economist

Ludwig von Mises's _Human Action_ is essential reading for any supporter of free-market economics (and it might be nice if some of the _enemies_ of economic liberty read it too). Mises's plan here is to place the science of economics on a firm axiomatic foundation. In particular, his aim is to derive economic theory from the axiom that (my paraphrase) human beings act to achieve ends under conditions of scarcity in a world in which finite and delimitable causes have finite and delimitable effects.

Two other major treatises will be of interest to readers of this work: Murray Rothbard's _Man, Economy and State_, and George Reisman's _Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics_.

I also agree with the other reviewer who suggests reading Carl Menger's _Principles of Economics_. Mises describes that work as the book that made an economist of him, and it's a much quicker read than any of the three major treatises I've named.

Also of great interest: Mises's _The Theory of Money and Credit_, described by Murray Rothbard as the best book on money ever written. And so it is.

Starting from two irrefutable premises 1) Humans act, 2) They act in order to improve their current condition, Mises builds an astounding edifice that demonstrates the supremacy of what is called laissez faire capitalism. Only each individual knows how best to meet his or her own needs. All the other isms which require or depend on government intervention to one degree or another are doomed to ultimately fail because of this. This is not an easy book to read but worth the effort. Mises smashes what passes for economic reasoning by most journalists, lawyers, and politicians through the use of logic based on sound economic theory.

Simply the best, most comprehensive study of human action ever recorded. It is grounded in rational axioms and constructs an encompassing worldview around them.

The story of the Grameen bank is an excellent example of how social change initiatives can be combined with government and private industry support to acheive a greater outcome than the organization could acheive by itself. Yunus provides an excellent chronicle of his bank's formation as well as explaining its principles. Highly recommended for anyone interested in social entrepreneurship or social change. The only shortcomings are: 1) as a finance person, I would like to have read more about the operational side of the banks relative to their commercial competitors - what specific factors enabled them to be so successful (other than the broad social factors he identifies)? 2) Need more information about how these types of programs can be applied to industrialized nations such as the US.

If you know the story of Grameen Bank, and wanted to know more about the founder - I don't need to say anymore.

If you haven't heard of Grameen, prepare yourself to learn about a bank which has overturned the conventional wisdom about helping people who live in poverty.

Yunus' big idea can be put very simply: people who live on less than $1 per day (3 billion people) don't need to be tought how to feed themselves and survive - the very fact that they are alive is testament to their abilities.

His approach rests upon that faith in people's ability to help themselves, if given access to the very small amounts of loan capital they need to start a profitable venture - whether that is weaving cloth or repairing bicycles.

The road to reaching more than 2 million people in Bangladesh, and many other millions worldwide, wasn't smooth. What you get from reading this book is a sense that sometimes the 'homegrown' solution beats the 'imposed' ideas from the developed world.

A challenging book for liberals and conservatives alike!

In 1983 Yunus established a bank devoted to providing the poorest of Bangladesh with small loans, aiming to help the poor by supporting them with his own enterprise. Yunus' small loans paid off big time, and this provides a review of his theories of small loan impacts on the lives of third world peoples. An intriguing, important guide packed with ramifications for all.

A lovely succinct account from four towers in a tradition of economics that is widely represented in the financial markets. Roger Garrison - himself a leading light in modern times - leads off with a brief overview. The nice thing is that Garrison manages to get it all across without resorting to waffle - another Austrian tradition.

In fact, in my view, Garrison is the star of this review since his ability to keep it simple is a tremendous asset. Anyone familiar with the dark mutterings of academics in Austrian academic journals will know exactly what I'm talking about.

Aside from Garrison, the pieces by Rothbard and Harberler are the best since they tackle the central issue of Trade Cycle theory - that any system run by central bankers is inherently unstable since their tinkering with interest rates leads directly to the business cycle. Much better to have a competitive banking system without a central bank and a curency tied to gold. That way credit expansions will never be explosive. Of course, what they don't tell you is that their proposals are inherently deflationary and force deficit countries to do all adjustment when they experience balance of payments problems.

Rothbard's piece sets out the mechanics of the Trade Cycle especially well and everyone should be able to understand what he's getting at without too much difficulty. It's no more difficult than the average economics course on an MBA programme. That's hardly difficult, is it?

