[.ca] New Ideas From Dead Economists Revised Edition (ISBN 0452280524)

From Amazon.com:
Over 150 years ago, Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle dubbed economics the "dismal science." But it certainly doesn't seem that way in the skillful hands of Todd G. Buchholz, author of New Ideas from Dead Economists. In this revised edition of a book first published in 1989, economics is accessible, relevant, and fascinating. It's even fun--for example, when he uses the cast of Gilligan's Island and Henny Youngman jokes to explain complex economic theories. "Why not have the last laugh on Carlyle by using the dead economists themselves to reverse their bad reputations and to teach the lessons they left to us?" Buchholz surveys and critiques economic thought from Adam Smith's invisible hand of the 18th century to the depression-fighting ideas of the Keynesians and money-supply concepts of the 20th-century monetarists. He also relates classic economic principles to such modern-day events as the fall of communism, the Asian financial meltdown, and global warming. Buchholz includes plenty of anecdotes about the lives of the great economists: Karl Marx, for instance, was an unkempt slob; David Ricardo, the early-19th-century English politician and economist, was among the rare economists to get rich trading stocks; and Maynard Keynes was so homely his friends called him "Snout." Here's a lively and authoritative read for those interested in the past, present, and future of economics. --Dan Ring

Perfect intro to economics!:
This is the most delightful book - I'm finding myself recommending it to everyone! I am a first year law student, and don't have much time to read outside of class. I took no economics courses in undergrad, and wanted to learn a little about economic theory on my own... I'm SO glad that I found this book, because it is really a pleasure to read. In addition to be humorous and very informative, it is a great learning aid because the author writes in a way that makes it easy to remember the material. Even my husband - who knows a lot more about economics that I do - is enjoying the book. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the subject (or, actually, to anyone who thinks they are NOT interested in economics too)!!

New Ideas from Dead Economists: An Introduction to Modern Ec:
In an introduction explaining the plight of the economist--having to convey to popular political and social forces that in a world of scarcity one must choose--Buchholz implicitly illustrates his own dilemma. He improves upon Heilbroner's classic nonponderous history of economic thought, The Worldly Philosophers (6th ed., 1986), albeit at some sacrifice of breadth and depth. Nevertheless, his highly entertaining look at 200 years of economic thought via contemporary issues has far more hits than misses. His treatment of the giants--Smith, Marx, Keynes, is good, and the coverage of Marx, even before the political upheavals of the last 12 months, is devastating; the other standard names--Ricardo, Malthus, Mill, Marshall, Friedman, are all included; and, taken together, chapters 9 through 12 offer an excellent review of contemporary macroeconomic theories and issues. In a few instances, Buchholz's use of numerical examples seems awkward; some of his facts and formulations are wrong; and, despite the muted, somewhat flip apology with respect to the title (i.e., many of the economists he cites are living not dead), it's still a poor choice. But, everything being equal, as economists are wont to say, it does not get any better than this, and Buchholz deserves, and will certainly get, much credit for this solid contribution to our understanding of both the economists and the issues. Academic and public library collections.

New Ideas from Dead Economists by Buchholz and Feldstein:
This book will complement any collegiate economics course in basic economics or economic theory. The authors discuss important economists of the past. For instance, Adam Smith's theories are given quite a bit of space in this book. Smith taught that the division of tasks into component parts will increase output due to the shear specialization and learning curve effects. He explained that free trade benefited England because goods could be bought cheaper than they could be produced in the mother country. As a result, English labor could specialize in areas of comparative advantage. Malthus warned that the population boom would result in greater poverty down the line. Economists can argue this even today. Malthus argued for delayed marriage to enhance the standard of living for married couples. Ricardo argued that consumers could consume a greater variety of goods with free trade regardless of the stage in the advancement of trading partners. Marshall and Jevons argued that marginal utility diminished with each portion. That is, more of a good thing would lead to less pleasure incrementally. If people consumed all of their income, Says Law found that "Full Employment" could remain. This is overly optimistic because consumers don't always have the same level of demand for goods and services-particularly during weak economic cycles. This book is a good supplement to the existing library of Economics volumes.

