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Anonymous
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 Economics in One Lesson 
#2054450 - 10/29/03 06:05 PM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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this book, by henry hazlitt, is a fantastic refutation of many of the common economic fallacies. anyone who wants to have any kind of competency in the feild of economics, or just to spare themselves some of the popular but misguided conceptions of economic realities, should read this book.
here is the table of contents:
1. The Lesson
The Lesson Applied:
2. The Broken Window
3. The Blessings of Destruction
4. Public Works Mean Taxes
5. Taxes Discourage Production
6. Credit Diverts Production
7. The Curse of Machinery
8. Spread-the-Work Schemes
9. Disbanding Troops and Bureaucrats
10. The Fetish of Full Employment
11. Who's "Protected" by Tariffs?
12. The Drive for Exports
13. "Parity" Prices
14. Saving the X Industry
15. How the Price System Works
16. "Stabilizing" Commodities
17. Government Price-Fixing
18. What Rent Control Does
19. Minimum Wage Laws
20. Do Unions Really Raise Wages?
21. "Enough to Buy Back the Product"
22. The Function of Profits
23. The Mirage of Inflation
24. The Assault on Saving
25. The Lesson Restated
a highly abridged version can be read here, and the first five chapters, in their entirety, can be found here.
i highly recommend this book.
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 Phred
Fred's son
Registered: 10/18/00
Posts: 12,949
Loc: Dominican Republic
Last seen: 9 years, 3 months
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: ]
#2054504 - 10/29/03 06:25 PM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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Agreed. A must read for anyone with even the slightest interest in economics.
Hazlitt was a brilliant, brilliant man. His other works are considerably more advanced, but that gem of a book is understandable by anyone, and has stood the test of time.
What a pity so few American congressmen (and presidents) have yet to read it.
pinky
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 Evolving
Resident Cynic
Registered: 10/01/02
Posts: 5,385
Loc: Apt #6, The Village
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: Phred]
#2055421 - 10/29/03 10:50 PM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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Indeed.
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To call humans 'rational beings' does injustice to the term, 'rational.' Humans are capable of rational thought, but it is not their essence. Humans are animals, beasts with complex brains. Humans, more often than not, utilize their cerebrum to rationalize what their primal instincts, their preconceived notions, and their emotional desires have presented as goals - humans are rationalizing beings.
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carbonhoots
old hand
Registered: 09/11/01
Posts: 1,351
Loc: BC Canada
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: ]
#2056089 - 10/30/03 02:13 AM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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Another high priest of "laissez faire" theology?
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-I'd rather have a frontal lobotomy than a bottle in front of me
CANADIAN CENTER FOR POLICY ALTERNATIVES
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monoamine
umask 077(nonefor you)
Registered: 09/06/02
Posts: 3,095
Loc: Jacksonville,FL
Last seen: 18 years, 6 months
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: ]
#2056162 - 10/30/03 02:39 AM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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No offense,but I think the study of economics is a joke. It's most likely a choatic system.Beyond supply and demand,some simple game theory,and a few other things,IMHO it's worthless and impossible to make any long term predictions. There isn't a whole lot of mathematical consensus in the field.
I would think that knowing economics would make you a stock wiz or something,but the vast majority of economists are teachers.
Anywho,I'll check out the abridged version with an open mind.
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People think that if you just say the word "hallucinations" it explains everything you want it to explain and eventually whatever it is you can't explain will just go away.It's just a word,it doesn't explain anything...
Douglas Adams
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Anonymous
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: carbonhoots]
#2056627 - 10/30/03 08:52 AM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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Another high priest of "laissez faire" theology?
at least check it out man. if you can find errors in hazlitt's conclusions, and you think that some of the fallacies he exposes are indeed true, come here and tell us why. it'd make good discussion.
it's really a very good book. but don't take my word for it.... read it yourself!
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Anonymous
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: monoamine]
#2056660 - 10/30/03 09:09 AM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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i was just checking out the abridged version a little further. i think that it's a little too abridged. i guess it can give you the general flavor of the book, but it really doesn't do it justice.