Readers wishing to understand the micro-economics of the Austrian school should also check out some of the recent publications of one Israel Kirzner.

At last! An anthology from one of the most important schools of libertarian economics in a portable form! This book can be easily incorporated into a course on economics or banking.
And yet, "The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle" is a narrowly useful tool. It's like a tire gauge, that means everything when there's a problem with the tire, but tells nothing about gas or oil levels. I see few times when the average production supervisor, Sunday-school teacher or working mom would have occasion to read it.
In the introduction, Roger Garrison spells out the differences between the Austrian School and other movements in free-market economics. The Austrian School emphasizes the role of time in decision making. To think of an example, Joe wants to buy a car now that the interest rates are low. But if the interest rates are high, he'll put his money in the bank and wait a year until he replaces the family car.
Ludwig von Mises' essay, which lends its name to the book, reveals the international character of the Austrian School. The essay was translated out of the French, points back to the British Currency School, and alludes to the contribution of Knut Wicksell from Sweden. This theory was, nevertheless, developed by Austrians, beginning with Carl Menger. References to the University of Chicago and to the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, bring the movement to a home in America.
The key point is that a boom produced and prolonged by easy bank money with government support will sooner or later contract into a bust when the easy money turns hard. Just ask any farmer who bought machinery on credit years ago, when inflation was rampant.
Gottfried Haberler demonstrates that economics is, in fact, difficult to reduce to mathematics. He points to how money is needed at different times as a product moves out of the ground through its production phases to the end user.
In contrast, Murray Rothbard tells us with sparkling satire why we no longer have "panics" and "depressions." He also gives insight on how a change in time preference changes interest rates; interest rates fall if enough buyers become savers.
Friedrich Hayek points to an insidious effect of inflation. Not is it more fun to be a debtor on a fixed-rate loan when inflation is high, but taxable profits are much higher than the profits are worth in reality. Easy money gives rise to inflation.
Roger Garrison finally draws a couple of price/quantity graphs in his summary, savings/investment graphs to be specific. Money created by the government has the same short-term effect as a genuine increase in savings, but genuine savings are lower because savers are coolly greeted by lower interest rates for their hard-earned money. The bust after the boom is a real let-down.
With my MBA from Campbell, this material is clearer and livelier to me than it would be to the man on the street.

I ordered this book as a part of a course I am designing for myself on economics. It is a good introduction to the Austrian school but provides information that even those familiar with the subject will find useful. Rothbard addresses many fallacies regarding the free market and provides a clear explanation of the Austrian theory of the trade cycle and other theories, relating them to history and comparing them with classical and Keynesian theories. This is a helpful comparison, as it reveals some inherent flaws in the latter and outlines the eventual results of the acceptance of those theories. This book does not give an in-depth analysis of its subject, but provides a cohesive picture and points for further examination. It is also a helpful text for understanding capitalist theory and the history of the Austrian school.

Can the autobiography of a mild-mannered academic, whose revolutionary acts were primarily inside his head, write an interesting autobiography? As a matter of fact, yes.

Herb Simon is best known for his nobel-prize winning work in economics, but he in fact made amazing contributions to several fields. He began in political science and management, focusing on the question of how managers make choices. His unorthodox (at the time) view was they are not fully rational--their rationality is bounded by a limitation on the number of options they can consider, and how deeply they can consider them. This insight and perspective was later applied to economics and to cognitive psychology with great profit. This contribution was far from his only one, however; in psychology, Simon (with Cliff Shaw and Alan Newell) came up with the profound insight that the human mind could be considered a symbol-processing device.

How gripping is the telling of these achievements? In truth, not very, and Simon wisely doesn't dwell on them, nor try to turn them into a detective story. (I think the description of the writing of the first artificial intelligence program covers all of about 5 pages.) Instead, Simon simply tells the story of his life as it was, doling out observations as he goes. Simon is such an interesting and wise storyteller that you are quite happy to sit at his knee and listen to his stories spin. And if the story slows (as some of them do) your pleasure won't dim if you flip forward a few pages and begin the next one.

Along the way, you'll be treated to a number of interesting observations and rules of thumb about how to live one's life, for example, Simon's rule of travel. It says, in paraphrase, that if the purpose is to learn, it is more effectient to read about travel than to travel.

There are worse ways to spend one's time than to listen to a very old genius tell you what he has learned about life.

The late Herbert Simon was a veritable renaissance man. His autobiography, "Models of My Life," discusses the single thread that underlined all of his intellectual conquests in artificial intelligence, sociology, cognitive science, psychology and economics. This one thread, animated by philosophical positivism and ripe scientific thirst, was his deep obsession with modeling and researching decision-theoretic behavior.

It's interesting to note that even though decision theory (how intelligent agents percieve and act upon choices amid various modalities) serves as the impetus for Simons work, he uses "Models" instead of "Model" in the book's title. This is no accident. For you see, beautifully fitting of his memoir, this book delves into how Simon's one passion was his "heuristic" in choosing which of many paths he could have taken througout his life. The upshot: Simon's own life emulated the heuristic search (in AI) that he helped invent! Consequently, this lead him all over the globe, from Wisconsin to UChicago to Berkeley to Carnegie Mellon to China.

This book is also about the times of Simon: the positivistic turn in social sciences, the scientific fermet of the 1950's, the cultural tumult of the 60's, the death of behaviorism and the rise of cognitivism -- all along, peppered with intrigue of the politics of academia. Although the writing can get quite dry at times, his book is highly recommended.

Herbert Simon's research contributes to human knowledge in many different areas, including economics, artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, and organizational behavior. In each of the mentioned areas, his contributions are ranked among the most important and influential that even a scientist who focuses solely in one area finds hard to achieve. The testimony is the top awards that the community in each discipline bestowed upon him--the Nobel prize is only one of which.

The secret of this interdisciplinary success is that he is, in his own word, a "monomaniac", studying only one thing--human decision process--for fifty years. The field of his own choosing is not bounded by usual academic disciplines, however, and he did study it from many different aspects, from the levels of individual cognition to organizational decisions, using tools as varied as mathematics, computer simulations, and human subjects.

This book detailed his own account of the various aspects of his life, personal and professional, in a sincere and direct prose. From the childhood that undoubtedly helped set the tone for his later accomplishments, the way he managed and nurtured new academic thoughts that later grown into full-fledged disciplines (artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and, less prominently, bounded rationality), to the philosophy of working and living including brief exposures to familial life, we can learn tremendously from hise xperience, decisions, and actions.

How could he achieve as much as he did? We can glean several lessons from his stories. He collaborated extensively. He learned a great deal from the outstanding individuals he respected. He had a love for truth and rigor in reasoning. An empiricist who firmly believed that any valid theory must be based on empirical facts, he did not hesitate to fight against widely held beliefs conflicting with facts. His work on bounded rationality which helped earn him the Nobel Prize is an outstanding case which his stubborn, and valid, arguments against mainstream theories brought a valuable alternative viewpoint to the world. Strong passion and the ability to break out of the mold and stand tall under storms are important characteristics exemplified by many past giants, including Galileo, Columbus, and Einstein.

Not just a normal autobiography, but the story of a distinguished life we all can learn from.

The first 106 pages of the book are well written and present a number of interesting notions about the dangers of our society's high regard for economic growth. Czech's arguments against the practicality of infinite growth (even though it may be theoretically possible according to neoclassical economists) are clear and well documented.

The underlying theme of the book is that neoclassical economists support a theory that the economy can sustain infinite growth, while the ecological economists claim that at some point, the growth will inevitably slow and then stop (more likely crash) because it is impossible in practicality to sustain growth forever. The book starts off with some interesting points about economic growth and sustainability in Part I, and then goes off the deep end in Part II as the author shares his proposed plan for achieving a 'steady-state economy.'

The plan in a nutshell: everyone should live very modestly, regardless of their income level, and whenever they notice someone else spending more money than they feel is necessary, they should immediately judge them and try to shame them into changing their ways. The goal is for society to become repulsed by conspicuous consumption to the extent that those in the financial top 1% of society are pressured to reform themselves and give their extra money away to those in need.

Although Part I is good enough to justify the purchase price, I would recommend skipping Part II in its entirety.

Written by a wildlife biologist whose personal history is a fascinating patchwork of educational pursuits and jobs that have taken him into cities and wildernesses, as well as onto the high seas, the reader gets the feeling that this book was written from convictions borne in personal experience and verified by academia.

