andreweverett360 Book Review, economics

Entrepreneurship


Entrepreneurship: A Primer
by Eamonn Butler

“Entrepreneurship is the unseen factor of production. Land, labor, and capital produce nothing until they are actively put to work. They need to be directed and focused by some human mind—an entrepreneurial mind that realizes how they can be used to create value.”

“British philosopher and economist John Stuart Milll (1806-1873) identified entrepreneurs as people who assume both the risk and the management of a business. Today, economists focus on the role of entrepreneurs as innovators or in spotting opportunities or taking risks in a world of future uncertainty.”

Here are some highlights of major topics covered in Butler’s scholarly overview.

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andreweverett360 Book Review, economics

Essays on Hayek


Essays on Hayek
Edited by Fritz Machlup

Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992) received the Nobel Prize in Economics on December 11, 1974 for his theory of business cycles and the effects of monetary and credit policies. The following year, the Mont Pelerin Society held a conference at Hillsdale College covering various aspects of Hayek’s work. This book is a collection of the papers presented and discussed.

I find it noteworthy that Hayek wrote The Road to Serfdom (1944) on the consequences of socialism in the same era that George Orwell wrote Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949).

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andreweverett360 Book Review, economics

When More Is Not Better: Overcoming America’s Obsession with Economic Efficiency


When More Is Not Better: Overcoming America’s Obsession with Economic Efficiency
by Roger L. Martin

Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto from 1998 to 2013, writes about a fragile imbalance in the U.S. economy and the erosion of the middle class. Major themes include efficiency vs. resilience, reductionist thinking vs. complex adaptive systems, and gaming the system. He cites examples of companies where an obsession with efficiency was catastrophic, and conversely, where slack is the secret sauce. He offers policy solutions in such areas as antitrust, taxation, stockholder voting rights, and education.

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andreweverett360 Book Review, economics

I, Pencil


I, Pencil
by Leonard E. Read

This is the story of how a simple pencil is manufactured using numerous raw materials from all over the world, as told in the first person by the pencil itself.  It was first published in 1958 to explain how free-market economies work and to discredit centrally-planned economies, such as the Soviet Union. While trade barriers are not expressly discussed in the story, the reader can infer potential consequences rippling through the supply chain.

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andreweverett360 Book Review, economics

50 Economics Classics


50 Economics Classics: Your shortcut to the most important ideas on capitalism, finance, and the global economy
by Tom Butler-Bowden

Tom Butler-Bowdon has summarized 50 economics books spanning 240 years (1776 to 2016), however 40% of the books were published in the 21st-century, thus offering contemporary relevance with historical context. Indeed he notes in the introduction, “if there is anything that the financial crisis of 2007-08 told us, it is that economic and financial history matters.”

Each book is distilled to about six pages. Among the many topics covered are: the euro, the Great Depression, subprime loans and the 2008 financial crisis, the value of a college education, the economics of cities,  free trade, protectionism, globalization, the gold standard, income inequality, innovation and entrepreneurship, investing in the stock market, employment, technology, poverty, famines, crime, foreign aid, property, dead capital, and behavioral economics.

Here are some selected highlights.

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