|
|
|
|
|
|
HomeBooksBusiness & InvestingPopular Economics |
|
|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
 Great Book - Easy Reading - Important Analysis Jul 04, 2009
This is a good read for those seeking to understand basic applied economic thought. Sowell is a good author who doesnt concern himself with impressing the reader with comlexity - rather - he crystallizes the problem and solution in an easy to read form for the reader.
 Dishonest Jun 25, 2009
This book is dishonest. I know that is a strong accusation, but let's judge from its contents. The book is replete with misleading comparisons and statistics. A representative example is his chapter on "Income Facts and Fallacies". He sets out to refute the "fallacy" that average US wages have not risen in decades. In particular he cites Washington Post comments on the slight decline of average wages from 1980 to 2004. Sowell first responds by citing a 74% increase in average real consumption over the same period. What he doesn't discuss is how much of this consumption was funded by borrowing, particularly mortgages. We now know all too well why this is important.
Sowell later argues that wages have not fallen because of replacement of high paying manufacturing jobs with low paying service jobs. By citing figures for 1993-1996 to support this he "refutes" a 24 year trend with a 3 year slice of time. The problem is that those 3 years are far from representative. The major employment gains in those years were in business services and non-depository financial institutions ([...]). The Bureau of Labor Statistics report I cite attributes financial services growth in the 90's to "buying and refinance activity, especially for mortgage bankers and brokers" and the business services growth to the rise in temporary staffing services. The 3 year figure does not refute the larger 24 year fact.
Throughout the book Sowell purports to refute "fallacies" about apples with statistics about carefully selected oranges. His credentials do not indicate the level of incompetence that would be necessary for making so many specious arguments unintentionally. So we're left to conclude that Sowell is intentionally trying to mislead the reader.
Sowell clearly has a severe ideological bias. If what you want is clever spin to support an ideology of "market=good, government=bad" then this book may be for you. However, if you want honest economic analysis then look elsewhere.
 Thomas Sowell does it again Jun 08, 2009
This book is a must have. It puts in place the current econominc fallacies which are widely held as truisms.
0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Not as data driven as I would like May 25, 2009
I found this book biased: in many places he validly finds flaws in prevailing socio-political arguments, but when he provides his own views, I found them just as flawed. Perhaps it would be better if I shared his political views.
I should say that I bought this book because I love data / statistics and I hate it when people manipulate them. Between the title and the author (an economics professor), I was really excited. I expected a book that dissects common perceptions and then backs it up with a collection of scientific studies that demonstrates reality. Perhaps a book in the flavor of Freakonomics, but with a bit more rigor. This book is not that.
In many ways, I feel this book in more philosophical and political than economic.
In considering my review, I think you should know my biases: I'm highly quantitative, I have a PhD in Computer Science and I consider myself economically moderate and socially liberal.
Cultural Economics made easy to understand May 16, 2009
As usual, Dr. Sowell, comments on several current cultural issues and their facts and fallacies with a straitforward style that is well researched and referenced. An economics degree is not needed to understand the topics discussed. He does a nice job of picking apart the biases that underlie the beliefs of the media and politicians.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
![Underworld Trilogy (Underworld / Underworld: Evolution / Underworld: Rise of the Lycans) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51F27VzUl%2BL._SL75_.jpg "Underworld Trilogy (Underworld / Underworld: Evolution / Underworld: Rise of the Lycans) [Blu-ray]")
![Resident Evil: Degeneration [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51yfYfxvtXL._SL75_.jpg "Resident Evil: Degeneration [Blu-ray]")
![Dr. Strangelove [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51jF4iUP4RL._SL75_.jpg "Dr. Strangelove [Blu-ray]")