Czech addresses the most pervasive and threatening problem of the modern world - our consumerism. This problem is so large and so intimately woven into the fabric of our society that it is easy to get discouraged by it. Czech offers a solution and a reason to feel optimistic, a plan for a nonviolent revolution in public opinion that will stop conspicuous consumption.

"Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train" is written in popular style, accessible and interesting for the reader who may have studied economics at one time in their life and either detested or forgot it. Anyone concerned about the unsustainable extraction of natural resources should read this book; it offers an effective alternative to the impossible task of inducing restraint among capitalists in a global marketplace.

Brian Czech is a wildlife bioligist by profession and it is interesting that he should choose to write this book on the topic of steady-state economics. He notes in the prologue that his epiphany came while on a trawling boat in the Bering Sea. He wondered how the ship could hold the enormous catch it was bringing in until it dawned on him that the fish were being caught for their roe and then pumped out to sea "as a sort of ichthyological hamburger." It was the beginning of the realisation that the real roots of environmental destruction lay in economic growth and that if he wanted to save the forests and wildlife that he loved he would have to work on the challenging the assumptions of neo-classical economics.

Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train is divided into two parts. The first part is entitled "The Runaway Train" and it details the problems with economic growth and neo-classical economics and gives an overview of ecological economics. The second part is entitled "Stopping the Train" and it details Czech's model for a "Steady State Revolution" which would transform the growth economy to a steady state economy.

Czech does an exceptional job of explaining the problems of neo-classical economics and its obsession with growth. He cleverly redefines economic growth as "economic bloating" and he avoids bogging the reader down with technical terms. This makes the book accessible and interesting to readers of all backgrounds.

He argues that there is need for a Copernican revolution in the world view of neo-classical economists. "Only when we have a more Copernican economics will economists live in a world in which economic growth is limited, where the rest of us common folk are already stuck," Czech writes. Just as the universe does not revolve around the world, neither can limitless economic growth occur in a finite world. Indeed Czech rightly points out that this is simply common sense, but he is also aware of the power of the paradigm and also the power of politics which both seek to maintain the status quo.

In the last chapter of part one Czech introduces ecological economics. The chapter is entitled "Copernicus, are you out there?" which again alludes to the need for a paradigm shift. He notes that many of the great discoveries in science have been made by people working outside their field. This is because they work with fewer assumptions and "do not suffer the tunnel vision of the paradigm." This is the reason why many of those who challenge the economic growth model come from a background in the physical and biological sciences.

It is also noted that the contribution of scientists alone to ecological economics is not sufficient. Those devoted to the study of economics still have an important role to play for it is they who truly understand the nuances of what makes an economy work. It is here that the work of Daly and others is significant.

Having spelled out the problem and given an overview of the solution, Czech delivers his manifesto for a "steady state revolution" in part two of the book. He asserts that there is a need for "nothing less than a revolution, a social revolution to match the academic revolution of ecological economics." (p. 111)

The target of Czech's revolution is over consumption or more specifically what he defines as conspicuous consumption. This is the indulgences of the very rich which go way beyond any kinds of need.

The steady state revolution is based on a radical definition of the classes (although it should be noted it has nothing to do with Marxism). Three new classes are defined-the liquidating class, the amorphic class and the steady state class.

There are some interesting reasons for targeting the super rich and perhaps one of the best ones is that a vastly disproportionate share of the additional wealth created by economic growth goes to those in the liquidating and amorphic classes. This statistic is interesting: "The average income of the 80 percent of Americans who are non-managerial has declined over the past twenty years." Another interesting statistic is that "approximately 99 percent of the annual increase in American's wealth goes to the 20 percent that is most wealthy.

While I see there are some problems with Czech's idea for a steady state revolution they do not really detract that much from the book overall. Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train is an engaging read and provides much food for thought. It is a welcome addition to the body of literature that explore alternatives to the current economic system.

