Economics in One Lesson: 50th Anniversary Edition Review

Have you ever been curious about the economy and what makes it tick? If so, then you will enjoy Economics in One Lesson, a quick summary of some of the basic fallacies in economic thought. This book was written by Henry Hazlitt, and it was first published in 1946. Since then, there have been 8 different revisions to keep the writing of the book more in tune with the present- day economic conditions and concerns.

Book Commentary:

Author Henry Hazlitt is definitely a member of the non- government interventionist society, when it comes to economics. He doesn't advocate the elimination of all levels of government in the economy, only those that are undeniably counter- productive and even destructive. He definitely would not get along very well with Keynesian economists, for he feels that interventions like tariffs, wage/price controls, and other means of economic control are not only unnecessary, but also damaging to economic growth overall.

Hazlitt avoids talking about statistics and he doesn't utilize graphic illustrations. I think some graphs would have been helpful, because it makes the points easy to visualize. But I think the reason that Hazlitt avoids graphs and statistics is because he wanted this book to be timeless. True, the book has undergone several revisions over the years, but the basic information and the debunking of economic myths that held true 50 years ago still hold true today.

This book is very user- friendly thanks to the fact that Hazlitt divides the book into so many short chapters. The total length of this book is only 214 pages, yet it includes 26 chapters. That makes each chapter only about 8 pages in length, on average. Some are very short, like chapter two, which is only two pages in length. Keep in mind that Hazlitt didn't intend this book to be an argumentative analysis on the pros and cons of government intervention. He only meant to show the reader exactly what happens, when government sticks its ugly head into areas where it doesn't belong, and how these actions are detrimental to the overall economy over time. They might seem helpful in the short run, but they are destructive in the long run.

If there is one lesson that Hazlitt tries to drive home in this book, it's the tendency of people to be short- sighted when they evaluate the ramifications of government involvement in the economy; and the almost universal tendency to only see one side of the issue. For example, with tariffs, we are all fooled by politicians into supporting them because we think about the jobs that will be saved. We don't even think about the higher prices that will result from the tariff, which must be borne by the people who purchase the product. We don't think about the jobs that will be lost by other industries that would have received our extra money, had we not been forced to pay the higher price that the tariff resulted in. We see the trees, but not the forest.

Bottom Line Viewpoint:

Overall, this is a good book to read by anyone who would like to see these common economic myths proven wrong. Don't be misled by the book's title. This is not a basic economic theory book. It's a book about the negative effects of government intervention in the economy, and it does an effective job in exposing these myths.