Product Description

'Outstanding ...Fun to read' - "Wall Street Journal". Would Karl Marx have to revise his theories since the collapse of the Soviet Union? What would Adam Smith make of the Japanese economic miracle turning into an economic morass? The great economists of the past 200 years may no longer be with us, but their ideas are very much alive - and they have vital relevance to today's increasingly complex economic picture. In this witty book, Buchholz takes age-old economic theories and applies them to contemporary issues. Featuring material on the latest shifts in the world economy, this is a fascinating, balanced guide to understanding the economy, past and present.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2005605 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .61 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

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

From Library Journal
Any book that wants to acquaint the general reader with the history of economic thought must be compared to Robert L. Heilbroner's classic The Worldly Philosophers (S. & S., 1980. 5th ed.). This new book compares most favorably. It is easily accessible to a general audience. Buchholz, a former Harvard economics professor now teaching at the California Western School of Law, is especially strong in discussing the development of economic thought after World War II. Highly recommended for all libraries as an effective and entertaining introduction to economists and their ideas.
- Richard C. Schiming, Mankato State Univ., Minn .
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ingram
In examining the major economic theories of the last 200 years, Todd Buchholz breathes new life into the so-called "dead science"--he offers bold and original interpretations of contemporary economic events that will shape the '90s and beyond.