In the course of five decades the world has gone through many disasters and catastrophes. The policies that brought about these unfortunate events have also affected the nation's currency systems. Sound money gave way to progressive depreciating fiat money. All countries in the world vexed by inflation and treatened by the gloomy prospects of a complete breakdown of their currencies. The great inflations of our age are not act of God. They are man-made or government-made; ascribed to governments the magic of power creating wealth out of nothing and of making people happy by raising the "national income".Sound economics had been prognosticated by inflationist and expansionist who refused to take correct daignosis of the monetary reconstruction...

This is book is beautiful in its simplicity. Rothbard first presents accurately what has historically happened when money is left up to the government. The important thing to remember is that Rothbard just doesn't make stuff up, he uses history to portray why the gold standard (and really, a privatized system of currency) is necessary for maximum freedom.

Even if you're not a Libertarian or an economist, you will appreciate Rothbard's perspective on the money you use everyday. Agree or disagree, this book is great.

This book should be REQUIRED reading at the high school level if not earlier. There is hardly any clearer explanation of money (real) and the fiat system that we now suffer under. I have read much the same thing in other books, usually covered in one chapter as part of a larger subject (such as the workings of the FED), but this short tome covers the subject without any fluff, yet thoroughly enough to give the beginner a sound grounding. It was a good refresher for myself. Mr.Rothbard's arguments for sound money are of impeccable logic. His call for a return to gold is now a cry in the wilderness, for most Americans, and apparently some Australians have been so brainwashed in hardly more than a generation that they are willing to accept their fate under a false system. I only wish that Mr. Rothbard had given more historical parallels in his book. As I recall, Roman money was being debased during their decline! All in all, this is a book not to be missed. And I highly recommend any of Rothbard's works.

This book provides a very simple, intuitive introduction to game theory, avoiding technical details. The author's style of writing is extremely clear. However, the book lacks sufficient rigor to make a good "stand-alone" introductory text for a graduate course in game theory. It would work well as a main text for an undergraduate course. Finally, most of the exercises in the book are well chosen and useful, unlike certain other texts on game theory I could mention.

For the advanced student with some knowledge of basic game theory, this is the best book on applications. There is really a rather amazing array of examples covered and worked out in detail on some major topics of noncooperative game theory -- static and dynamic games, with complete and incomplete information. Gibbons gets right down to the key moving parts of the models he presents and in the process provides great examples of what can be done with game theory.

This is not, however, the best book as an introduction to pure game theory, at any level (and obviously isn't meant to be). If you use it that way you may be disappointed. While it does cover the theory it uses, and pretty rigorously at that, it cannot by its nature get deep enough into the guts of equilibrium concepts and refinements for that purpose.

If it's used in conjunction with a pure game theory book, particularly Myerson, it will provide an excellent foundation for graduate students in social science, particularly economics. In fact it can be a very useful tool when using a more theoretically oriented book to get a better idea of what the basic concepts are really all about. (The discussion of sequential equilibrium and the intuitive criterion is especially good for building intuition.)

I read this book for my MSc course in Economics. I found it very straightforward and to the point. If you can handle this book, consider yourself prepared to go into deeper game theory books such as Jean Tirole's Game Theory, among others. The organisation of the book is quite simple and logic, and makes you understand the differences between games in a very easy manner. This is a must read book for every serious economist.

The author is very good in leading the reader through how money and its avaliability play an important role in determining the economy of any country.
The banking industry and its role are covered as well - starting from a historical perspective to the present day. Our class was doing a chapter on the various reforms in the banking industry when the Enron-Anderson scandal happened. We had some very though-provoking discussions in the class based on the material in the text.
While I am not a complete stranger to economics, I took home a lot of valuable information by the time I was done with this course and this text book. I only wish the publishers had included a CD ROM of real-world exercises / problems that stimulate thought on issues to consider when determining monetary policy.

Highly recommended for both dummies and people familiar with economics. The author presents an unbiased, unpartisan, clear introduction to numerous aspects of monetary policy, financial institutions, and financial markets. Along with factual material the author presents important and profound generalizations and principles.

For once, there is an economist with a passion to teach and communicate well. Although it is supposed to be an introductory text in monetary economics, I return to it again and again to check my basic understanding of this subject.

The book itself will be of great use for those analysts who evaluate country risk analysis. Economic indicators sometimes tend to be hard to understand, but this guide makes them easy to comprehend and relate to each other.

