Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

The Instant Economist: All The Basic Principles Of Economics In 100 Pages Of Plain Talk

Rate this book
The Instant Economist will give you the basic information every manager needs to survive the economic challenges of modern business. You'll find more theory in fewer pages than you would have thought possible—interest rates and inflation, opportunity costs and the cost of living, prices and profits, debts and deficits—all the confusing and crucial ideas you never quite learned, summarized in easy-to-understand, impossible-to-forget images and phrases.This amazing little book is an amusing dialogue between a young MBA and an old Professor of Economics. Like most of us, this young manager-to-be has taken courses and slogged through the formulas of basic economics; but he still doesn't have the first idea of what economics really means. As we listen, the Processor explains the real points of macro, micro, and international economics concepts without graphs or jargon or math or anything but common sense.

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

7 people are currently reading
195 people want to read

About the author

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
36 (31%)
4 stars
41 (35%)
3 stars
26 (22%)
2 stars
8 (7%)
1 star
3 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Profile Image for Samet Girgin.
7 reviews2 followers
February 13, 2019
Çok sade ve eğlenceli bir anlatımla bir solukta okunacak bir kitap. Ekonomiyi günlük misallerle anlatan bu kısa eser çok güzel bir giriş okuması olabilir.
Profile Image for Shaun Terry jr..
26 reviews2 followers
August 10, 2015
Super-simplified, super-quick read. I read this as a way to refresh my memory on micro- and macroenomics theory, and I even learned some things that I hadn't known before. It's a little dated, and some of the cultural references are obscured by that lag, but the book is very effective. If you're wanting a quick read to help simplify economics concepts for you, this is a great place to start, in my opinion.
Profile Image for Manuel Rodriguez Acosta.
53 reviews
April 26, 2020
Great read! This book's knowledge per page is off the charts. A 411 on the 3 main topics of Economics made for laymen. Pool and La Roe use everyday examples that are extremely easy to understand. Still in awe of how you can learn so much from so little.
Profile Image for Juan David.
89 reviews
May 12, 2019
Un libro fundamental para las personas que quieran aprender sobre la economía. Es un libro esencial para que aprendas los conceptos básicos de esta. Un libro fácil de leer y muy ameno. Corto y además muy entretenido. No es el típico libro de términos que te hacen perder las ganas de leer el libro, este libro se desarrolla entre una conversación y una clase de un profesor hacia un estudiante y en su segunda parte hacía varios estudiantes en una clase. Por ende se me hace que el autor encontró una forma muy interactiva para que su lector estendiese todo sin darle mucho rollo en su cabeza.
-Recomendado.
Profile Image for Feferi Zatara.
3 reviews
July 6, 2025
Years ago, our professor recommended this book in an introductory economics course. I bought the book on a whim and didn't read it after that, and I stopped studying economics anyway. But I wish I had read this book earlier. You can easily read it in a day without getting confused and lay the foundation for understanding economics. I think it would be beneficial for people who are in high school to read this book.
Profile Image for Jonathan.
372 reviews9 followers
May 11, 2018
A quick and basic overview, marred only slightly by outdated references. A good intro but a long way from comprehensive. Helpful to get a handle on some big ideas but should certainly be supplemented by more in depth and more up to date works
Profile Image for Justin Chang.
68 reviews3 followers
Read
July 7, 2023
i read this book because i read it last in high school and i always find it interesting to reread books that i read when i was much younger, especially now with a different perspective on the economy & a different political practice (i am not interested in economics)
Profile Image for selena.
28 reviews
October 29, 2025
had to read this for my AP micro class, this class is actually so hard for me because i am extremely slow and so I lowkey had to read this very slowly to not get lost but it was pretty helpful but i almost fell asleep 3 times reading it, i dont think im suited for economics..
Profile Image for Gokhan.
216 reviews10 followers
March 10, 2018
Ekonominin basit mantığı, makro, micro ve uluslararası ekonomik okur yazarlık hap gibi bir kitap olmuş...
Profile Image for Lucinda Buchanan.
19 reviews1 follower
July 28, 2009
This makes my microeconomics class come full circle. Still a foreign language to me but slowly becoming a second. A definite read for a quick preview of basic economics in what they call "plain talk".
Profile Image for Hikmet.
11 reviews
August 8, 2012


iktisat bolumune yeni baslayan korpe ogrenci moduyla alinmis bir kitaptir. sozde iktisatin temel bilgisini bir sohbetle soru-cevap tarzinda vermeye calismis, ama ticari kaygilarla basildigi adindan da anlasilacagi uzere cok bellidir.
Profile Image for Guanhui.
152 reviews6 followers
June 15, 2014
Useful primer on economics. The chapter on international economics was perhaps the most illuminating of them all.
Profile Image for Mustafa Akdag.
9 reviews
January 1, 2017
Ekonominin temel değişkenlerini sade ve anlaşılabilir örneklerlerle kolayca anlayabileceğiniz iyi bir kitap.
1 review
Read
July 8, 2018
ı wanna be a economist but ı havent read before related with economi so ı am thinking ıt is a good book for access
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.