Much Better Than Heilbroner's Worldly Philosophers:
I've read both Worldly Philosophers by Robert Heilbroner and New Ideas From Dead Economists, by Todd Buchholz. I wanted to get a good rounded layperson introduction to great economists in the past. First let me examine Heilbroner's book first since that's more widely known, has sold more, and more Economics 101 classes use it as a supplemental text. I'll then compare Heilbroner's book to Bucholz's and explain why I think Bucholz's book is far superior in every way. I found Heilbroner's book to be neither useful to the layperson nor to people who have a good background in Economics. Let me explain. Heilbroner spends a LOT of time in awe of these economists and spends a great deal of time explaining how great they were, how revolutionary, how brilliant, how much of a genius, how wonderful these men were, ad nauseum. Ok, I get the point. Unfortunately, all this fawning and fan worship clouds what should've been the more interesting and more important part of the book, which are the central economic ideas put forward by these thinkers. In fact, there's a lot of emphasis on putting their economic ideas in perspective to the prevailing moral philosophical thought at the time. It's almost as if this books is written for people who have already taken Economics 101, and know all the basic economic principles and can nod, "yes, uh huh, I didn't know those personality quirks or their moral philosophical outlook about these economists - good to know. By the way, it's great that he didn't go over his economic ideas since I already know them." For example, the entire chapter devoted to David Ricardo fails to mention the theory of Comparative Advantage anywhere in the chapter. Isn't that a MAJOR omission? That's just one example. Omissions such as this are everywhere. So the layperson is stuck getting a vague feeling that these people were wonderful people, but that a little less fuzzy on their ecnomic ideas. It also leaves a person with economics background feeling like this is less a book about economics and more a book about Heilbroner's fan worship. Neither audience is served. I can't recommend the Heilbroner book. Right after I read this book, I read Todd Buchholz's New Ideas From Dead Economists. Where Heilbroner failed, Buccholz succeeds in so many ways. He puts the central ideas of these economists as the main focus of each chapter. When talking about David Rircardo, the theory of Comparative Advantage is front-and-center. When talking about Marx, Heilbroner meanders and throws a lot of Marx's ideas around and you don't get a sense of how they all fit together in Marx's mind or why modern economists find fundamental flaws in his reasoning. In Buccholz's book, the central point is Marx's ideas, how they fit together and it's very clear why most economists (and the reader) will find Marx's basic premise wrong in light of emperical evidence. This goes on and on. I initially thought Heilbroner would be a good read, since it was recommended by econ majors when I was in college and they'd never heard of Buccholz's book. I'm glad I read both. Do yourself a favor - read the better book.

A Must Have Economics 101:
Buchholz gives the reader a lucid book on introductory economics. I call it introductory because this isnt a book written for advanced economic analysis. Its not for people who already did many courses in economics. Its definately not for economic teachers. This is a must have book for all those people who are interested in understanding or at least knowing about this complex subject. Its will more than enrich you, in case you started reading the book with no knowledge of economics. Buchholtz starts with the father of modern economics, Adam Smith and follows with giving (almost biographical) details of Malthus, Ricardo, Marshal, Keynes. The chapter on Monetarist and their attack on Keynes follows and its worth reading twice. Then he gives a brief description of all other important economists of last century. This is followed by chapters on new methods such as Public Choice and Rational Expectations. All chapters are written in a very informal, witty style and this helps the reader keep interest. Economics, being a rather dry subject is taught well here, with good illustrations and in a very non-technical way. The downside of the book is not being able to cover more economists. The author talks about Rational Expectations without mentioning anything about John Muth or much of Robert Lucas. This was missing, but I assume he did that because anyone reading or learning about economics for the first time (the intended audience of this book) might not have to know about these economists. Like wise, Veblen, Galbraith, Samuelson and new economists such as Paul Krugman, Joseph E. Stiglitz are not covered. But again, its not possible to cover so many and I guess also due to the fact that teh author wanted to cover schools of economic thought more than individual economists themselves. All in all, this book is very interesting to read as it is very well written. If you have read this review and have no idea of economics but want to have one, here we go, just buy the book!