within. I think “Lessons for the Young Economist” will be able to do that quite nicely.

    I know this is just a beta version, but since it’s still in development, I’ve decided to find a problem and point it out:: The Pythagorean theorem part. It’s stated in the book, but there is no actual logical deduction spelled out there. Maybe demonstrating the actual process of logical deduction in an example or two (not just this theorem, but anything) might be beneficial to the students and make it a little more obvious. I like how you suggest that the students try to practice this in actuality. This might shake their belief in deduction just a little bit and cause them to question it, simply because “real-world” results don’t match up with the theory exactly. Examples of very simple and obvious deductions (which lead to conclusions which are obviously true, but only revealed and made obvious through deduction) would help to give them a little more faith in the method.

    But that’s just my inflation-adjusted $0.02.

    • bobmurphy says:
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      Hi Joe,

      Good point. There will be an accompanying teacher’s manual for the book; we are hoping that homeschooling parents buy the two as a package. In the teacher’s manual, I tell the teacher how to actually prove the Pythagorean theorem, in case it would be suitable for a particular student.

  4. Michael Hand says:
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    I suppose my only criticism so far is the word “young” in the title. I feel this book would be great for any newbie who wants to learn econ regardless of their age, and calling it young might be off putting to an older-yet-possible market.

    I suppose you could say all people new to econ are “young economists” =)