Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science

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I've been studying economics for the past six months or so from various texts, plodding through all of them by dint of perseverance and a sense of duty.

For some light reading, I picked this book up. From it, my studies of economics gained renewed vigor, because this was the first book that really made me LOVE ECONOMICS. After reading it I saw most economic ideas -- especially macroeconomic ideas -- in a new light.

Folks, it's fantastic. Absorbing, witty, and clearly-written.

Not only will you come to basically understand many important economic principles from reading it, but the book contains not a single graph, chart, or unsavory equation.

This is the only economics books I've ever read and read, until I was done: on the john, in the tub, on the bus, etc. I just could not put it down!

The thing I really like is Wheelan's genius for picking examples, many of which will boggle your mind and stick with you for days.

Wheelan has also got a great sense of humor. When's the last time that you found yourself laughing out loud every few pages while reading an economics book?

Here's an example:

"The sultan of Brunei earned billions of dollars in oil revenues in the 1970s. Suppose he had stuffed that cash under his mattress and left it there. He would have had several problems. First, it is very difficult to sleep with billions of dollars stuffed under the mattress. . ."

I highly recommend this book to anyone unfamiliar with basic economics, or looking for a simple, easy-to-read introduction to the science. Wheelan does a great job explaining the nuts and bolts of a free market system, and why this economic system as it stands is currently the most successful in the world. He's devoted chapters to the power of markets, incentives, the government, information, productivity, human capital, finance, the federal reserve, organized interests, trade and globalization, and ends with a discussion as to what it would take for poorer, less developed countries to get out of poverty. After reading Thomas Sowell's, "Basic Economics" I found Charles Wheelan's writing to be refreshingly balanced, and more humorous. That said, I still think both writers and books are worth-while. Anyone unconvinced that a free market system is the best economic system available, or wishing to know more about the system in which we live ought to read these books. Especially if you're against free trade, and fear "globablization". Wheelan admits there are serious social consequences and problems related to bad government, but insinuates (with a little more finesse than Sowell) that the problems are mostly rooted in bad policies, not economics. Corruption and dishonest politicians and leaders impoverish countries, not capitalism itself. However you choose to look at these issues, I think Wheelan does an excellent job at providing the fundamentals of the world in which we operate on a daily basis, and reading "Naked Economics" can only help one understand how to better affect desired change. Every college student should be required to read this!

It's funny reading economists trying to explain human behavior. An economist will say that people make decisions in order to maximize their utility, without understanding what motivates them to do so. Why would anyone ever want to be generous, or altruistic? It makes you feel good to be generous or do a good deed. Why is that? Economists are apparently ignorant of the Biological concept of reproductive fitness.

That aside, I found the book to be a good, if somewhat typically biased, introduction to economic principles. For example, the author claims that sweatshops improve lives, because they pay a greater wage than is otherwise available in that region. Well, looking at Saipan in the CNMI, it seems that the only reason the sweatshops pay a greater wage than might otherwise be available is because we are not enforcing federal labor laws there, despite the fact that the manufacturers are gaining economic benefit by being able to use a "Made in the USA" label while paying typical sweatshop wages. In other words, if we required the standard federal minimum wage to be paid, and enforced other labor laws like workplace safety and overtime requirements, the workers would benefit due to the rule of law being enforced for social good. That's why we have the laws, to prevent abuse in the face of no bargaining power, a concept lost on this author. Further, by allowing countries to engage and compete in our market using sweatshops, it diminishes the quality of life for everyone by encouraging and perpetuating labor abuses. There are other profitable business and job creating investments to be made in foreign countries besides sweat shops.

The author goes on to claim that Social Security is a waste of money, because it's a tax that reduces savings and capital for investment. Of course, history proves it also dramatically reduced elder poverty, a point lost on the author. This is a common theme in economics and in this book, the "starve the market losers to feed the market winners" approach to society, no matter the cost.

Another example is the already debunked earned income tax credit. This allows low wage workers to be subsidized in their many, benefit-less, part-time jobs, instead of getting aid. Of course, it doesn't help the unemployable, but more importantly it also causes a parenting cost. What's the cost? Single mothers are not raising their children.

In an anecdotal example of how economists fail to account for all costs, the author states that we should allow people to pay extra and be allowed to drive the Unimog (a giant SUV that didn't make it to market), because we can choose to eat ice cream. But I'm not going to mow over a family of four with a pint of Haagen-Dazs. It doesn't matter how much extra you pay, that money doesn't defray the cost of others of being in increased road danger. Again, this author and economists in general fail to acknowledge the real costs of social policies. It's easier to ignore reality and stick with oversimplified models and explanations. Granted, the book is supposed to be light, but in many places it is too light, and gives a biased assessment as a result.

He suggests public education is a function best privatized, which makes for a great discussion topic. Realize that it used to be private, back in the days when most were illiterate. Apparently we should return to those days.

A common free market argument is that the government should contract out for public work projects to be done by private sector, which certainly happens a lot, e.g. Halliburton and all of our missing money for the Iraq reconstruction. In contrast look at the infrastructure road building in Alaska done by the Army, which was accomplished ahead of schedule. When we aren't fighting unnecessary foreign wars, our military can accomplish quite a bit, for less money than over budgeted and corrupt private ventures. Both have their place, and I would be remiss not to point out that the real problem is the lack of government contractor fraud enforcement.

The author mentions the CIA venture capital firm In-Q-I as another example of tax payer money being spent in the market to benefit us, but he doesn't say if this program ever produced anything of value. I suspect it didn't.

Then comes an old saw about lawyers and the bar: lowering the standards for admission would increase the number of lawyers and ultimately reduce legal costs to the benefit of society. Unstated by the author, this would also be true for doctors, nurses, psychologists, and all other licensed professionals. The author sees no problem with this reduction in licensing requirements, apparently due to being incredibly naïve. A small sampling of problems would include:
- Cost of education would remain the same, so more professionals and lower fees would mean a lower return on tuition investment, thus the better minds will pursue other careers.
- Malpractice has a cost too. A pretty big one in medicine, though not the health care dollar cost that conservatives lie about, since medical malpractice expenses account for less than 2% of healthcare costs. No, the real cost of medical malpractice is 98,000 people killed every year under the current "restrictive" system for medical licensing. That's more than automobiles and handguns combined. Granted, if your attorney commits malpractice, you are unlikely to die from it. But you may lose your house. We already have non-ABA accredited law schools out there, churning out below average lawyers in a diploma-mill style. We really don't need even worse lawyers practicing law.
- Paralegal services fill the gap of low cost legal services already, a rather obvious fact of which the author is apparently ignorant.

The author even claims that using DDT makes economic sense in developing countries, at which point he has driven off the cliff of reality. The cost of environmental destruction is greater than cost of better pesticides, in the long run. Extinct species don't come back.

Economists love to berate regulations, and this author is no exception, pointing to countries that use excessive regulation as a means of extracting bribes. The problem isn't the regulation, it's the corruption.

The author repeats the old saw that economic growth is better for the poor than targeted programs. What we see today is tax cuts without any equivalent economic growth, since those tax cuts only significantly go to the wealthy *and* the benefits reduced were largely job creators (e.g. special education, medical care) with good economic returns. What little economic growth has occurred still leaves an increasing number of children in poverty. When poverty indicators increase every year, along with economic growth, reality disproves the maxim that economic growth helps the poor.

As an amusing aside, the author claims that discriminating based on race is illogical, but on sex is logical if you factor in maternity costs. Gay males would therefore be the most logical choice of all to employ, a conclusion the author misses.

The author also repeats the globalization saw, that increases in overall productivity benefit everyone. Making India more productive increases our economy, because we can trade with a healthier partner. Of course, if we destroy the American Middle Class and lose our labor laws, habitable environment and civil rights in the process, the fact that shirts are cheaper isn't going to be that much of a benefit. If you don't know how all of those are related, you, like the author, haven't been paying attention to the big picture.

The author claims that interest groups are more politically effective when small, but the obvious counter examples are the Military-Industrial Complex (defense industry) and Big Oil. Detroit and Big Tobacco come to mind too, as does the garment industry. In fact, I'd have to say that overall interest groups are more politically effective when large, after all the mohair farmers didn't make the country go to war, but small ones can make gains too.

The author talks against protectionism and how we should all engage in free trade by doing what we do best, taking an example from the Lincoln Administration where Lincoln mistakenly bought American made iron rails which were more expensive than British made ones. Of course, by investing in American refining, America eventually became the best steel producers in the world, and had the manufacturing capacity to win WWII. Can you imagine renting soldiers from China because they are cheaper than American soldiers? Japan didn't start off making better cars than Detroit, and had they relied on their post-war capabilities without investment, they wouldn't be the economic powerhouse they are today. Michael Jordan has long since retired from basketball, and now needs other skills, like how to best manage his estate without getting ripped off.

It is important to plan for the future, to develop new skills and new productive abilities, rather than simply rely on the abilities currently present and risk oblivion if those abilities are not needed in the future, or you are out-competed. Which is a long-winded way of saying that relying solely on your current strengths is a recipe for disaster, and globalization is a risky business to those not already wealthy as American workers have to compete with people willing to work for far less money and social benefits. Call it a "race to the bottom" where the place that provides the most labor for the fewest costs wins. By the way, that "place" is called slavery, and currently, right now as you read this, there are 27 million people in bondage on this planet as the cheapest labor pool of all. This is the perfect world of the free market, a highly productive slave world where GDP is at record highs while most people live in abject poverty. After all, the "average" or per capita income is still good. And yes, you buy their goods and subsidize slavery. Every day. Welcome to globalization.

Trade does increase wealth for most, at the expense of the losers. Overall productivity increases through trade, but the wealth that is created tends to be concentrated at the top. In fact, a recent article showed that while productivity has increased substantially over the last century, the actual wealth of working class Americans has only increased by a small fraction of that increase. Call it "trickle up" economics. The author states that with social programs we can minimize the losses suffered, but of course we don't have many of those social programs because they cost money and in the singular pursuit of greater productivity we sacrifice all other values; instead we only have the losses by the working class and the gains by the wealthy, and a lot of cognitive dissonance regarding the American Dream.

The author admits that the free market generates winners and losers, and life admittedly is about change, but he fails to educate the reader that our economic policies should take that into consideration, and seek to benefit its citizens, including the losers, rather than leave them in the cold, to the wolves, while hoping for some future altruistic social policy that never happens. Being heartless and cruel should not be an American value, nor should it be a desired policy defended by economic free market proponents, like the author.

In general, the author has a myopic view, repeats and relies on typical economic fallacies, and shows the general pro-business bias that plagues modern US policy making. Still, it's a good introduction to economic principles, even if laden with myths, propaganda and error, and it has some good humor to it. I can't say I've found a better book on the topic.

Naked Economics is a good introduction to economics for the layman. There is no math, although personally I wish Wheelan had used some to back up some of his points or to show some issues in more depth. It is well written and easy to read. So even though the information is as useful as many textbooks, it isn't tough to understand it.

Subjects covered include: why capitalism and free markets is better than communism and state-controlled markets; how information is crucial (such as product or corporate branding and health insurance for individuals); efficiency of financial markets (why the individual is often foolish when he buys a stock after reading a tip from the newspaper); and why international trade is good even if special interest groups may oppose it due to job losses.

Readers on both the extreme left or right will be able to pick up certain issues in the book that they disagree with. They will then pick those up and attack Wheelan for being an extreme liberal or an extreme conservative. They will accuse him of not caring about U.S. jobs; they will accuse him of pandering to the environmentalists. For those readers, their mind is already made up before the read this book. For open-minded readers, this book will be very enjoyable and interesting.

Naked economics is an extraordinary account of what economics really is and how they should teach it. Unfourtunately current professors think that throwing a lot of math at you (without any intuition whatsoever) makes them look intelligent. Economics is much more fun (not necessarily easier) than solving a hundred optimization problems without any regard for the real world.
To all the people who design economics undergraduate programs in the U.S. please understand that: (1) we need something useful, (2) most of us are not going to study a ph.d., (3)we need a tool for understanding the world, not something we won't remember six months after the end of the course. What was a Lagrangean anyway?

First, I'd like to say that this book MOSTLY does what author Wheelan set out to do -- to make the science of economics understandable and exciting to the average person without an advanced math degree. Wheelan does that, for the most part. He uses real-world (and recent) examples to illustrate economic principles. The first third of the book, I could not put it down.

The only thing really that bothered me (and it is throughout the book, so I had to ding it two stars) is that the author mixes political views of people and issues that I think have no business being in an economics book. For example, he mentions having caddied on the golf course, notably for George W. Bush, "before he became the mature leader he is today." I don't begrudge him his right to his opinion, but where does that comment belong in a book explaining economics? There are a number of people who question the maturity level of Bill Clinton, but I would not put that in an economics book! You would I think if Wheelan would have tried a little harder to be evenhanded -- certainly there are things to criticize on each side, but can we please leave the personal attacks out of it? -- I would have enjoyed the book more.

Still, the book is good at explaining something I have always regarded as a foreign language.

This book is strongly influenced by liberal left ideas. For those who have an interest in learning more about economics, you're better off reading books by Mark Skousen for clear thinking, common sense, and straightforward explanations that are easy to understand. Also, Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt is excellent. This book is a good one for environmentalists and the politically liberal who believe that markets are best served when managed by the government. The author holds an MPA, the professional government bureaucrats degree.This book should be a big hit in Europe or for out-of-touch central planners, but it's not for the reader who is interested in acquiring knowledge and understanding.

The author writes well.The lense through which he views the economy is primarily libertarian.His microeconomic analysis,as long as there are no major negative externalities and/or spillover effects ,or market failures ,involved in the production and consumption of the particular product,good,or market he is talking about,is interesting.Not so when it comes to macroeconomics.Wheelan simply does not know what it was that either Adam Smith or J M Keynes actually said in their major theoretical contributions .He is ignorant.

Let's start with Adam Smith's fundamental macroconclusion,stated on pp.734-735 of the Wealth of Nations-the Invisible Hand process,i.e.,comparative advantage,the division of labor,extension of the market(national and international trade),etc., creates major undepletable negative externalities(social,political,martial,intellectual,moral)that impact practically the entire work force.

What is Smith's summary of the problem ? Smith is crystal clear:"Division of labor destroys intellectual,social,and martial virtues unless government takes pains to prevent it".(Cannan paraphrase).What is Smith's solution ?.Smith gives his solution on pp.767-768 after 40 pages of the most lucid and pungent analysis ever made by an economist.I leave this as a voluntary assignment for Wheelan to read and integrate into a later edition of his book.

How about Keynes ? Does Wheelan get Keynes right? No! He gets it all wrong-again. Wheelan makes the following claim on p.157 of his book:"The government can use fiscal policy-spending,tax cuts,or both-to " fine tune"the economy[.This] was the central insight of John Maynard Keynes...".In fact,Keynes was a life long opponent of such a policy.Nowhere in the General Theory(1936) or in any of the 30 volumes of the Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes(CWJMK) will any support be found for Wheelan's wild claim.In volume 27 of the CWJMK,pp.225-410 contain Keynes's arguments against such a policy (which were being advocated by later Nobel Memorial prize winner James Meade)are covered for the 3 years 1942-1943-1944 in England.What was Keynes's solution ? It is the same solution as given by Adam Smith-maintain low,fixed rates of interest permanently in the long run and cut off all bank loans to projectors,prodigals,and imprudent risk takers so that their leveraging behavior is prevented.This will prevent the formation of bubbles whose collapse causes major negative externality effects .

Wheelan needs to correct these errors, as well as a number of other mistakes,in a future edition.

Let me start by saying that I liked the authors tone and some of his early examples in the book were very entertaining. I didn't finish the book because I found a section that either proved that he didn't know what he was writing about (hard to believe), or that he purposely tried to deceive.

Specifically, I'm talking about the discussion on taxes. He mentions the Laffer curve, which posits that as taxes go down, revenues to the government go up. Then he states that this is not true because when tax rates were lowered in the 80's, deficits rose. These two things are unrelated. The fact is that revenues DID go up in the 80's when tax rates were lowerd. The other fact- conveniently left out of the book- is that Congress during that time managed to spend still more than the amount of revenue that was coming in.

Once I got to that point in the book I quit reading because I could no longer trust anything in it.

If you want to read an excellent book about economics, read Basic Economics: A Citizens Guide to the Economy, Revised and Expanded. It's everything that this book isn't.

This introduction to economics is a good overview of the subject, but it has its flaws. I believe that an important goal of a nontechnical book on economics is to communicate how economists think, primarily to counter news reports and other descriptions of economic matters that tend to be brimming with inaccuracies and misunderstandings of the most basic principles of economics.

The two chapters on the positive role of government in the economy are probably the best in the book. Wheelan effectively describes the many scenarios where market economics simply fails to provide the proper incentives for mutually beneficial activity. This part of the book is a nice contrast to some other economics books that sometimes seem as if they were ghost written by the Libertarian party.

However, the text, even in those two chapters, includes several statements presented as undisputed fact but which are actually open to substantial debate.

Early on, the book claims that "cigarette smoke can .. harm those who happen to be lingering nearby" without mentioning that little evidence of actual physical harm from secondhand smoke is available. However, the next paragraph does make the nice point that cigarette smokers do perform good for the rest of us: they die quicker, generally after a full working life but before collecting much Social Security. Maybe it would be a fair exchange for nonsmokers to breathe a little annoying second-hand smoke in exchange for the larger old age payments that come courtesy of the nicotine addicts among us.

Later, Wheelan says about drug couriers, "It's good to have goverment officials blocking the road when the 'entrepreneur' is carrying seven kilos of cocaine" but presents absolutely no argument as to why this is true. Many economists would feel that it is the government that should be blocked from interfering in the cocaine market. This would almost surely include the economist mentioned a mere two sentences later, Milton Friedman, who has long made clear his opposition to drug prohibition.

Finally, it is asserted without evidence that, compared to a sports car, "a college education makes a young person more productive for the rest of his or her life." I'm not sure that's true all or even most of the time. While I guess that most students learn something in college, it is also true that many college students spend substantial time, effort, and money on things like parties, sports, clubs, and other similar activities that probably don't provide a productivity benefit later, but that are simply a hell of a lot of fun.

This may sound like I'm favoring sports car-driving, cigarette smoking drug dealers over law-abiding, non-smoking college students but that's not my point. I simply mean that it would have been better had the author pointed out some of these nuances because it would help readers to think more like an economist.

I got this book up after reading the comments of Prof.Burton Malkiel of Princeton University about it. Prof.Malkiel is the author of highly acclaimed "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" (now in Seventh Edition). This is the book Prof.Malkiel wanted to write himself.

The author combines his excellent background in economics with the writing skills of a top-flight journalist. It reads like a good novel. Very hard to put down.

It leaves the reader with a better understanding of how the world works, from an economist's point of view.

Well worth the price and a place in the bookshelf. Highly recommended.

