Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science

by Charles Wheelan, Burton G. Malkiel (Foreword by)

Overview

International bestseller

"Clear, concise, informative, [and] witty." —Chicago Tribune

At last! A new edition of the economics book that won’t put you to sleep. In fact, you won’t be able to put this bestseller down. In our challenging economic climate, this perennial favorite of students and general readers is more than a good read, it’s a necessary investment—with a blessedly sure rate of return. This revised and updated edition includes commentary on hot topics such as automation, trade, income inequality, and America’s rising debt. Ten years after the financial crisis, Naked Economics examines how policymakers managed the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Demystifying buzzwords, laying bare the truths behind oft-quoted numbers, and answering the questions you were always too embarrassed to ask, the breezy Naked Economics gives you the tools to engage with pleasure and confidence in the deeply relevant, not so dismal science.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393356496
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	01/01/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	81,325
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Charles Wheelan is the author of the best-selling Naked Statistics and Naked Economics and is a former correspondent for the Economist. He teaches public policy at Dartmouth College and lives in Hanover, New Hampshire, with his family.

Burton G. Malkiel is the Chemical Bank Chairman’s Professor of Economics Emeritus at Princeton University. He is a former member of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers and dean of the Yale School of Management. He resides in New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Foreword Burton G. Malkiel ix

Introduction xvii

Acknowledgments xxvii

1 The Power of Markets: Who feeds Paris? 3

2 Incentives Matter: Why you might be able to save your face by cutting off your nose (if you are a black rhinoceros) 31

3 Government and the Economy: Government is your friend (and a round of applause for all those lawyers) 57

4 Government and the Economy II: The army was to get that screwdriver for $500 83

5 Economics of Information: McDonald's didn't create a better hamburger 108

6 Productivity and Human Capital: Why is Bill Gates so much richer than you are? 131

7 Financial Markets: What economics can tell us about getting rich quick (and losing weight, too!) 154

8 The Power of Organized Interests: What economics can tell us about politics 182

9 Keeping Score: Is my economy bigger than your economy? 198

10 The Federal Reserve: Why that dollar in your pocket just a piece of paper 225

11 International Economics: How did a nice country like Iceland go bust? 250

12 Trade and Globalization: The good news about Asian sweatshops 277

13 Development Economics: The wealth and poverty of nations 302

Epilogue: Life in 2050: eight questions 325

Notes 337

Index 351

What People are Saying About This

Burton G. Malkiel

Wheelan has an anti-Midas touch. If he touched gold he would turn it to life. —Burton G. Malkiel, from the foreword

Introduction

Malkiel, Burton G.

Editorial Reviews

"I recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain an understanding of basic economics with little pain and much pleasure."

Gary Becker

"Bravo, Charles Wheelan, for doing the impossible: making the study of economics fascinating, comprehensible, and laugh-out-loud funny."

Deborah Copaken Kogan

Translates the arcane and often inscrutable jargon of the professional economist into language accessible to the inquiring but frustrated layman. . . . Clear, concise, informative, [and] witty.

Chicago Tribune

Wheelan has an anti-Midas touch. If he touched gold he would turn it to life. —Burton G. Malkiel, from the foreword

Burton G. Malkiel

Explains our global economy in a way that is—gasp!—actually entertaining.

Book