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Understandable Economics

Because Understanding Our Economy Is Easier Than You Think and More Important Than You Know

ebook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 4 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 4 weeks

Winner of Axiom Business Book Award's 2023 Bronze Medal for Economics

Incomes are stagnating, middle-class jobs are disappearing, economic growth is slowing, and the meager gains are mostly going to those who are already wealthy. More Americans than ever are frustrated by the direction in which we are headed. Understandable Economics aims to replace this frustration with a practical understanding of our economy and empower readers to identify and advocate for a better approach to the problems we face.

In this entertaining and informative guide, author Howard Yaruss breaks down our economic system in a straightforward way, avoiding jargon, formulas, graphs, and other technical material so common in books on this subject. Instead, he creates a compelling and comprehensive picture of our economy using accessible analogies, real-world observations, and entertaining anecdotes.

Understandable Economics will enable readers to answer questions such as:

Why is inequality soaring and what can we do about it?

Do tax cuts for the wealthy create jobs or just create more inequality?

Where does money come from, why does it have value, and who controls it?

What does the Fed do and how does it affect our lives?

Could alternative currencies like Bitcoin replace the dollar?

Is our national debt a threat?

Why do so many people believe free trade is good if it causes some people to lose jobs?

Why does the economy regularly turn down and how can we get it back on track?

... and many more.

Understandable Economics provides the context, tools and foundational knowledge readers need to thoroughly understand our economy, determine which policies would work best, and champion those policies effectively.

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    • Kirkus

      May 15, 2023
      Yaruss presents an introduction to economics designed to help Americans understand--and participate in--current political debates. The author contends that rationally informed political decisions on the part of the American citizenry is the only mechanism that will usher in substantive economic progress but that many find economics a prohibitively technical discipline and do not adequately comprehend the terms of debate. He also casts a gimlet eye at the media, which he sees as being "dominated by all sorts of very serious-looking people pontificating on the future of the economy and recommending policy based on their very self-assured predictions" and failing to alleviate this collective ignorance. Yaruss aims to "demystify our economy" by providing an "easily understandable overview" of it, one that serves not to supply facile answers but to help the reader to understand the basic questions. To this end, the author takes the reader on a scrupulously thorough tour of the subject, discussing the nature of money, the inner workings of the Federal Reserve, the national debt, and the structure of corporations, among many other topics. He limns a marvelously accessible discussion of some technically formidable subjects, such as derivative securities. Yaruss doesn't shy away from registering his own opinions; the author argues that, partly as a result of the "technological revolution," commercial competition has increasingly become a "winner-take-all" system--a trend that has resulted in grotesque inequality--a viewpoint that informs the entire work. Only very occasionally that perspective results in some strident rhetoric: "Income taxes can discourage work, sales taxes can discourage the purchase of goods, and property taxes can discourage the development of more and better housing. What might inheritance and estate taxes discourage? Dying?" Nevertheless, this is a valuable introduction to a difficult field that accomplishes its principal objective: to educate the public so it can more fully comprehend the economic arguments of the day. An impressively clear presentation that should prove useful to those looking for a one-stop primer.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (Online Review)

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Languages

  • English

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