Highly recommended

Charles Wheelan has a PhD in economics and is a journalist who writes about economics. He has written a book absolutely loved by college students taking economics 101 because he has made this historically dry subject so entertaining. For Example:

Every market transaction makes all parties better off. Even Asian sweatshops have full employment because it is the best option their workers have. Antiglobalization protesters say that world trade is something imposed on third world countries by rich countries, but win/lose thinking is wrong when it comes to economics. Trade gives poor countries access to markets in the developed world and the opportunity to become richer, and the loudest complaints against the antiglobalization protesters came from the developing world. Sweatshops played an important role in the early journey out of poverty by (among others) "asian tigers" South Korea and Taiwan. Have you ever heard of American workers applauding the closing of a factory in the US? It has been suggested that the antiglobalization coalition should be renamed, "The Coalition to Keep the World's Poor People Poor."

"Naked Economics" has perhaps 200 more short examples such as the one above, taken mainly from periodicals such as the "New York Times," "The Economist," and "The Wall Street Journal." These stories will tell you things that you will immediately realize you want to know, such as why government is your friend when taken in small doses, why lawyers deserve a round of applause (but no encore, please), why the army was lucky to get that screwdriver for $500, why Bill Gates is richer than you are, why "get rich quick schemes" make you poor, why we don't need the gold standard, why the Federal Reserve Board can snub presidents...

and why politicians ignore gravity and pass economically stupid laws, how economists showed orchestras they were discriminating against women, how the homeowners on your street are a special interest group, why when economists reach a consensus on policies that would make us better off, brick walls of political opposition materialize, why there's a shortage of cabs and apartments in New York City, why free international trade always benefits all participating countries, why tariffs and import quotas always reduce standards of living, why basic economics made the collapse of the USSR inevitable, a new answer to why the chicken crossed the road, why CEO's are paid in stock options, how smokers help the rest of us, why many American Indians live in mobile homes...

and why the former USSR had two abortions for every single live birth, whether or not "supply side economics" boosts tax revenues, whether a Harvard graduate (20 years later) has earned more money than an LSU graduate, whether or not a state patrolman should utilize racial profiling, why there's a striking lack of correlation between a country's natural resources and its standard of living, why a wealthy man is one who earns $1000 /year more than his wife's sister's husband, why no one has to be poor, how to pick the shortest line at the grocery store, how presidents prevent Congress from adding pork when negotiating international trade agreements...

and why a half-million people in India are disfigured by a disease that costs three dollars to treat, which US president committed the greatest fiscal blunder, which presidential candidate said, when asked what he would do if Alan Greenspan died before finishing his term, said, "I would prop him up and put a pair of dark glasses on him," why Japan needs a stiff dose of inflation, how globalization (thus far) has brought 1.4 billion people out of poverty while the US still prospered, why excessive regulation goes hand in glove with corruption, why Argentina is the poster child for irresponsible monetary policy, and finally, whether the USDA should tell Swanson how many slices of pepperoni they should put on their frozen pizzas.

In each eloquent chapter Wheelan sounds the trumpet for the value and power of sound economic theory. I wish "Naked Economics" were required reading for every twelfth grade young adult, every college student, and especially every voter.

As long as I'm fantasizing anyway, I wish every legislator who casts a vote revealing his economic ignorance or who participates in the relentless Congressional porkfest - and that would be all of them - would be sentenced to a comfortable cubicle with good lighting until they finish reading and pass a test on "Naked Economics." Five stars for sure.

As an undergraduate, I used to find topics for potential areas for research papers from the Economist's Economics Focus section. For those uninitiated, the once-a-week, one page explinations the repetitive column provides are excellent, cursory introductions to complex economic topics, usually spawned from new research in the dismal science.

That said, Wheelan has taken that concept and spread it out over a fast-reading, entertaining 236 page book. Basic economic concepts and more complex and modern research are explained with vigor and enthusiasm. The book features no charts, functions, formulas or graphs. Nonetheless, it would prove a much better textbook for a High School or undergraduate Intro to Economics course. Better yet, it serves as an excellent review for those already initiated to the field.

Highly reccomended!

I gave this book a bad review in 2006 when I first read it. I just read it again and I kind of feel bad that I did that. Mr. Wheelan did put a lot of work into this book, and I sure as h*ll couldn't write something this good. This book is a good introduction to economics spoken in plain language. It gives numerous real-world examples, things that happened just a few years ago, so it is very current. I guess I expected a more formal treatment of the subject, but I should have just looked at the cover and the title and realized that the approach would be casual and humorous.

Economics is yet another field in which everyone has an opinion, and like (well, you know). But there is a substantial body of knowledge out there, and there is no reason for us (especially, us as voters) to be ignorant of it.

This could be read in every intro to econ class.

If you're a reader of Krugman's articles and books, but you feel like sometimes you don't really understand what he says, this will be a great book for you. Or if you just don't know about economics, this will be a great book for you.

(But after you read this book, I also recommend Krugman's writing. This book is the bird's eye view of economics, while Krugman looks at a few things in more detail.)

How does the Fed target interest rates and control money supply? I'd wondered this for quite a while, and here I got a straight answer to it.

It's recommended by several economics nobel prize winners, so its content must be solid.

This is a very good introduction to economics. The only criticism I have is that in teaching the reader to "think like an economist," Wheelan literally thinks *exclusively* like an economist.

For instance, Wheelan asserts spraying DDT, thus eliminating pests, can be good in some instances because the costs (pollution) outweigh the benefits (better economic benefits in the long run leading to reduced pollution levels eventually). Organisms, however, are notorious for building resistance, as evident with the fruit fly population explosions and the failures of modern antiboitics to keep up with the new bacterias. Taking an economic approach, an ignoring an evolutionary one, can be dangerous indeed.

Despite, this book is very good and well written and is highly recommended.

It's a good book for some (very opininated) basics on Econ. This book will make any left-wingers bristle from some of the callus things he says about trade and/or sweatshops.

Nonetheless, if you want to understand the underlying principles of Econ, this is a good book to add to your library. Just make sure to read this with a grain of salt, and maybe offset his opinions with something from the other side of the political fence.

Just as we can look back, today, at economic failures and fallacies of the past, so too will those of the future look back at the economic policies (and much else for that matter) of today and see great flaws. While I understand that this is an introductory book, and thus should not go into too much detail critiquing modern-day economic policy, I wish I at least could have gathered the sense that the author realized there are many flaws with today's mainstream economic policies. Unfortunately, I think he finds little flaw in many of the popular policies and ideas of our day that (I believe) will surely be looked at more critically in the future.

As an example, I found it especially annoying that the author kept bringing up Bill Gates, once even making the argument that we're all better off because of this man. The great irony in this is that, not only does Microsoft make money by selling something non-scarce, they've been known to use dirty, anti-competitive tactics time and time again. It's not hard to imagine how this combination can make someone rich -- at the expense of others! The author obviously has no idea that there are alternatives to this model of "proprietary software", and I'm sure many would argue, alongside me, that we'd all be better off if Microsoft never did come to power, and the open, non-proprietary model (of creating software) produced the first mainstream desktop operating system.

And whether that comment about George W. Bush being a mature world leader was made in seriousness or not... Well, the author being an economist, I would think he'd at least make mention of the outrageous deficit spending of the U.S. government.

For a more honest introduction to economics, and a critical look at many of our modern-day economic fallacies, try reading Economics in One Lesson. Economics in One Lesson doesn't have as much of the humor of Naked Economics (which isn't really funny, but makes for lighter reading), but at least it uses good logic and examples for its arguments. (Naked Economics leaves out sound arguments in many cases.)

And for some insight into the great flaws with the monetary policy of most governments in the world today, try something like this.

I have always been a strong advocate of economic literacy. If I had to recommend one book to the average American to get them to think in ways they never did before, this would be it. The writing style is clear, accessible, and even humurous. But what really stands out, as reviewers have mentioned, are the examples - tons and tons of them that people can relate to.

I cannot say enough about this gem. Freakonomics was interesting and enlightening. But Naked Economics is potentially paradigm altering.

I never attended a single class in economics, so Charles Wheelan's book, Naked Economics, was directed to people like me. The book is well-written and attention grabbing, although I sometimes felt I was being misled by the "enthusiastic school boy" style.
I couldn't agree more with the author's basic premise- that thinking in terms of incentives and disincentives is the best way to formulate policy, and that one of the most important roles of government (besides providing a minimum safety net) is to regulate these incentives to make sure that they work as intended. Although not an economist I had already thought about most of the specific ideas presented in the book, perhaps because during my 30 years in Brazil I have experienced in the flesh the effects of hyperinflation, price controls, overloaded currency and impossible bureaucratic regulations, while at the same time appreciating its public health system. I also understand the author's concern that people do not appreciate these questions enough.
That said, there were a few points I found weak in this book. Perhaps most importantly, I had hoped for a better discussion of utility. Economists readily admit that maximizing utility does not mean just maximizing personal or public wealth. Yet the book leaves totally open just what other kinds of utility there might be, and how incentives might take advantage of our search for these kinds of utility. For example, people are willing to invest enormous amounts of effort to increase their prestige or honor, and not all forms of prestige can be purchased (for example, a Noble Prize). Indeed, it may very well be that for humans "All is Vanity." But what are we vain about? - our ability to control others? The amount of material goods we consume? How much we produce? How much we help others? The book made not even a nodding gesture to these questions in the form of a citation to Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" or other literature. Worldwide, Americans are seen (unjustly from the data I've seen) as being mostly motivated by material rewards. Yet there are cultural differences here - Scandanavians, for example, generally rate higher on seeking "personal fullfilment." Where do these different values come from? How can people be enticed into seeking those types of utility we deem most worthy? What values should be encouraged and how? How can we construct incentive systems based on these values? The author often simply dismisses these questions with the "relativistic" claim that different people are all entitled to their own views and we shoujld respect this. For example, he suggests that one man may find greater utility in beating his boss over the head, than foregoing this pleasure to avoid going to jail.

