The Instant Economist: Everything You Need to Know About How the Economy Works

Description

The Only Economics Book You Will Ever Need. Economics isn't just about numbers- it's about politics, psychology, history, and so much more. We are all economists - when we work, save for the future, invest, pay taxes, and buy our groceries. Yet many of us feel lost when the subject arises. Award-winning professor Timothy Taylor tackles all the key questions and hot topics of both microeconomics and macroeconomics, including- * Why do budget deficits matter? * What exactly does the Federal Reserve do? * Does globalization take jobs away from American workers? * Why is health insurance so costly? The perfect read for fans of Freakonomics, The Undercover Economist and Naked Economics, The Instant Economist offers the knowledge and sophistication to understand the issues - so you can understand and discuss economics on a personal, national, and global level.

Timothy Taylor is managing editor of the American Economics Association's Journal of Economic Perspectives. He won numerous teaching awards for his classes at Stanford University and was named a distinguished lecturer at the University of Minnesota. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

"Taylor breaks the complex ideas of macro- and microeconomics into bite-sized chapters, each covering a distinct aspect, by using examples and stories instead of formulas and equations."-Library Journal "Presenting a broad, non-mathematical treatment of microeconomics and macroeconomics, this book requires no prior knowledge of the subject and is clearly written. Taylor, the managing editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, also adds a good dose of humor."-Reference & Research Book News "Taylor sets out to teach us how economists think and begins with a microeconomics understanding of the economy (the view of individuals). We learn how markets work in the context of goods, labor, and financial capital and also about unregulated markets, including monopoly, the environment, and poverty; he notes that although these issues can attract democratic government involvement, such intervention can fail. He concludes with macroeconomics (an overall view of the economy), with topics including economic growth, unemployment, and inflation. Taylor wants us to respect the power of market forces but understand where those forces fall short; he encourages a belief that government policy can be useful but, in some cases, can be useless or even counterproductive... Excellent."-Booklist