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Anonymous
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: ]
#2056676 - 10/30/03 09:22 AM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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i must admit that my own ideas about how the government and the market should interact are mostly based on my own free-standing ideas about the nature of government and what it's role should be in society.
when i approach economics, i therefore must admit that i am not as unbiased as i should be- i often do find myself looking for economic justifications for the way i feel about government... and not really examining things objectively i should be. i've got my opinions about the proper role of government in society, and perhaps this spills over into my ideas about economics without quite enough forethought.
hazlitt on the other hand approaches economics as an economist. the book doesn't say much for the nature of government, or about force, or rights, or liberty, or any of that. it just offers sound rebuttals to a whole slew of economic myths and fallacies plaguing the public mind. it's really very refreshing. the book is highly readable, concise, and truthful.
this book will make you think.
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DoctorJ
Registered: 06/30/03
Posts: 8,846
Loc: space
Last seen: 1 year, 5 months
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: ]
#2056700 - 10/30/03 09:37 AM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
if you can find errors in hazlitt's conclusions, and you think that some of the fallacies he exposes are indeed true, come here and tell us why. it'd make good discussion.
Thats the thing about laissez faire: it works out very neatly on paper but falls apart in the real world. Its very much like communism in that way.
Communism and laissez faire both fail for the same reason: They fail to take into account the extent of human greed.
That being said, I definitely endorse certain laissez faire principles, along with certain socialistic principles. I'm convinced that the only thing that will work is a highly flexible "mixed system".
Anyway, I'll read dude's book and see if it changes any of my opinions.
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Anonymous
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: DoctorJ]
#2063699 - 11/01/03 08:14 PM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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Thats the thing about laissez faire: it works out very neatly on paper but falls apart in the real world. Its very much like communism in that way.
communism does not work, even on paper. there are flaws in the theory itself.
Communism and laissez faire both fail for the same reason: They fail to take into account the extent of human greed.
i'm not so sure about that.
That being said, I definitely endorse certain laissez faire principles, along with certain socialistic principles. I'm convinced that the only thing that will work is a highly flexible "mixed system".
which ones?
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Zahid
Stranger
Registered: 01/21/02
Posts: 4,779
Last seen: 19 years, 6 months
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: ]
#2063708 - 11/01/03 08:21 PM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
mushmaster said:
it's really a very good book. but don't take my word for it.... read it yourself!
Take a look, it's in a book.. I can do anything.
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Annapurna1
liberal pussy
 
Registered: 05/21/02
Posts: 5,646
Loc: innsmouth..MA
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: ]
#2063888 - 11/01/03 10:04 PM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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There has not been a "free market" in the US ever since the Standard Oil Trust took over in 1872. That was when laissez-faire capitalism failed. The trust was forcibly broken up *on paper* in 1914, but even today JD Rockefeller I's grandson David heads the Trilateral Commission and the CFR; and the family is more powerful than it ever was in the glory days of JD I's oil trust.
Quote:
That being said, I definitely endorse certain laissez faire principles, along with certain socialistic principles. I'm convinced that the only thing that will work is a highly flexible "mixed system".
Correct. Maybe communism doesnt work, but neither does capitalism unless ppl have money to buy your stuff (whether they deserve it or not).
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"anchor blocks counteract the process of pontiprobation..while omalean globes regulize the pressure"...
Edited by Annapurna1 (11/01/03 10:41 PM)
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Anonymous
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: Annapurna1]
#2070773 - 11/04/03 06:52 PM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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Correct. Maybe communism doesnt work, but neither does capitalism unless ppl have money to buy your stuff (whether they deserve it or not).
 this is why people should read this book.
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afoaf
CEO DBK?
Registered: 11/08/02
Posts: 32,665
Loc: Ripple's Heart
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: Zahid]
#2071455 - 11/04/03 09:42 PM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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butterfly in the sky...I can go twice as high!
I'm putting this on my Amazon wish list.
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All I know is The Growery is a place where losers who get banned here go.
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Anonymous
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: afoaf]
#2073123 - 11/05/03 12:10 PM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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yeah man. put it on that list and buy it sometime... it's like.. ten bucks or so. so much of politics (unfortunately) is tied to economics. it's really very vital to understand how the market works and be free of the common fallacies.
as the book concisely points out in dozens of examples of specific economic myths, most of the misguided notions people have about economics come from not seeing the big picture and appreciating the inter-connectedness and balance of the market. it's a very good read.
