by By James Kwak If you teach introductory economics or introductory micro, at either the high school or university level, and you’re interested in possibly using Economism in your class, let me know and I’ll send you a (free) review copy. Just email me at [email protected] from your school account, tell me what class you are thinking of assigning the book to, and let me know your shipping address, and I’ll order a copy for you.* Quick summary: The central theme of Economism is that some of the basic models taught in “Economics 101” have acquired disproportionate influence in contemporary society and are routinely and systematically misapplied to important policy questions. The problem is not that introductory models are wrong, but that too many people forget their limitations and
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James Kwak considers the following as important: Books, economics 101, economism, syndication, teaching
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By James Kwak
If you teach introductory economics or introductory micro, at either the high school or university level, and you’re interested in possibly using Economism in your class, let me know and I’ll send you a (free) review copy. Just email me at [email protected] from your school account, tell me what class you are thinking of assigning the book to, and let me know your shipping address, and I’ll order a copy for you.*
Quick summary: The central theme of Economism is that some of the basic models taught in “Economics 101” have acquired disproportionate influence in contemporary society and are routinely and systematically misapplied to important policy questions. The problem is not that introductory models are wrong, but that too many people forget their limitations and believe that their simple conclusions can be reflexively applied to the real world. As Paul Samuelson said in the first edition of his textbook, the idea that “any interference with free competition by government was almost certain to be injurious … is all that some of our leading citizens remember, 30 years later, of their college course in economics.” In chapters on labor markets, taxes, trade, and other topics, Economism first walks through the implications of introductory models before explaining how a richer understanding of economic reality, including empirical research, teaches different and more interesting lessons.
If you worry that the typical first-year curriculum produces too many students who think unregulated markets are the answer to every problem, Economism may be the antidote you need. In the Financial Times, Martin Sandbu wrote, “Economics lecturers, take note: include [Economism] on your syllabus and set aside ample time to discuss its arguments in class.” The book has also received praise from many economists including Ian Ayres (Yale Law School), Jared Bernstein (former chief economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden), Heather Boushey (chief economist, Washington Center for Equitable Growth), Simon Johnson (MIT Sloan; former chief economist, IMF; and my frequent co-author), Dani Rodrik (Harvard), and Noah Smith (Bloomberg View).
For more about the book, you can visit economism.net. The Atlantic also published an excerpt. (It’s basically the first half of the labor market chapter, on the minimum wage; the second half of that chapter deals with the compensation of very high earners.) And again, email me if you want a review copy.
(Note: I’m not doing this for the money; I’m doing it to get the book in the hands of as many students as possible. I have donated all of my royalties from 13 Bankers, White House Burning, and Economism to charitable organizations. I can’t anticipate my financial situation for the rest of my life, but I will donate all royalties from Economism for at least the next five years.)
* The fine print (updated): In the past twelve hours, the large majority of requests I’ve gotten have not actually been from people who teach introductory economics classes, so here are some clarifications:
- You know how publishers send you review copies of textbooks, hoping that you’ll assign them to your students? This is the same thing. That’s why I ask that you tell me what class you might use the book in. If it isn’t introductory economics or introductory micro, or if you don’t specify a class, I may send you a review copy, but only after seeing how many requests I get from people who are teaching those classes.
- I’m not actually going to try to check what your teaching schedule is, so this is on the honor system. But please remember that I’m paying for these books, not the publisher.
- Let me know if you prefer hard copy or Kindle. If the latter, I need to know the email address of your Amazon account.
- Non-U.S. requests: I can’t send hard copies outside the U.S. because I’m ordering the books individually from Amazon. (It’s too much work for me to mail them individually.) I can send you a Kindle copy. So please send me the email address of your Amazon U.S. account; I don’t think the book is for sale from most other Amazon subsidiaries, and in any case I’m buying the books with my Amazon U.S. account.