Often the author cites physical well-being (measured by life-expectancy) as the clincher criterion for whether economic policies work or not. I have no qualms with that, but would also include mental well-being (measured by life-satisfaction or happiness scores), and try to get some measurement of how sustainabile different policies to increase physical and mental well-being might be. These questions have been analyzed. Do we know whether the "social indicators" used by the U.N. or other researchers actually predict physical and mental well-being? I had hoped for a review of the literature here.

One question in this line is the emphasis on the well-being of consumers at the expense of producers, and the lack of concern for "externalities" (secondary costs)here. For example, "total quality control" policies require questioning job hierarchies at frequent intervals. People (and animals) accomodate fairly well to established hierarchies, but unstable hierarchies generally create a great deal of stress. How are these social costs being measured?

One argument in the book actually made me rethink an old suggestion of mine, but I still don't have a solution, and, unfortunately, neither does the author. This is the question of how to maximize well-being when a given policy will negatively affect a small group of people, but benefit a large group - for example, farmers who might lose land for the construction of a dam, or young men threatened with being drafted into the army. I suggested that people ought to be given a yearly quota of "votes" and be allowed to invest those votes wherever they want. People most affected by a possible policy would invest a greater proportion of their votes in that question. The author shows (rightly, I think) that such a procedure would create a tremendous "tragedy of the commons" as everyone cared for their own interests to the detriment of the general good. In describing his own actions (fighting to prevent the installation of a new subway line in his neighborhood) the author simply stimulated a "shout-ocracy" in which those who make the most noise always win, and meeker people always lose out - not a good idea in my view.

There were also a few other points where I felt something was missing in the analyses. The author suggests agriculture is less productive in the tropics than in moderate climes, but does not clarify if this is productivity per hectare, per dollar invested, or per man-hour of labor, and he seems to contradict this suggestion when he mentions that the productivity of orange growing is far higher in Brazil than in the U.S.
I had also hoped for a better discussion of international exchange rates. The author simply suggests that over the long run purchasing power parity should be the same in different countries. This is obviously not the case. Why the difference? Surely assessments of political risk affect international investment decisions, which must have an effect on interest rates and exchange rates. What else is involved?
Finally, one argument was badly stated. The author suggests that countries should engage in the activity they do best. Surely this cannot be true. I'm sure the author would agree that a young man in the 99th percentile for music ability, but 60th percentile for computer skills would not be better off choosing a career in music. How does this work out internationally?

Dennis Werner

Finding good, politically unbiased and balanced econ books for the general reader and beginner isn't easy these days, since so many of the issues have become so polarized, but Wheelen keeps the political cant and rant to a minimum, so this is a good place to start. His explanations are clear and concise, well written, and often humorous.

I have a special interest in monetary theory and also international economics, which is the area where many economists think that economics puts its best foot forward, because of the theory of comparative advantage, and I enjoyed the discussions of these areas. In fact, since we're on the subject, I thought I'd discuss the monetary issues a bit more here, since they can be puzzling, although some of what I include here is info not specifically from the book, but perhaps it'll be useful, since if you understand the following, you'll actually have most of the important ideas on this interesting and important and often paradoxical economic area.

Basically, the question is what really is the value of money in a country's economy, and how do fluctuations in the value of the currency and the amount of the currency in circulation affect the overall economy? That might seem simple at first, but consider the following.

You may know the story of the hyperinflation that occurred in Germany in the post-WWII years. Germany was saddled with some serious war debts and reparations, and so the government started printing money in order to pay them off. There's even some suspicion that they did this deliberately in order to pay them off faster with inflated dollars, which royally annoyed the French, who were basically getting stiffed. Very sneaky, if true. And clever--if you can make it work. However, it's also very risky, because there are few things more ruinously inflationary than the government printing money, and eventually those pigeons usually come home to roost, which they did in the case of the German economy with a vengeance. So the situation got out of control, and soon it almost took wheelbarrows full of money to buy a loaf of bread.

However, the most interesting thing is how the German monetary authorities stopped the hyperinflation and got things back to normal. What they did was start buying back the worthless paper Deutschemarks with gold. This reduced the supply of Marks, and when people saw that they could get real gold for the paper money, they cashed in in droves. Eventually, the German Deutsche Bank, basically their Federal Reserve, pulled enough money out of circulation to get the inflation under control.

This brings up the interesting question of whether one needs gold backing for your currency. Well, in the modern world, it's no longer necessary, since countries like Japan have very little gold backing for their currency, and yet the Yen is one of the so-called "hard currencies." Contrast that with the former Soviet Union, which at least in the past had a lot of gold backing for their currency, and yet it wasn't worth much. What really determines the value of your currency in the modern international economy is it's value on the international monetary exchanges, which is basically what people will pay to buy it in order to buy your goods and exports and so on, and to do business with you, not how much gold backing it has.

But getting back to the German situation, something very similar happened here back in the early 80s when the prime interest rate hit 21%, because the government was printing money due to the Vietnam war and the deficit spending of the late 60's and 70's. With that level of inflation per year, funny things start happening. For example, it's in the interest of capital-intensive industries or businesses requiring large on-hand inventories--such as retail stores or firms selling big-ticket equipment items and so on--to buy as much inventory as possible on credit, and then to pay the debt off with increasingly inflated dollars, which reduces your overall cost--essentially, not so different from what the Germans were doing.

This might sound strange since you're talking about the "price" or cost of money and how inflation affects it, but inflation has the interesting effect of making future money payments less expensive to the borrower, so they have a vested interest in loading up on goods on credit and then paying it off over time. The longer the horizon or loan term the better they make out as long as inflation continues.

In other words, with inflation running at 21%, in two years, the business paying back the loan gets a 42% discount on their cost of capital, assuming the interest rate is fixed, which is usually the case in business loans or at least businesses with good credit. Of course, lenders such as banks and savings and loans know about these tricks but surprisingly, there's very little they can do to hedge and protect themselves. This is one reason so many savings and loans went out of business back in the 80's.

Now all of this might make inflation sound like the ultimate economic evil, but actually, and here's another odd fact about monetary economics--the reverse situation is actually worse--which is known as deflation. Recessions usually don't go into serious deflation, but a real bona fide depression will. This is what is really happening in a depression.

In the case of a serious depression or deflationary spiral, the money supply contracts to the point where the total amount of money circulating isn't enough to keep the economic wheels of the country greased and operating smoothly thru what is known as the bank reserve ratio and negative multiplier effect. In other words, there is a systemic shortage of liquidity. Unfortunately, this situation is extremely difficult to correct, much more so than the inflationary situation.

That's because with interest rates falling and/or very low, no-one has any incentive to lend dollars since, as in the case during the Great Depression, banks get their money from private depositors, and with banks failing, and interest rates at almost zero, no one has any incentive to put the money in the bank if the bank might fail, or if the business that took out the loan could go bankrupt and fail, as many do during depressions. So people stuff it in the proverbial mattress. Hence, there's no money to lend, and so businesses which depend on loans and outside financing (which is about 99% of big and medium size businesses in the U.S.) can't get the money to operate and the economy grinds to a standstill. The government can even print all the money it wants, but nothing happens, since the prime lenders don't want to borrow the money at the so-called Federal Reserve Discount Window and pass it on to borrowers and risk losing it for some measly return and interest rate. In other words, the risk/reward ratio just isn't worth it.

To give you a better perspective on this, I can give you a fascinating fact. The average person tends to think of the stock market as synonymous with the overall economy, because it gets all the press and publicity, and that's true to some extent, but the truth is the bond markets operating behind the scenes which get much less press and attention (well, bonds are pretty boring compared to stocks) are actually ten times the size of the stock market and have a much greater impact than even the stock market on the overall economy. With no money to lend for loans and bonds, the economy grinds to a stop, until someone like the government "primes the pump" to restart it, the policy mechanism that the great economist, John Maynard Keynes, became famous for explaining, among other things. That's what happened back in the 1930's, but we really had to wait for the huge government spending of WWII to turn the situation around.

So during deflation, money is tight and scarce, but the value of the currency keeps going up--just the reverse of inflation. So those who have money have more than they had before. But since deflation causes serious unemployment and underemployment and poverty, most people don't have excess dollars, so they're still poor. So you just can't win. That's why economics is sometimes called "the dismal science." :-)

If this all sounds strange, just think of what happens with a resource or a commodity when there's a shortage of supply--such as with oil right now--it goes up in price, right? That's just normal supply and demand. Same thing in deflation. With a shortage in the supply of greenbacks, the value goes up just like in the case of any material good, except it's confusing to think of lots of money causing a lack of purchasing power as in the case of inflation, and a lack of money creating more purchasing power as in the case of deflation. In practical terms, the dollar's worth more--but no-one is spending them! Hence, paradoxically, money is worth more in a stagnant economy where no one has any incentive to spend it. You might wonder how something can be worth more when no one wants it, since, in most cases, what determines the value of something is the demand for it, but this is where monetary theory parts with normal intuition and common sense about how supply and demand should work, and that's just the way it is.

Anyway, that's not a bad little summary of monetary economics. If you understand that you actually have most of the important points. As you can see, it's strange stuff in some ways, but fun once you get the hang of it since it is powerful and explains some puzzling issues.