As the title says, this book can help you make sense of economic indicators. The more you know, the easier it is for you to understand the economical aspects of society, and this seemed to add a lot more to my knowledge, and it clarified other thoughts.

True to the style of The Economist, this book makes everything seem easier than it really is. However, for people who spend too much time thinking about economic issues, this is actually rather refreshing, much like a cold beer after a long day's work.

Some examples: "In the long term, the growth in economic output depends on the number of people working and output per worker (productivity)" (Page 41); Or "In general, the more optimistic consumers are, the more likely they are to spend money. This boosts consumer spending and economic output" (Page 93)...

...One begins to yearn for the days where economics was more of an explanatory and less a mathematical science.

The guide is divided into a number of chapters discussing issues and examples related to
- How economic activity is calculated, and what the main indicators GDP/GNP/NNI capture and do not capture, as well as what changes in these indicators or their components mean.
- Employment indicators such as employment by sector or the unemployment rate
- Balance of payments and fiscal indicators, such as tax revenue or budget deficit
- Consumer indicators, such as disposable income or consumer confidence and their significance
- Investment and savings indicators, such as investment intentions or sales/inventory ratios
- Business indicators, including business conditions, auto sales, construction orders and other common stats
- Exchange rates and financial market indicators, such as interest rates and money supply.
- Prices and wages, like the effect of oil price changes, among others

Coverage of the most common and widely available indicators is fairly comprehensive. Given the simplicity of the book, it is better to have a certain level of economic knowledge and opinion to be able to put the content in context. Not much different to reading The Economist, really.

I read Ebenstein's biography of Hayek with high expectations, only to find the work disjointed, inadequate, and incomplete, and I was left with the feeling that either the author did not understand Hayek, had problems expressing himself or did not do adequate research.

When this title hit the bookshops, I immediately purchased a copy thinking that this volume would make up for the inadequacies of the first. But again, I am left with the feeling that a better work on the life and writings of the great Von Hayek is still to be written!

A very good starting point for those who have heard about Hayek and his ideas, but are not ready to jump into the details of his other works. A few well known traders say that to do well in the stock market, one must have a good understanding of the thinking of the Austrian School.

This book summarizes the ideas and discusses his many books, most of which are currently in print. It is written in an easy to read style. It may help you decide which of Hayek's works to read first.

I enjoyed it.

Frederich Hayek was a genius who happened upon his brilliance by both nature and nurture. He lived in an era which thought it not unusual to work in both the physical and social sciences. In Hayek's case it was most important that his first love was biology since the evolutionary underpinnings of society were fundamental to his approach to the social sciences.

He is today remembered for such classics as THE FATAL CONCEIT, THE CONSTITUTION OF LIBERTY and especially THE ROAD TO SERFDOM. He excelled in many categories and it was this fusion of various fields that made his work so unique and so vital. Starting as a scientist in the tradition of Ernest Mach, he soon began studies in economics, particularly value. From semi-Socialist leanings he became convinced of the link between economic and political freedom. This was the subtext of THE ROAD TO SERFDOM.

His argument against collectivism and central-run economies are as valid today as they were in the early part of last century. Central economies fail because 1) Society has too much knowledge to be centrally commanded (2) all economic decisions become political and thus authoritarian and noncreative and (3) there is no way to set value (price) under Socialism.

THE SENSORY ORDER dealt with epistomology, then he branched out to philosophy and politics. As an example of how Socialist we have become, Hayek's views were called ""liberal" and are now called "conservative" despite the fact that they're unchanged. He wrote one piece "WHY I AM NOT A CONSERVATIVE" which is a clarion call for libertarianism and classical liberalism.

The book examines the clashes between intellectual giants - von Mises, Popper, Mach, Wittgenstein (his cousin) and others. He was a secularist, a capitalist and a political liberal in the classical sense. His work on monetary policy still affects us (adjusting interest rates to increase or decrease the money supply, "floating" currencies externally). His influence with Western politicians and intellectual leaders was and is huge. He won the Nobel Prize for Economics in appreciation for his many contributions.

Almost as an afterward Hayek issued a brilliant statement. The aim of all economists is the increase in material wealth. He wanted this accomplished through an increase in wealth (capitalism) rather than a confiscation / redistribution of wealth (socialism / central run economies). The battle between these two points of view are with us today.