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DoctorJ
Registered: 06/30/03
Posts: 8,846
Loc: space
Last seen: 1 year, 5 months
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: ]
#2073243 - 11/05/03 12:52 PM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
communism does not work, even on paper. there are flaws in the theory itself
Well, I suppose it depends upon which criteria is used to examine it. I could easily say the same thing about lassiez faire capitalism
Quote:
DoctorJ: That being said, I definitely endorse certain laissez faire principles, along with certain socialistic principles. I'm convinced that the only thing that will work is a highly flexible "mixed system".
Mushmaster B: which ones?
Well, I definitely support the concept of private property, and the right to profit from it.
I also agree with the basic lassiez faire proposition that the sole duty of government is to protect the rights of individuals.
As a general rule, I do not support government intervention in the economy, unless it is for the specific purpose of protecting individual rights.
Thus, the protection of individual rights trumps the policy of government non-interference in the economy.
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Anonymous
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: DoctorJ]
#2073333 - 11/05/03 01:22 PM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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Well, I suppose it depends upon which criteria is used to examine it. I could easily say the same thing about lassiez faire capitalism
sure you could say it, but could you back it up?
Well, I definitely support the concept of private property, and the right to profit from it.
I also agree with the basic lassiez faire proposition that the sole duty of government is to protect the rights of individuals.
As a general rule, I do not support government intervention in the economy, unless it is for the specific purpose of protecting individual rights.
hmmm... you are sounding an awful lot like a minarchist, libertarian, or lassiez faire capitalist there....
how would you define 'rights'?
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DoctorJ
Registered: 06/30/03
Posts: 8,846
Loc: space
Last seen: 1 year, 5 months
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: ]
#2075260 - 11/05/03 10:09 PM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
I could easily say the same thing about lassiez faire capitalism
sure you could say it, but could you back it up?
one of the biggest flaws in lasseiz faire is that it assumes infinite access to resources. I believe that resources are infinite, but our access to them is very limited. random placement of certain individuals with easier access to resources than others creates privilege which is not based in merit.
Quote:
hmmm... you are sounding an awful lot like a minarchist, libertarian, or lassiez faire capitalist there....
Just because I share certain key tenets does not mean I interpret them in the same way most people do.
Quote:
how would you define 'rights'?
Probably the same way you do. Basic constituional stuff, life liberty, and the peaceable persuit of happiness.
Above all, the right to be treated equitably. Where I differ from lassiez faire is in acknowledgeing that big business and concentrated money can sometimes interfere with this right, and many others.
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Evolving
Resident Cynic
Registered: 10/01/02
Posts: 5,385
Loc: Apt #6, The Village
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: DoctorJ]
#2075372 - 11/05/03 10:41 PM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
DoctorJ said:
of the biggest flaws in lasseiz faire is that it assumes infinite access to resources.
WHAAAAT?!?!? It assumes no such thing.
Quote:
I believe that resources are infinite, but our access to them is very limited.
Which resources? Some resources are definitely limited, some are renewable, some are potentially unlimited (I'm thinking of the intellectual resources deriving from human creativity).
Quote:
random placement of certain individuals with easier access to resources than others creates privilege which is not based in merit.
This is the way of life and is not limited to lassiez fair economics. Some are sitting on vast natural resources and have highly socialist economies, yet they are impoverished. Some have little or no natural resources and have more free market economies, and yet flourish economically.
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To call humans 'rational beings' does injustice to the term, 'rational.' Humans are capable of rational thought, but it is not their essence. Humans are animals, beasts with complex brains. Humans, more often than not, utilize their cerebrum to rationalize what their primal instincts, their preconceived notions, and their emotional desires have presented as goals - humans are rationalizing beings.
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Demiurge
creator ofworlds
Registered: 04/11/03
Posts: 693
Loc: Florida
Last seen: 13 years, 28 days
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Re: Economics in One Lesson [Re: Evolving]
#2076148 - 11/06/03 04:24 AM (20 years, 5 months ago) |
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This book is nothing but a pointless diatribe. All of the "fallacies" he discusses are something any modern economics textbook is well aware of and usually covers with much less blind subjectivity.
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Just another animal embeded in a technological coral reef extruded psychic objects...
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