Now I understand what I studied while getting two degrees in economics. If Wheelan had written the book before he was born (my bachelor's degree from Yale was in 1962), unquestionably I would have experienced better grades.

I thought this was a very good introduction to economics for the layman. Wheelan purports to explain the subject without all the mind-numbing charts and economics jargon and he succeeds in doing just that. My initial reaction to the book was that Wheelan was merely an apologist for unfettered capitalism but it turned out to be a relatively objective work. He gives both sides of the story so to speak, and concludes that government is important to a healthy economy, as long as it is used judiciously. For instance, on page 51 he flatly states; "Anyone who tells you that markets left to their own devices will always lead to socially beneficial outcomes is talking utter nonsense." He points out how most developing countries would love to have the bureaucracy that we have, and this lack of effective government is what keeps many nations from prospering. Of course, this goes both ways as he also describes the damage done by excessive government regulation, as witnessed by states like North Korea. He argues against the allures of protectionism and emphasizes the importance of international trade, for rich and poor countries alike. Besides the relationship between government and economies, the author tackles all the major aspects of economics such as how the financial markets work, the difference between monetary and fiscal policy, the Federal Reserve, inflation, human capital, currency, externalities and so on. His analysis of "creative destruction" can be summed up by the following; "It would have been one thing to help displaced Pony Express workers by retraining them as telegraph operators; it would have been quite another to help them by banning the telegraph." He's actually quite humorous at times also; "Any thoughtful policy analyst knows that some individuals who wear spandex in public should be taxed, if not jailed."

Wheelan makes no secret that capitalism is an amoral system that often leaves short-term damage in its wake. He insists though, that in the long-term it is the best system around, hands down. He makes some interesting points about international trade and globalization, pointing out that those who oppose it, often do more harm to the very people they intend to protect. For instance, he claims that Third World sweatshops, while deplorable by Western standards, are often the best option that some people have, and that they are a necessary step in the process toward industrialization. He claims that any attempt to boycott or otherwise oppose these conditions would simply force these places to shut down, condemning the workers to even worse prospects. My only criticism of this argument, and maybe I'm naïve, is that this seems a bit too "all or nothing." It seems hard for me to believe that any effort to enforce better working conditions would automatically put these places out of business. Isn't there a middle road here?

One thing I did notice was that Wheelan states early on that capitalism is not a zero-sum game, meaning that my wealth does not depend on someone else's poverty. Then, later in the book he says that there is a finite amount of capital in the world and the more in the hands of government, the less for the rest of us. Either I'm missing something or this is a contradiction. Other than that, I enjoyed the book greatly and actually feel more knowledgeable on the subject than before I started. Economics has always frustrated me but the author explained it in a way that even a meathead like myself could understand. Wheelan also accomplished something I heretofore thought impossible; he actually made economics interesting! 4.5 stars.

I read this and my mind run back to my University of Chicago study time, and I appreciate more of the people who can teach coplexities into something interesting. Now i have a great book to recommend layman who are willing to dwelve deeper into the logics of economics.

I believe this book should be made a mandatory reading for college and MBA students. It shows economics in the simple way and stripped out all the numbers and hard stuffs without losing the essense.

We all can learn about Markets, Incentives, Utility, Goverment, human Capital, Financial Market, Federal Reserve (What does Alan Greenspan actually do?), Trade and Globalisation. We can booste to our friends that we know all that, and we can do it all without sweat, blood and pains. It even feels sweet and enjoyable.

If you want to know about economics, this book is the perfect introduction, and will give you much more understanding than spending the entire year sitting in the room with a boring econ proffessor. And the knowlege you gain will stay with you for a long time giving a deeper understanding how the world of economics make the world a better place to be, even that it will never be a perfect world.

tanadi santoso, www.tanadisantoso.com, surabaya, indonesia

I recommend this book, not because I agreed with everything the author wrote, but because I agreed with much and disagreed with just as much -- in other words, it's balanced.

For example, the author acts as an apologist for the existence of child-labor and sweatshops in developing countries (he seems to believe that we should accept that either sweatshop jobs or no jobs at all are the only two realistic options for many developing countries), implies that teacher unions (i.e. teachers) are primarily responsible for hurting public education, misrepresents the positions of most who protest the WTO, and side-steps potentially harmful effects on economic growth caused by significant inequalities in distributions of income. Published in 2002, he also confidently states (or implies) that a rising tide lifts all boats (contrary to this assertion, since this book was published, we've seen our economy grow while the poverty rate have risen and real incomes have remained flat for most Americans).

At the same time, this author advocates market incentives to reduce carbon output, is a strong advocate of free trade (not to be confused with "fair" trade), recognizes that without government intervention, business is financially motivated to pass external costs (i.e. externalities) onto outside parties (ex: to save money, a factory might spill waste into a river leading to "externalities" such as costs and suffering arising out of unusually high rates of cancer and birth defects in nearby communities), is a strong advocate for providing economic aid to developing countries and recognizes that government has an important and necessary role to play in order to maintain a productive free market economy. He writes, "Economics can move us beyond the inane debate over 'big government' versus 'small government'... It is about what government should and should not be doing."

Despite my numerous head nods while reading this book, in both directions, I learned a lot - a whole lot. This extremely readable book really made me think, and it wet my appetite for even more books on the subject. Most importantly, I feel that I'm a better informed citizen/voter. I highly recommend "Naked Economics".

This fantastic book contains an incredible wealth of information, but is written in an engaging style that makes the concepts seem intuitive and relevant. Open this book to any random page and you will find a great deal of highly readable information and concepts. Wheeler manages to elucidate many of the key concepts of economics, sacrificing little in the way of depth (at least for the lay reader) while tying many of the ideas together and conveying a level of excitement for the subject that is laudable.

Finally, perhaps the most impressive aspect of this book (can you tell how much I loved it?) is how balanced it is. Wheeler sidesteps the common tendency to simply pick a side and add to the noisiness of the tired left-right debates over free markets, globalization, and the like. Instead, he examines contentious issues in a way that highlights their complexity and the inherent tradeoffs in any position, while making these potentially confusing issues seem startlingly clear.

I guess i'm a fairly typical college student along the way i took microeconomics. And as it's pointed out in the book most students just barely get through. I thought some things in the class were pretty interesting, but the graphs and math were boring.

Wheelan understands most people would rather have a root canal than read an economics book full of numbers and equations.

Thats whats so incredible about this book. It takes all the cool things about economics and explains them in plain english. He still uses econ terms, but uses easy to understand examples. He covers an incredible range of issues. From basic microecomics, markets, competition, incentives. To macroeconomic issues, interest rates and global markets. He explains how currency markets work which i finally understand now. Also he puts to rest the kind of protectionist rhetoric heard from the likes of Lou Dobbs. His arguments on using trade to end poverty are hard to ignore. Make no mistake he is a free market capitalist, but he's ideology is not totally laize faire and is more attune to "The Economist" newspaper and Thomas Friedman. This book is very informative to the general public and easy to understand. His comments and anologies are very funny.

I espically liked the section on trade making everone collectivly better off. Though if you're already anti-globalization you won't like his comments on the seattle WTO protestors.

He cites an endless aray of nobel prize winners most i've never heard of. Also he quotes Paul Krugman and Milton Friedman who are more known to me.

The only problem with the book is that it's rather short, the index takes up many pages. I wish he'd made the book a little longer to expand more questions i had on these issues. All in all a great read that was so fun i couldn't put it down. Highly recomended.

Today is a great day to review this book. Although I read it last year, France just announced that it is bailing on the 35 hour work-week. I suppose that are going back to the 39 hour week. See Wheelan's introduction where he predicted this would happen, then go to page 104 to read about why.
Another reviewer stated that you will not get quotes or figures out of this book to impress your friends. I wholeheartedly disagree. First, the anecdote about job creation on page 104 is enough reason to buy the book. Second, the reference to Paul Krugman's 2001 NY Times article is definitely worth repeating: In 1993 child workers in Bangladesh were found producing clothes for Wal-Mart. Senator Tom Harkin (D, Iowa) proposed legislation that would ban imports which employed child labor. The factories stopped employing children but the kids did not go back to school - they ended up in worse jobs, on the streets, with a significant number turning to prostitution; according to Oxfam. Admittedly, Harkin had the best intentions but this is what you get from this book, things to think about.

After reading economic books by Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell, I find Naked Economics to be a more balanced explaination of economics. Though I believe good economic sense are more relevant to the conservative viewpoint. This book makes you ponder as too how much we as a society are willing to let the 'creative destruction' victims fall behind in the name of progress.

I really hope more people would read into economics, because in the long run, it's the greater poor population will benefit more through capatilistic methods. Though it will be harsh for some groups who loses their jobs. Whether it's through replacing human hands with robotics or outsourcing for cheaper labor, it ultimately advances our productivity.

This book answers a lot of questions very relevant to today's current events. All the outcry about US outsourcing jobs. The author puts forward a great question, "Whould it be better for the US if trade weren't allow across the Mississippi River?" I think you could even go further on that question, "Would it be better if each state weren't allow to trade across it's border?" Many would realize the answer is no, but yet, there is such an outcry on outsourcing? It's call lobbying by special interest.

Great book, and very easy read.

As an Undergrad working towards an Economics degree, I decided to pick up Charles Wheelan's "naked economics" as some light reading, and to take another look at the basics of the study, which is sometimes lost in the memorization of equations and mathematics that are inherent in introductory Economics. Wheelan's book is an excellent reminder of why I love Economics, and a great introduction for anyone who wants to know a little bit more about the economy. It also offers excellent insight into the arena of politics vs. economics. I firmly believe that this book should be required reading for anyone taking first year Economics, and anyone else that is at all interested in economics. Anyone who claims to have an interest in politics should also read this book, as the ties between the two are so deep that you truly cannot understand political decisions without understanding the economics behind them (and vice versa). Anyone looking for further reading, "Applied Economics" by Thomas Sowell is another excellent book that looks at some very interesting policy issues, and I also highly recommend it.

Mr. Wheelan gives us a short course for Eco 101 and 102 in this straight forward easy to understand book. His often humorous approach should be used more by the real text book writers. Heck, this could be used as a basic economics textbook! A must read for anybody interested in what makes an economy tick. A couple of years old now but still a good read.

If you are like me, who has never studied Economics or never liked this subject, then this is the book you would like to READ.

Its an eye opener, it has changed my thought process and I am sure it can help people who have never studied this subject.

I liked Charles style and he has quoted good examples and makes me feel that its an easy world and what is the role of economy and ecomist.

On a side note: Interesnting fact- In my discussions I have started quoting examples from this book :-).

This book explains how the world works, and in some cases how it doesn't work. Tons of topics are covered from free markets to the role of governments to international trade to the price of your health insurance to the stock market to the federal reserve and more.

It is written in a very entertaining and highly accessible way so that non-economic majors (like me) can easily grasp all the concepts. Many interesting real-world stories and examples are given that help you understand economic principles.

After reading this book, be prepared to re-evaluate any negative views you may have about outsourcing, sweatshops, wal-mart, expensive prescription drugs, insurance companies, high gas prices, and much more.

Understanding economics makes you appreciate more the standard of living we enjoy today and makes you complain less about life. You may not understand what I mean until after you read this book or similar books.

If you enjoy this book, you will probably like "Undercover Economist" which also does a good job covering many of the same topics but is a little more dense. If you were disappointed by "Freakonomics" because it didn't really delve into economic theory, then read "Naked".

I am a college student who recently undertook the major of economics. Going into it I had my doubts. I heard whispers of the subject being dry and relatively uninteresting. Not one to drive blind, I decided to read up on the subject and stumbled on this book.

The book is keenly written and tackles interesting life subjects that are frowned upon by the average college economics book. This is the best of both worlds because one actually will want to read this book AND learn all the terms and nuances of economics that would be found in a text book.

By an means, if you are interested in econ, or are looking for a reason to be interested in it, read this book. It is sizzle.

Like "The Undercover Economist" by Tim Harford, I enjoyed Mr. Wheelan's book and found it both entertaining and educational in a way that an Econ 101 textbook filled with confusing graphs, curves, and shifts is not.

Both books coincidentally use a number of the same examples to explain economic concepts:
1) Starbucks coffee
2) Mohair subsidy
3) Leprosy cure

After reading several books by economists, some things are certain. Many economists
1) Reiterate what other economists have already said.
2) Use the phrases "seminal work" or "seminal study".
3) Refer to famous (within the circle of economists) economists, particular those who win a Nobel Prize for Economics.
4) Advertise other authors' books.

What is not certain is whether economists do anything that improves the economy, other than write books that talk about other economists that write books.

Layman's approach to economic theory.

You'll hear a bunch of suits here on the Amazon site yapping about how "basic" the book is.

Basic it may be, but it gets the job done.

I've read tons of econ books, abstruse ones and enjoyable ones alike.

This one fits in the second camp, yes, but you'll finish it feeling refreshed and fit to see the financial universe in a new light.

Other books you should check out -- Lester Thurow's "Economics Explained" and -- if you have a bit more time -- I highly recommend the "Portable MBA in Economics."

Wheelan's book is as good an introduction to economics as I've seen. Each chapter exposes the reader to a major topic in economic theory: markets, incentives, globalization, etc. The presentation is entirely conceptual. There are no graphs or charts and no mathematics. The virtues here are clarity, simplicity and, in general, no grating ideological agenda. Wheelan strongly advocates free markets but never hesitates to identify potential sources of market failure.

I have only two substantial criticisms. First, his chapter on the Federal Reserve reads more like a love sonnet for Alan Greenspan than an objective discussion. At least some attention to the Austrian School position -- even in a basic text such as this one -- would be appropriate. This is admittedly a difficult subject to review in fewer than twenty pages but his treatment could be more balanced.

Second, there are no suggestions for further reading. Often the most useful feature of an introductory work is guidance to the next level. The absence of such direction in Naked Economics is both puzzling and unfortunate.

Notwithstanding the above, if you have never made a serious effort to understand the basics of economics this would be an excellent place to start.

This book is really the most enjoyable economics book I ever read! It takes you beyond the graphs and teaches you the practical way of understanding what economics is all about. It is very lively and full of examples which are real and which are all around us everyday. Even a person who hasn't got a clue about eceonomics can go deep into the subject without even realizing. I was supposed to read the first two chapters on a plane but I couldn't stop until I finished it. Thanks to Charles Wheelen for making life and economics easier!!

This small book is a great introduction to economics in a non text book format. The author's language is fluid and readable, not like a boring, stuffy textbook. He discusses everything from trade, inflation, fed rates, and the role of government. Sometimes informative, this book assumes hardly any economic knowledge from the reader, so it's really a beginner's book to economics. Anyone who took a simple economics course would probably not need to read big chunks of this.

Even though simplistic, it is a quick and fun read and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get in on the ground floor. In the realm of few non-academic economics book, this book is probably the best. For example, it's definitely better than "The Armchair Economist".

This book is perfect for those with little understanding of economics. The author does a fine job of using humor to convey economic theory. He also provides much historic evidence to demonstrate various economic principles discussed in the book. There are plenty of books which serve as an intrduction to economics, this book however stands out because it is such an easy read. I recomend this book to anyone looking for a book to provide them with a basic understanding of economics without the work. Although he seems to have more of a neo-liberal approach to economics, I'm impressed that praises libertarian thinkers such as Friedman and Gary Becker as well as more keynesian type economists such as Krugman and Ackerlof. Most books on economists lack this balance.

I think the author should have spent more time discussing supply side economics. He briefly discusses the laffer curve but immediately dismisses it as a failure. If you closely examine the Reagan tax cuts you will find the national deficit was caused by spending, not the tax cuts. The heavy tax cuts did not increase federal revenue but did stimulate the economy.

Both informative and interesting. I went from clueless to well-informed in one week.

I highly recommend to anyone who never took an Economics class, yet would like to know what it's all about.

My apologies for sounding like a bad infomercial, but the book is that good!

Economics is a point of view to see society and life, rather than just figures and graphs. This book illustrates most basic principle of economics in a lively way, from micro to macro. Updated examples throughout the book, is a great introduction for people who first read economics. It's also a good refresh for those who study economics in school and forget most of it already.

As a foreigner, I would say some examples are in local American life style, which is a bit difficult for me to found familiarity.

Overall I thought some of the analysis was incorrect as the author allows for government intervention more than is logically (or empirically) necessary. Overall it is a good book, but not as good as Free to Choose, Basic Economics, or Economics in One Lesson. Nevertheless, I wish more liberals read the book so they can learn about positive side about free markets.

Wheelan uses fun, relevant, and interesting examples and applications of classic economic theories to help readers make sense of the "dismal science." Makes this book an enjoyable read - one that you may even recommend to friends.

Don't look to it if you are seeking a comprehensive beginner's knowledge of economic theory or even learning that you will really be able to apply. You would probably need to accompany it with a more formal text or class in order to make it really stick.

This is a very good book on economics . It does what it promises. It teaches the basic concepts of economics without graphs or formulas. Sometimes it even says how the concept he is explaining is know in the standard literature.
The author could be classified as belonging to the liberal school of economics. However it is a different breeding. For instance he recognizes the suffering caused to people when they are replaced by other more efficient producers.It even proposes solutions!!
There is an annoying error in the book. The author condemn the subsidy given by the US government to producers of ethanol from corn to be added to Gas. Do be against the subside is Ok But to say that the ethanol is not efficient and that it produces more pollution is wrong. The author at this point got carried away

I thoroughly enjoyed this book on economics that portrays the subject in a down-to-earth and a humorous way. You will not only understand economics better, read about the author's points of view, but also get interested and want to learn more about economics, which is what the author intends exactly. You don't have to agree with everything he says, as it is his opinion, but in order to have your own point of view, you need to understand what he's talking about. And Mr. Wheelan explains it to you very well. You will enjoy reading a non-fiction economics book as if it were your favourite novel, or biography, or a history textbook. It encompasses aspects of everyday life and relates them to economics, which is the only science that can explain the current world order. If you are new to economics, you will learn a lot more than in Econ 101. If you are not--hey, you'll enjoy reading about the opinions of an economist who knows his stuff. Either way, judge for yourself, but don't pass it up. You'll be kept interested and entertained, trust me.

As I went through the book I was wonderstruck at how the author was able to pack so many powerful ideas and concepts into a single book ...and yet keep it so interesting.

I'm not officially an economist, but have read tome after tome, invested, etc. This book was very refreshing because it takes what I know and expresses it in a new way. It takes what I should know, after all those other books, and tells it in a way that my brain understands.

Maybe I can get other folks in the house to read parts and get some clue about cash. Regardless, I now have a whole new set of dinner table sound bites that might stick in a kid's head.

I feel like Milton Friedman after reading this book! I only wish my Econ courses in college had been as interesting and useful.

