Lessons for the Young Economist

22 Oct 2010

Lessons for the Young Economist

The hardcover is here! Order yours today. Here are two plugs from my current students:

I was reading ahead in the text to some of the stuff that isn’t on the syllabus, and the chapter on the stock market (I think 14) is fantastic. I sat it on a graduate level investments class for a semester, and I don’t think the professor (though he was good) explained the difference between stocks and bonds (and especially pros and cons) as eloquently and succinctly as you did in 8 pages or whatever.

The positives of stock speculation was especially helpful.

Well done.

And:

…I’m currently taking your Econ 101 Course at the Mises Academy. I just wanted to extend my compliments towards you for your textbook — it is very well written, easy to understand, organized, and in short… just plain fantastic. I’m really enjoying reading it to fill in my economic knowledge gaps, and I truly hope that your book becomes available in elementary schools and high-schools everywhere (depending upon the reading level of the students). I truly wish that I’d encountered this book during my formative years… your clear exposition certainly would have helped me in the International Baccalaureate Program I participated in during highschool! Economics is almost always left out of history classes, like money simply doesn’t matter… when indeed the principles you outline are a driving force behind every social movement throughout history. I can easily see your textbook being worked into both math and history classes.

In particular, I admire your clear and easy to understand prose. Economics is a subject that has largely been made esoteric and difficult for people to understand, and quite frankly this is the best primer I’ve read on the topic.

Now, I feel I should give two disclaimers. The first note was from my brother, and the second note was from a guy who was buttering me up, in order to complain about something in the class.

But the textbook is solid.

7 Responses to “Lessons for the Young Economist”

Zachariah Crossen says:
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I’d like to echo the above praises. Rarely does an academic possess and utilize such clarity in prose. Bravo, Bob. Bravo.
- bobmurphy says:
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  thanks!
Eli says:
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This book is easily my favorite introductory text on economics. You focus on the important stuff and explain your position extremely well, so it is easy to follow your logic and understand why particular consequences ensue from particular actions. Unlike every other economics textbook I’ve read, this one is grounded in praxeological reasoning; it recognizes that humans are not mathematic functions living in a world of general equilibrium. It will be fantastic if schools start using this book for intro level econ courses.
- bobmurphy says:
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  Thanks, but don’t hold your breath. I would like to think a lot of homeschoolers will use it, but I doubt formal schools.
senyoreconomist says:
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Hello,
I just ordered your book and am looking forward to getting it! One thing though, is there really no way of improving on the international shipping costs? I live in Japan and the book cost 22 dollars but the cheapest shipping option was 25 dollars…Because of the high cost of shipping from the U.S., I normally order through Amazon UK or Amazon JP but I didn’t know when your book would be available from these sites, so I just bit the bullet and oredered it. But, if they could find some way to ship the books more cheaply, that would be great. The high cost of shipping has reduced my consumption. Anyway, look forward to getting your book.
Greg Diderich says:
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Thanks for the reminder. I just ordered it. It should be here in time for the birth of my son 🙂 I can read it to him for bedtime.
RobertH says:
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I just ordered your book today. I have been stumbling through Human Action and only able to get anywhere thanks to your study guide. I should probably hold back a little bit and tackle something geared a bit towards my knowledge in economics 🙂

Looking forward to it!