The Instant Economist

The Only Economics Book You Will Ever Need - A Library Journal 2012 Best Business Book of the Year Economics isn't just about numbers: It's about politics, psychology, history, and so much more. We are all economists-when we work, save for the future, invest, pay taxes, and buy our groceries. Yet many of us feel lost when the subject arises. Award-winning professor Timothy Taylor tackles all the key questions and hot topics of both microeconomics and macroeconomics, including: Why do budget deficits matter? What exactly does the Federal Reserve do? Does globalization take jobs away from American workers? Why is health insurance so costly? The Instant Economist offers the knowledge and sophistication to understand the issues- so you can understand and discuss economics on a personal, national, and global level.

Instant Economics pulls together all the pivotal economic knowledge and thought into one concise volume. Each page contains a discrete 'cheat sheet', which tells you the most important facts in bite-sized chunks, meaning you can become an expert in an instant. From Adam Smith to Karl Marx, taxation to debt crisis, and inequality to economic freedom, every key figure, discovery, controversy and concept is explained with succinct and lively text and graphics. Perfect for the knowledge hungry and time poor, this collection of graphic-led lessons makes economics interesting and accessible. Everything you need to know is here.

Not long ago, economic theories were generally based on a narrow set of principles. Then the continuing boom-bust cycle combined with the failure of the best economic minds to ensure that prosperity spreads down through the economy has left a series of very obvious question marks, and the orthodoxy has been challenged from inside and outside the profession. It now seems clear that human beings and the planet have to be brought into the analysis. The first chapter goes right back to the debate about the purposes for which money was originally invented. The Big Ideas chapter builds up a picture of the key ideas that have driven economic theories. Economics and People derives insights into the way that money and economics works from the way that people actually behave. Economics and the Planet covers some of the economic insights that have come from those whose expertise has been biological or environmental.

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.

The acclaimed New York Times bestselling history of financial crises Throughout history, rich and poor countries alike have been lending, borrowing, crashing, and recovering their way through an extraordinary range of financial crises. Each time, the experts have chimed, “this time is different”—claiming that the old rules of valuation no longer apply and that the new situation bears little similarity to past disasters. With this breakthrough study, leading economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff definitively prove them wrong. Covering sixty-six countries across five continents and eight centuries, This Time Is Different presents a comprehensive look at the varieties of financial crises—including government defaults, banking panics, and inflationary spikes—from medieval currency debasements to the subprime mortgage catastrophe. Reinhart and Rogoff provocatively argue that financial combustions are universal rites of passage for emerging and established market nations. A remarkable history of financial folly, This Time Is Different will influence financial and economic thinking and policy for decades to come.

For 10 years, "The Economist" has included unique and original obituaries in a popular column. The selections are remarkable because of the people written about, the surprising lives they led, and the brilliant writing style. This volume gathers 200 of the best obituaries.

Economics in Minutes condenses key economics concepts into 200 short and easily digested essays. Featuring not only fundamental ideas, such as the role of money and how the stock market works, but also subjects that are increasingly important to us today - unemployment, government debt and corporate tax avoidance, for example. Economics in Minutes is the ideal introduction to a complex and vital subject. Key topics are succinctly described and accompanied by illustrations, making them simple to read and easy to remember. This convenient little reference guide will allow readers to understand the theories underpinning a subject that affects our lives on a daily basis. Chapters include: Supply and demand, globalization, market failure, GDP and happiness, risk and uncertainty, living standards and productivity, Game theory, economics and culture.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER "For anyone who wants to understand capitalism not as economists or politicians have pictured it but as it actually operates, this book will be invaluable."-Observer (UK) If you've wondered how we did not see the economic collapse coming, Ha-Joon Chang knows the answer: We didn't ask what they didn't tell us about capitalism. This is a lighthearted book with a serious purpose: to question the assumptions behind the dogma and sheer hype that the dominant school of neoliberal economists-the apostles of the freemarket-have spun since the Age of Reagan. Chang, the author of the international bestseller Bad Samaritans, is one of the world's most respected economists, a voice of sanity-and wit-in the tradition of John Kenneth Galbraith and Joseph Stiglitz. 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism equips readers with an understanding of how global capitalism works-and doesn't. In his final chapter, "How to Rebuild the World," Chang offers a vision of how we can shape capitalism to humane ends, instead of becoming slaves of the market.

A vastly entertaining and unique history of the interaction between spying and showbiz, from the Elizabethan age to the Cold War and beyond. 'A treasure trove of human ingenuity' The Times Written by two experts in their fields, Stars and Spies is the first history of the extraordinary connections between the intelligence services and show business. We travel back to the golden age of theatre and intelligence in the reign of Elizabeth I. We meet the writers, actors and entertainers drawn into espionage in the Restoration, the Ancien Régime and Civil War America. And we witness the entry of spying into mainstream popular culture throughout the twentieth century and beyond - from the adventures of James Bond to the thrillers of John le Carré and long-running TV series such as The Americans. 'Thoroughly entertaining' Spectator 'Perfect...read as you settle into James Bond on Christmas afternoon.' Daily Telegraph

In an assessment of the pros and cons of public sector privatization, Sclar (urban planning, Columbia U.), who is affiliated with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC, warns that outsourcing services may not result in leaner US government. He examines alternatives and offers tips for public sector reform. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR