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Jul 15, 2011

Stephen rated it:

5.0 STARS ALL THE WAY for this TERRIFIC book that I consider ESSENTIAL READING for anyone interested in understanding the "free market" theory that government intervention in the markets, no matter how well meaning the intent, almost always leads to negative consequences down the road.

Hazlitt, a prolific author and champion of "free markets" begins the book with the following lesson of Economics:

The art of economics consists of looking not merely at

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22 comments like (34 people liked it)

Sep 07, 2011

Whitaker rated it:

Since I have been told (see Post #3) that I have insufficiently supported my point in the original review below, I thought I should expand on it. I have therefore added on Post #4 in full to this review.

Original Review

I read the free copy made available here. Well, actually I read the first three chapters and scanned through the rest to see if it was more or less based on the same type of argumentation and reasoning. It was.

Can't people tell that this is ju More...

22 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jan 31, 2012

Marcus rated it:

For a book that was written so long ago, this book is amazingly relevant to today. It clearly explains how things like stimulus packages, government subsidies, nationalization, currency inflation etc., aren't, and can't be, magic solutions that fix the economy. It gives examples of times these types of things have been tried in the past and haven't worked and why they won't work today and will never work. If you are skeptical of the hundreds of billions of dollars being printed and shuffled arou More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2009

Seth rated it:

The book uses simple examples of economics between individuals to understand the cost vs. benefit relationships surrounding economic decisions and policies. Examples and principles described are very easy to understand and are relevant to arguments made. Author is a Classic Economist and argues that economic growth is never optimal with government intervention. He shows how saving money is perhaps better to the growth of the economy than is consumption spending. He persuasively argues agains More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 28, 2010

Jarrod rated it:

Abbreviated Review: stop reading my review and go read “Economics in One Lesson” right now.

Full Review: In the first half of 2009, I visited several law schools before making my selection and, while at Northwestern, I spoke at length with a professor who had recently worked on a paper supporting a national consumption tax. Encouraged by the fact that our positions on the desirability of a sales tax over an income tax aligned, I pushed him to explain his solution for getting out of th More...

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Oct 25, 2008

Jeremy rated it:

I can't even count the number of times already that topics discussed in this book have come up in everyday conversation. To me that is the major value of a book like this and an indication of its effectiveness. The "one lesson" is this: to truly understand economics (and make good economic policies) we must consider the short-term and long-term effects of a policy as well as how it affects all people immediately and in the future.

There has been a paradigm shift in my thin More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 27, 2010

Dana added it

This book was given to me by a good friend who highly recommended it and thought it would help me to understand economics which I really want to understand myself! However, this book was of very little help to me as it seemed to me to presuppose the reader already has a working knowledge of economics and its principles. I don't at all so coming from someone who has received no economic training at all (not even in high school) I had a hard time getting anything out of this book. I am not sure More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 30, 2009

David rated it:

If you only read one book on economics, read this one: read it and learn it. (But don't read just one book on economics.) It's astounding how so many fail to grasp the basic truths in this volume, or, more likely, ignore the evidence and rush ahead with their failed schemes of redistribution, inflation, etc. to provide short-term benefit to a favored few.

"Practically all government attempts to redistribute wealth and income tend to smother productive incentives and lead toward g More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 14, 2011

Void rated it:

Ever wondered why the social unrest and inequality today? It seems to me this 1946 book gives the answer. But it's not one of those convenient answers, wrapped in easy to understand blame rhetoric where you can just turn off half your mind only paying attention at the blame sections. This book asks you to think with your mind, not with your heart.

I was blown away when at the end of the book the author took a look back at the decades passed since the writings to see if any of the les More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 12, 2011

Clinton rated it:

Economics in One Lesson must be an absolute necessity for any Austrian School of Economics advocates. Hazlitt fiercely dissects and debunks the many economic fallacies created by government policy and special interest groups. Every single lesson is truly a testament to real economic prosperity rather than delusions spouted by politicians and media personnel.
All 25 Lessons have significant importance, but fundamentally, the preeminent lesson is inflation. Single-handedly, inflation can be bl More...

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Sep 22, 2011

Vesper rated it:

Very great and plain in explaining the basic economics principles
Economics, as stated in the last chapter of Economics in One Lesson, is a science of recognizing secondary consequences, of seeing general consequences, of tracing the effects of some proposed or existing policy not only on some special interest in the short run, but on the general interest in the long run. Put in a short way, it is a science of seeing problems as a whole not in fragments. The goal of economy is to increase p More...

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May 02, 2011

D rated it:

In these times of massive government budget deficits ($1.6 TRILLION deficit on $3.8 TRILLION spending for fiscal 2011 alone), when even a few billion dollars of cuts in spending are called “extreme” or “draconian” by those policy makers in Washington whose power base is firmly entrenched in the special interest groups committed to keep those government spending dollars flowing, this book is more of a must read than ever before. A deep understanding of economics can be had by reading this book a More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2009

Trevor rated it:

The point of this book is to show that there are facts that economists have worked out over the years that are now all but laws that can be used to determine how we should structure our interactions so as to provide the best possible benefit to the greatest possible number. These laws ought to be followed to the letter as ANY mucking about with them can only lead to tears. Unfortunately, it has always been the case that politicians (and even some economists – particularly economists contaminat More...

24 comments like (9 people liked it)

Sep 14, 2009

Abe rated it:

Economics is one of those topics on which I've intended to get better educated for some time now. The events since the latter half of '08 have definitely bumped that intention up several notches in my list of priorities. The first problem I really had to tackle was figuring out where to start, which is to say, deciding exactly what and whom I should be reading. I knew just enough to determine that pretty much anything from a Keynesian perspective—which, with differences that are in the final ana More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 13, 2009

Mark rated it:

In the course of my fairly well rounded education, I've managed to completely avoid any economics courses. Now that I've decided to fill that gap a bit, this book seemed like a good place to start.

Beyond the encouraging title, any book that was written more than fifty years ago, yet still enjoys good sales figures can't be too bad, and I wasn't disappointed.

Haslitt is very firmly in the camp of free-market economics and offers example after example of how attempts to interfe More...

0 comments like

Jul 24, 2009

Howard rated it:

ECONOMICS IN ONE LESSON
By Henry Hazlitt

Hazlitt is (or was, he's long dead) a unique figure in American economics: a popularizer of the Austrians ideas about political economy, monetary policy, and the Austrian critique of the socialist and Keynesian ideas that dominated policy making in the West for much of the 20th century. Hazlitt is half-forgotten today, although Thomas Sowell has, intentionally or not, picked up his mantle; but at one time he was a big deal - the NY Times, amo More...

0 comments like

Aug 01, 2011

Dan rated it:

This book should be required reading in every econ 101 class in the country. It is written simply so that anyone can understand the concepts presented. And yet it provides a powerful antidote to the economic lies we are subjected to on a daily basis by unions, our political leaders, and the popular press.

In fact, to me that makes the book depressing. It was written in 1946 and yet we are still suffering under the same economic myths that the book addresses. We are all poorer because as a cou More...

0 comments like

Oct 27, 2009

Billy rated it:

A phenomenal synopsis in economic thought. This is a book that everyone ought to read as informed citizens, allowing us all to make wiser economic decisions versus voting for what "sounds" good. Hazlitt writes so all will understand and does a fantastic job at it. That doesn't mean it is the most exciting thing you've ever read, however. It can be a little dry but remains understandable and clear. Hazlitt's examples illuminate economic concepts better than most. He is not distrac More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 16, 2010

Projection rated it:

This book can be summarize in one sentence i.e 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."
The author is definitely the advocate for free market and Laissez-faire type of economy where their is minimal intervention from the government. Throughout the book, the author held government and its policies responsible for More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 10, 2009

Peter rated it:

It's sometimes a stretch, trying to understand a book in the terminology of 1946, but aside from a some references to events of that era, this book is eminently readable. Hazlitt covers many nuggets of the essence of economics, the broken window fallacy, the flaw in minimum wages, etc.

He remains relevant, as this quote shows:

"Government-guaranteed home mortgages, especially when a negligible down payment or no down payment whatever is required, inevitably mean more b More...

0 comments like

Aug 13, 2011

Jason rated it:

The final sentence of this book is, “To see the problem as a whole, and not in fragments: that is the goal of economic science.” While the notion is professed, the book author doesn’t even come close to doing that in his writings. This book is a beginner’s guide to economics, and it is one that serves as a disservice to its readers. The author professes to be one of the most brilliant conservative intellectuals of his time. He states that this work is a “major antidote to left-liberal fallac More...

0 comments like

Aug 06, 2011

C.J. rated it:

"Economics in One Lesson" is a quick and easy read on economics, as the title suggests, that I believe everyone should and, perhaps most importantly, CAN read. While it was published in 1942, it reads as though it was written yesterday, as many of the topics discussed are still currently being implemented today.

"Economics in One Lesson" discusses economics--and the forces of supply and demand-- in their purest form.

To quote the book:

“…Many things that seem to be true when we More...

0 comments like

Jul 22, 2011

Mark rated it:

This is a simple, but amazingly profound, mind blowing introduction to some basic economic principles. The principles outlined here are quite simple, and yet it seems so many people today can not grasp these basic truths.

Granted this book is a bit dated, but most of it is still useful and much of it seems as if it were written today.

I sincerely wish more politicians and voters today would read this book, it would go a long way toward restoring some knowledge of basic economic More...

0 comments like

Feb 25, 2009

Jongalt rated it:

The most basic principle in this book: In order to make economic decisions we must not only look at the immediate consequences but the short term and the long term. We must not only see the groups imediately benefitting from the effects of an economic policy, but also those group that are harmed or those groups overlooked and understand its repurcussions.

After reading this book and applying its lessons (even to ignorant posts in this forum) you definitely gain a greater understandin More...

0 comments like

Apr 10, 2011

Scott rated it:

Skipped around a bit in this one and didn't read every word. I give it 3 stars because it reads a bit like a textbook and economics can only be so interesting. That said, Henry Hazlitt writes with amazing precision on the subjects of minimum wage rates, saving, and the most toxic of all economic realities - inflation. My biggest takeaways are:
1. Mainstream economic thought is clouded by Keynesian principles that seek to remedy short-run disruptions (e.g. elevated unemployment, lagging i More...

0 comments like

Dec 01, 2010

Mike rated it:

Henry Hazlitt has written in this book a clear and concise overview of basic economics and the consequences of bad economic policy. Inserting his own analogies as well as those from the towering Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises and his French predecessor Frederic Bastiat, Hazlitt is able to skillfully tear down fallacies in economic policy proposed by those who fail to see the unintended consequences of government intervention in the free market. Although the first edition was published in 19 More...

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Oct 27, 2011

Thomas rated it:

Clear and cut basic economics covering a variety of topics from private industry to government influence, from profits to employees to unions to machinery. The author deals with the subject matter very objectively and lays everything out in an easy to understand manner. He does add a little opinion in small doses, but only as commentary; I do not think it affects the logic of his statements.

I highly recommend this book because I think very few people understand how basic economics work More...

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Jan 10, 2009

John rated it:

This is quite frankly the best economics text I have set both my hands and eyes upon. Hazlitt not only clearly states all the important aspects of fundamental economics but applies them with ease to a modern audience.

It's all too easy to begin reading Adam Smith or Frederic Bastait and be taken back with the attitude of "this is out-dated, surely our modern world is different." But the truth of the matter is that the science that is economics has not changed, nor has it's More...

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Aug 31, 2008

Polka rated it:

Greatest, easiest, most enthusing read. 100-ish pages of analogies and examples to the timeless fallacies of economics. The cutting wit adds to the enjoyment. Written in the forties so there is no semblance of a political agenda. Even the most recent edition only has additions from the seventies.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 05, 2009

Andrew rated it:

Like all "_____ in One Lesson" kind of books this is way over simplified and reductive. His argument boils down to "if you try to impose policies that will supposedly better people's lives you just end up hurting another group"-(usually the rich or the privileged or the owners of production)-"so it's best to do nothing and let the free market work its mysterious mojo. We've all seen how well that works. It's pretty boilerplate, in terms of the justifications for the syst More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

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