Wheelan has done what no one else seems to have been able to do: write a non-technical economics book that avoids the fatal flaws of many others in the genre, presents all of the major areas of economics, does not insult the adult learner, and keeps the reader's attention from cover to cover. As an economics instructor at the principles through graduate level, I've searched high and low for such a book, and finally found in "Naked Economics" one that passes all of my screens. First, there are no graphs or formulas. Yet Wheelan has been able to capture virtually all of the basic lessons that are found in entry-level econ texts. The book covers micro, macro, monetary, labor and global economics. There are a number of fine non-technical econ. books on the market that focus on microeconomics (David Friedman, "Hidden Order" being one example), but have little to say about macro-, monetary or international economics, except in passing. Also, Wheelan offers brief but sound economic advice on personal investing. Thirdly, the book is politically well balanced. Neither the right nor the left get off scott-free, as Wheelan picks apart each side's weaknesses yet gives credit where sound economics supports a particular position. This aspect alone leaves it head and shoulders above its competitors, which in many cases are more polemics than economics. Wheelan is an economic journalist with a Ph.D., and happily, it shows. He weaves economic lessons with daily life and world events so smoothly that the reader is unaware that he or she has been learning the dismal science. Economics text writers can take a lesson from him.

Wheelan does a great job in explaining the fundamentals in the easy-funny style that The Economist practices so well. Even people who have done economics courses will find this useful in putting together all the pieces.

I don't mind the very few instances of politics in the book. Opinion is good, whether you like it or not, as long as it doesn't drown out the main message.

I got this book based on a recommendation of a friend. I wanted to understand economics further since I'm pursuing my Master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning, emphasizing on economic development and downtown revitalization. Needless to say, I enjoyed the frankness of the author in explaining economics and the topics worked together with what little I remember from taking Macroeconomics back in college. It is also easy to digest in small bits so you don't have to feel obligated to read every day in order to understand how everything links together.

Of course it is only January 5th today -- so Naked Economics is actually the best book I've read in over a year!

I generally only post Amazon reviews if a book is either terrible or outstanding -- this book is definitely the latter. Outstanding, excellent, educational, informative, entertaining, funny, and impossible-to-put-down are just a few adjectives for it. It has opened my eyes and sparked my interest in a field I had heretofore thought boring, esoteric, and irrelevant. Charles Wheelan has masterfully showed how wrong I was. It is rare -- perhaps once a year or so -- that I read a book that alters the course and direction and outlook of my life... that every so slightly deviates my life line a bit in a new and refreshing way. A few I can recall are Rich Dad,Poor Dad, How to be a Billionaire: Proven Strategies from the Titans of Wealth, and Complete Guide to Verbal Manipulation.

Don't think: Read this book!

For those with or without a background in economics, Wheelan puts all the pieces of the puzzle together with sound reasoning and an entertaining style that makes you WANT to read about Economics. This is a great book for the layman who wants to get an overview of how the world of economics works without all the graphs, charts and formulas. It is also a great book for those studying economics who want a better picture of how all the pieces fit together and many of the social issues associated with those pieces. Having finished two graduate courses in economics I still found Wheelan better able to explain the basic concepts more completely which made focused study of those concepts easier.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I congratulate the author on writing a book that educates the reader while delivering an entertaining read. I found the "Development Economics: The Wealth and Poverty of Nations" chapter most enjoyable. As a math enthusiast, I wasn't sure an economics book without charts and equations would be worth reading. I was wrong, and would recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn about the science of economics.

If you're taking micro econ, read this book. If you're taking macro econ, read this book. Taking econ in school is kind of lame, but this book will help you understand some of the concepts talked about in the introductory econ classes. It should convince you take further your study in econ, maybe not, but it could. I wished I had this book when I was taking econ I and II. I had a goal of wanting to think more economically, and with this book, I have begun to do that.

I not only learned a lot from this book but I enjoyed it thoroughly. It took a lot of the information that I already knew from high school economics (which was 7 years ago) and watching the news and helped combine them with each other and fill me in on why they are important.
And as I mentioned earlier, I enjoyed it. I smiled, I laughed, and I read this book instead of my books for school.
So, if you are interested in economics but still want to be cool, check this out.

I used to hate math in school and have always been afraid of graphs.
For some reason I always thought Economics is really important and was sad that maybe I am not smart enough to understand it. No No No. This book really explains Economics in Plain language. It is so well written, it is actually even funny at times. The writer discusses all different aspects of Economics and even gets to Investing towards the end. This book made me check The Wall Street Journal on a daily basis and I actually enjoy it.
I think this book should be a must-read for all High School students.
It is an absolutely essential read. 11 out of 10!!!

I was advised to read this book for one of my classes at grad school, and really enjoyed it. I found it really enlightening and helped understand economic concepts much better. It was also an entertaining read, which is obviously surprising as it's all about economics!

The best part about reading books by journalists is the readability. In a book on economics, which I neglected to study in college, this is the most important factor. Wheelan breezes through developmental economics, monetary policy and the various aspects of the stock market in about 8 hours of reading. My understanding of economics has been greatly enhanced by this quick read, great in clips of about 60 pages at a time. I've wanted to read a book like this for about 3 years and have truly benefitted from the experience. I highly recommend this book.

This is an entertaining book that does a good job introducing economic concepts. What I liked most about the book was how balanced it was. It is hard to find a book on economics or political economy that is even close to balanced. I think the reviewers who complain about the bias in this book (conservative or liberal) are professing their own bias.

...although it would be more accurate to say that this is "the one and only economics book I have ever enjoyed...and finished."

I cannot speak highly enough about this book. It is actually fun to read! It doesn't look like a calculus text when you open it up! It's about theory, not formulas, and it's not theory in the boring "dusty tome" sort of way, it's theory that makes you see patterns emerge from your mundane morning routines to the headlines in the global section of the NY Times. Also, there are even jokes.

Economics - math emphasis + a sense of humor = total freaking awesomeness.

Maybe the best introduction to econommics you can read. If you teach economics, consider using this as your textbook. It is an espeically helpful book if you wish to use current events, as there are plenty of examples of economic principles in action used in the book. As a matter of fact, most, if not all, economic concepts are explained narratively. The section on imperfect information is simply fascinating. His discussion of the hope scholarships and the market for lemons (used cars....) is simply amazing.

I have read this book. I have read it a lot. It is good. A Real winner in a world full of lame books Oprah pretends to read for the benefit of her blubbering audience members.

I'm an economics major in college, and I read this for my Intermediate Microeconomic Theory class. While the class was scary, this book certainly isn't. Mr. Wheelan has put together many basic ideas about economics in a well-made, easy to read style. Even though I'm an econ major, I didn't have to know anything about economics to understand this book.
Wheelan is also careful to present both sides of an economic argument. He understands that there are very few clear-cut solutions in economics, and while a couple of his thoughts may seem a tad politically controversial (i.e. globalization and outsourcing), all of his arguments are based in educated analysis and facts.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in knowing how the world and its money works. Wheelan's book provides a great set of basic ideas on how our country's and the world's transactions are affecting everything around us, and it does so in an entertaining, interesting way.

The answer is..you do. The older you get the more important it becomes to understand how economics plays an important role in your life. This book provides a very good overview about macro economics and offers tidbits throughout the book about how those macros affect you at the micro level. Overall...good book.

I picked this book out of the bookshelf in a public library, purely by chance, yet got fascinated by it. It explains basic economic idea in the context of public policy making process. I think this is a basic book that everyone should read. Read this this and then discuss whatever politics you want. Public policy fails all the time if it does not comform to the market force.

Insightful and entertaining this book took a very complex set of issues and dilemmas and distilled them to a basic and understandable form. Realistic and meaningful observation and analogies to everyday situations make this a good read for those who want a better understanding of the fundamentals of how our global economy works.

I have always wanted to understand fundamental economic ideas without all the statistics and other junk. This book was exactly what I wanted. It explains important economic theories in easy to understand ways. At the end of the book it also explains how the Federal Reserve can influence the economy. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants an overview of how capitalistic market economies work.

This book was a good introduction to economics and what this social science does, and tries to do. In fact, due to this book, I was able to learn exactly how the Federal Reserve Board actually fixes the nation's interest rate (I had always just figured that they just get together and decide, "O.K., this month it's 5%" and that was that; however, it is more involved that this and this book explain it clearly).

This book aims to be a good, generally overview to economics to 1) people who haven't learned anything about it before (for example, high school students), and/or 2) people who have studied it before but couldn't/don't remember what they were taught (I think I barely passed Intro. to Macroeconomics as an undergrad). I did learn by reading this book, but....

There are several typographical errors in this book. It seems like maybe it was rushed to the printer's without adequate proofreading (someone could have at least proofread this ONE time!).

Also, there are often times where the author is focusing on one point throughout a paragraph, but then suddenly introduces a barely related point as the final sentence of the paragraph. A few times, I was left re-reading the paragraph and the offending sentence and trying to piece together if there was actually a relationship, or if there was some type of typographical error, or why in fact that weird sentence was actually there.

I rated this 3 stars, and that is better the 2 stars or 1 star, but this book needs to be revised (hopefully an economist).

Compared to this book, I would recommend "Freakonomics."

If I could give one book to every US Senator and Congressman and make them read it, this would be the book. It is amazing how many people do not understand simple concepts like supply and demand. This book put economics in words even a politician could understand. It is a must read if you find economics confusing. It has no math or statistics. I would call it Synoptic Economics.

If you think economics is a mysterious or unapproachable subject, I believe you'll find that the author is able to introduce, explain and illustrate many economic principles without jargon or complex terminology. After I read it I found myself noticing more how economics shapes our world. And I wanted to learn more about economics, and have in fact read more, including New Ideas from Dead Economists.

