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Economics
Books in Barron’s “Business Review Series” are intended mainly for classroom use. They make excellent supplements to main texts when included in college-level business courses. In adult education and business brush-up programs they can serve as main textbooks. All titles in this series include review questions with answers. This expanded, updated text explains plotting and understanding economic graphs, market equilibrium and the nature of the price system, macroeconomics, microeconomics, and the dynamics of international trade.
656 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 17, 2014
I bought this book (and Barron's finance text) a few months ago because I never took an economics course in high school or college - and that bugged me. I wouldn't say either of these fields is completely new to me, but I did learn a few things, so, for that reason alone, the book deserves three stars.
However, the book is not great. A few criticisms:
(I) Broadly speaking, you can tell this book is a cash cow for Barron's, i.e. it was clearly written in some haste and the editing is poor. The solutions to practice problems are not always correct and the study terms listed in chapter summaries sometimes include terms that were not actually discussed in the chapter.
(II) Judging from this text - and what I have read of the finance book - I am guessing Barron's editorial voice is somewhat right-wing. I'm not sure if this is already well-known, but I'm also not sure if learning about economics from someone with strong political views is the best way to learn it. Listing reasons why unions hurt workers does not clarify why they exist in the first place, and characterizing the minimum wage as an issue that mostly affects teenage employment is, well, ignorant at best, sinister at worst.
(III) This may be a more general criticism of economics as a field, but I felt it lacked a rigorous standard of truth, especially in macroeconomics, which (unfortunately) comprised the bulk of this book. There was little discussion on how economic data are actually collected, or how accurate economic models are. Some concepts, the invisible-hand stuff, struck me as more theological than scientific. Ultimately, I felt the most interesting material was concentrated near the end of the book, usually reserved for special / fringe / heterodox topics: the paragraph or two on asymmetric information has more to say about the economy than the few chapters on perfectly competitive markets.
However, the book is not great. A few criticisms:
(I) Broadly speaking, you can tell this book is a cash cow for Barron's, i.e. it was clearly written in some haste and the editing is poor. The solutions to practice problems are not always correct and the study terms listed in chapter summaries sometimes include terms that were not actually discussed in the chapter.
(II) Judging from this text - and what I have read of the finance book - I am guessing Barron's editorial voice is somewhat right-wing. I'm not sure if this is already well-known, but I'm also not sure if learning about economics from someone with strong political views is the best way to learn it. Listing reasons why unions hurt workers does not clarify why they exist in the first place, and characterizing the minimum wage as an issue that mostly affects teenage employment is, well, ignorant at best, sinister at worst.
(III) This may be a more general criticism of economics as a field, but I felt it lacked a rigorous standard of truth, especially in macroeconomics, which (unfortunately) comprised the bulk of this book. There was little discussion on how economic data are actually collected, or how accurate economic models are. Some concepts, the invisible-hand stuff, struck me as more theological than scientific. Ultimately, I felt the most interesting material was concentrated near the end of the book, usually reserved for special / fringe / heterodox topics: the paragraph or two on asymmetric information has more to say about the economy than the few chapters on perfectly competitive markets.
May 8, 2023
This book does a great job of delivering what it promises and is immeasurably better than a textbook if you want to get a functional understanding of basic economics without spending hours pouring over unnecessarily specific droning about the most preliminary concepts.
I used this book as a resource throughout my AP Macroeconomics course (mostly just referencing and reading chapters here and there when needed). Every chapter I read was concise and to the point yet also provided enough depth to make me feel confident that I knew not only causality and effect but also why the models we have work (or at least the theory behind them anyway). The diagrams were well constructed and the small Q&As at the end of each chapter were helpful enough. My only concern is that the age of this book might hinder it from providing much value as time progresses.
I used this book as a resource throughout my AP Macroeconomics course (mostly just referencing and reading chapters here and there when needed). Every chapter I read was concise and to the point yet also provided enough depth to make me feel confident that I knew not only causality and effect but also why the models we have work (or at least the theory behind them anyway). The diagrams were well constructed and the small Q&As at the end of each chapter were helpful enough. My only concern is that the age of this book might hinder it from providing much value as time progresses.
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March 26, 2019330
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews