Description
Book SynopsisThis tour of the economist's mind explains the utility of crucial economic concepts. Rhoads uses relevant political examples to state his case, discusses controversies surrounding redistribution of wealth, and offers a critique of economists' unbalanced emphasis on narrow self-interest as both controlling motive and route to happiness.
Trade Review'This is a 35th anniversary version of a classic. Rhoads, an emeritus professor of politics at the University of Virginia, has built upon the best explanation I know of how orthodox economists think about choice, markets, externalities and other concepts. The new edition will be valuable to non-economists and economists alike: the former will learn how economists think; and the latter will learn some of the limits to how they think.' Martin Wolf, A Financial Times Book of the Year
'Rhoads puts the discipline's core concepts in wonderfully accessible form.' Barton Swaim, A Wall Street Journal Book of the Year
'… one of the top 10 big picture economics books of the last 50 years.' David R. Henderson, Regulation
Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. Useful Concepts: 1. Opportunity Cost; 2. Marginalism; 3. Economic Incentives; Part II. Government and Markets, Efficiency and Equity: 4. Government and the Economy; 5. Economists and Equity; 6. Externalities and the Government Agenda; Part III. The Limits of Economics: 7. The Economist's Consumer and Individual Well-Being; 8. Representatives, Deliberation, and Political Leadership; 9. Conclusion.