I read this book to refresh myself on the principles of Economics and this book did just that. It provides a lot of world examples and quotes from a lot of very intelligent economist around the world. Overall, this book is a great read for anyone interested in learning about economics in a non-repetitive way.

This book is extremely fascinating. It has no graphs or complex formulas but rather a discussion of economics that is, well, socially revealing!

A great work by a diversely enthusiastic economist. Wheelen takes a light look at different economic systems and places them in an unassuming spotlight. Interesting and informative; a great read for anyone who has ever questioned, well, anything.

A was extremely pleasantly suprised by this book which is a very good way of discovering what Economics is really about, without having to be a math expert.

This book won't leave you with crafty quotes or statistics to impress people at a cocktail party (although there are actually some interesting statistics within.) But for the ordinary person trying to make some sense of the major news headlines of the day (global trade, right vs. left, taxes, the environment, etc...) this book should leave you with a better basis to form your own reasoned opinion. You can decide which is more important.

What Wheeler explains is that economics doesn't in and of itself argue anything. What it does is provide a tool for understanding the impact and mechanisms of various choices we make in the world. Similarly, Wheeler's goal is not to argue for more or less taxes, for free trade or for protectionism, but help the reader understand all the implications and effects (gooad and bad) of different policies and economic systems.

You do not have to be of any particular political persuasion to find value in this book (rare in this day and age of red vs. blue.)

For these reasons and more, I think this book would serve as excellent material for a introductory economics class (HS or college.) In addition to going over some basic economic principles, it provide excellent context for why economics is important, rather than going headlong into guns vs. butter charts (which are also important, but can leave students disinterested and apathetic.) Alternatively, if you have a child in high school or college who is beginning to take such classes or is simply developing a greater interest in news and current events, I would highly recommend you order a copy of Naked Economics for them. It should leave them with a clearer perspective in which to try to make sense of the world today.

this is the third book on economics that i have read, and is the best so far. principles of economics such as trade, government's role, the FED, globilization, are all explained simply and clearly, enough to the point that i can see and apply some of the economic principles in my everyday actions. the author uses examples for all his points, and although everything is explained enough so an average high school student can understand, it is not dumbed down in any way. the best part was, the whole book is interesting. Wheelan writes with humor and his enthusiasm for the subject comes through. it is in no way a dry book, he actually makes economics interesting. i would reccommend this book to anyone interested in learning basic economic principles.

I'm a recovering Psychology major who only had one statistics course in college: and that was a math for dummies.

This is for all those people who can't do equations in their minds. I've always been facinated by economics, but it always seemed so dry and unappealing and eye-crossing.

I've been looking for an econ-for-dummies book for years. Thank you, Mr. Wheelan!!!

For those that have not yet had the chance to be exposed to or do not completely understand the fundamental principals that govern the world's economy, Naked Economics presents simply, elegantly and with numerous examples, the basic principals which can cause an economic explosion to turn into a depression or vice-versa. Though, as Wheelan states a number of times through the book, economics may not have all of the answers, it can certainly help us understand what the right questions to be asking in a particular situation are.

The book explains important economic concepts such as externalities (when a person or group does not pay fully for the economic, social, etc. costs of their actions) and resource valuation, but more importantly applies them to real-world situations (why is Bill Gates' house bigger then mine?; why do pour countries seem to get pourer?)

The book is written as a dialog between author and writer and avoids confusing matters by presenting equations and charts. Instead, concepts are explained and applied making the book accessible to those with virtually no knowledge of economics.

If you are interested in knowing more about economics and how it effects the world around you or if you need a bigger-picture overview to help with understanding specific areas of economic study, this book is for you.

I've never thought "the dismal science" a fitting nickname for economics. (This may be because my AP economics teacher describes price as supply and demand's love child, and lets fourth period order pizza twice a week.) I went into this book already knowing quite a bit about subject and liking it. He touched on a lot of concepts I wasn't familiar with, and made interesting points about those I was. He made what had been a bunch abstract theories, graphs, and formulas connect to my life, here, on this planet. The book is also tremendously enjoyable to read.

The two things that can be said about this book was that it is totally tractable and a pleasure to read. While the author does interject personal life experiences and biases, it doesn't distract from the subject. One cannot truly talk about economics without talking about politics. So, if you're looking for some rehash of typical economic theory then you won't find it here.

Each chapter is almost self contained (some chapters reference others) but you can almost read any chapter independently. The index is excellent.

I think the title is a little misleading, whether you are interested in economics or not, this is a fascinating book. I would recommend it to people who have no interest in economics. I read it in one sitting, the highest compliment I can give any book.

My 20 year old nephew, a junior college student not known for his scholarly pursuits, took this book before I had a chance to read it. He found it so fascinating that he began taking it with him into the bathroom. He says he's going to take an economics course next semester.

This book provides a superb explanation of the core concepts of economics, allowing the reader to grasp the essential principles, or, as in my case, allowing the reader to gain a far better understanding of these principles than he previously had. The author uses colorful examples, and he is an excellent writer who uses good English to make his points rather than dry jargon. It allows the reader to develop a much more vivid, clear understanding of the principles in question. This is a superb book, which I highly recommend.

William Markham, antitrust attorney, San Diego, CA

This has to be among the best "popular" economics books out there, if not THE best. The book has pretty much everything one could hope for:

- Broad coverage of economics
- Clear explanations of concepts
- Abundance of practical examples to illustrate the concepts
- A writing style bordering on perfection (economics made entertaining!)
- Reasonably balanced treatment of controversial topics

One of the central points illustrated by the book is that we're prone to making bad economic decisions when we oversimply matters and neglect secondary, cumulative, and long-term consequences. The examples in the book illustrate this point, though one could argue that many of the examples are themselves oversimplified to the extent that one might draw wrong conclusions. However, I think that criticism would be unfair, since it should be self-evident that the examples are illustrative, rather than attempts to be comprehensive analyses of the issues involved.

Like most nonfiction books, I would have loved to have a bullet-point summary of key points at the end of each chapter, but the book still fully deserves 5 stars and my highest recommendation.

I'd just like to confirm what a lot of other reviewers have said. This book is very entertaining and makes its points forcefully (but you can be left wondering if there are deep assumption errors or facets the author has glossed over). Time and time again he adresses issues that I keep hearing (If only the goverment would so and so...) and gives a pretty compelling point of view on the issue.
I keep this book for times I am a little tired, because reading it is so effortless. Now if only the author would write a book on linguistics and one on ethics for example!

I'm no economist, but the beginning of the book was pretty basic, even for me. But by the middle and through to the end, Wheelan had me hooked with his perfectly placed jewels of insight. I found myself quoting them to friends and family all time. I was informed in an interesting and sometimes provocative way. I'll never look at money I find on the sidewalk the same again.

It's the perfect book to get you a small but firm foundation in economics.

In particular, his defense of free trade is well thought out and does not sweep under the rug the short-term pain that is inflicted on many working class Americans. Great Read!

This is one of the best books on basic economics for the layperson. Wheelan covers the major topics in an instructive and entertaining manner, without resorting to odd examples to make his point. He covers markets, incetives, the role of government, trade and globalization in a manner that makes it comprehensible and interesting for the non-economist. This book deserves more attention than some of its brethren have received (Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything; More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics) as it does the more important job of teaching economic principles rather than just entertaining with economics. Perhaps a future edition will be published with a more eye-catching title and more seductive jacket.

My wife recommended this book as a good introduction to economics, and she was spot-on. Since I'd never taken an econ class in college, I was the perfect candidate for Naked Economics. It introduced many concepts I'd heard of but never fully understood (inflation, for example), and the author illustrated them using examples I could relate to. This book often touched on issues of inequality and poverty which I appreciated, and it was very adept at explaining the impact of globalization on developing countries. I also enjoyed his chapters on the necessity of government (and how we should really consider ourselves fortunate to have governmental agencies) and when the government ends up hurting more than it helps. It has inspired me to learn more. Highly recommended.

If, like most, you don't know much about economics, than I strongly recommend giving yourself a painless, entertaining introduction to the major concepts by checking out this book.

Serious economists are sure to argue all sorts of fine points with Charles Wheelan, but the broad strokes of economic theory are laid out in an easy-to-read, fun, informative format that uses no graphs, charts or mathematical formulae. The experts may love all of those tools and jargon, but they do get in the way for most everyone else. Wheelan is one of those rare people who speaks technical econ-speak and regular English and can translate for the majority.

This is a strong enough book that I would seriously recommend it for anyone taking a basic econ class as a primer. I would also recommend it as a supplemental textbook to go along with a basic econ textbook for advanced high school students or Econ 101 type classes in college. I would even recommend it instead of most basic econ textbooks since they are usually about as interesting as reading the owners manual for a microwave oven. "Naked Economics" is a book that will be read and enjoyed, rather than skimmed, dreaded and cursed.

Read this along with Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat" and you have doubled your education about economics and the modern world and you have a fundamental grasp of the modern economy. Notice I said fundamental, not complete - these book are tremendous places to start your learning.

i like the way the author was able to make economics more tangible and more real, instead of "theoretical and mathematical".
it's educational and a great read!
do make time to read it!

Naked Economics was a joy to read. The author wrote in a way as if he was speaking and due to that, the readings went by very quickly. Also, the author related things to his readers, which was nice since economics can sometimes seem so abstract. I highly recommended this book.

The book is nice with pretty simple and straight forward explanations to how the economy and world economy works. Though some facts in the book are very outdated since 2001. They need to review the boo