Economics in One Lesson

The suspense is over, my economics book got the nod.

Economics in One Lesson is a strange book. It will not teach you economics. It is easy to read. It is not socialist. Essentially a free-market polemic on governmental regulation, it attacks rent-control, minimum wage laws and government credit, amongst others.

Henry Hazlitt first penned this text in 1946. It has not aged. The title is very apt: his central thesis is a single concept, applied to many different situations.

The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.

My economic stance is still in flux. When I was younger (and admittedly ignorant and naive) I had strong socialist tendencies. These days, I am much more of a free-marketer in the classical sense, not this selfish and short-sighted help-the-rich-man attitude that most right-wingers have today. I do not believe in 'pork' from governments. I am appalled by the attempted repeal of the estate tax in the US.

As to my stance on this book, I have not decided. It is definitely worth reading. Only a few chapters in, I am not in a position to judge the authors arguments. I will post some thoughts upon its completion.