Economics: The User's Guide

كنت محظوظا اني قرأت هذا الكتاب كوني لم اطلع على غيره في هذا الاختصاص وقد اكملت قبل فترة كتاب اخر ل"ها جوون جانك" فشدني الى هذا الموضوع. من مطالعتي لبعض المقالات والاخبار اعتقدت ان مشكلة الاقتصاد انه تخصص كما هو الطب او الهندسة تحتاج الى خبير كي يبدي لك رأيه الا ان ها جوون جانك في غير موضع في كتابه هذا يذكر ان المتخصصين يتعمدون استخدام مصطلح "علم" الاقتصاد كي يوهموا الناس بانه غير قابل للفهم من العامة. ويصرح مرات show more عديدة بان السياسة النيوليبرالية والنظرية النيوكلاسيكال الاقتصادية هي المسيطرة على الفكر العالمي خصوصا بعد سقوط الاتحاد السوفيتي وكما يصف فوكوياما في كتابه "نهاية التاريخ" اشارة الى سيادة هذه النظريات بعد فشل الشيوعية (حسب رأي فوكوياما).
طريقة ها جوون جانك كما يتفق معي اغلب القراء على ما اظن تجعلك منشدا الى الموضوع بطريقة تدريسية بارعة من خلال الامثلة التاريخية التي تصدمك في اغلب الاحيان . وهناك اسلوب مبتكر في هذا الكتاب بعد كل فصل يذكر المؤلف ارقام من الحياة الواقعية تدلل على الفكرة الرئيسة.
ان اكثر ما يحتج به ها جوون جانك هو الازمة الاقتصادية العالمية ودورها في زعزعة ثقة الناس في حكمة وخبرة اصحاب الحل والعقد في علم الاقتصاد كما يحبون ان يسموه . ويشير الى نقطة في غاية الاهمية ونصيحة لمن يقرأ الاقتصاد فيقول " لا تكن الشخص الذي يحمل مطرقة ويعتقد بان كل ما يراه هو مسمار" اي انك لاتستطيع تطبيق نظرية اقتصادية واحدة يسارية كانت ام يمينية على كل المشاكل الاقتصادية الحالية ولكنك يجب ان تحمل سكين سويسري متعدد الادوات وتستعين باي واحدة مناسبة للمشكلة التي قد تواجهك فهنالك تسع نظريات اقتصادية يشير اليها مع ايجاز لما تحمله من مبادئ أساسية.
وأخيرًا ينصحنا المؤلف بمحاولة الاطلاع على الاقتصاد لأبداء راينا في المشاكل الاقتصادية المهمة وان لا نسمح للخبراء ان يخدعونا بآرائهم التي لم تنفعنا في مواجهة الأزمة العالمية عام ٢٠٠٨ . show less

An excellent read that doesn't beat you over the head with the "neoliberals ruined everything" narrative, and actually provides a thorough overview of the major schools of economic thought, detailing their ideas, rhetoric, and fundamental shortcomings. Reading suggestions at the end of each chapter give you the chance to investigate further from the original texts.

It's nice to see that Penguin have relaunched Pelican not just as a cover design, but also staying true to the old tradition of Pelican books dealing with important ideas in such a way that it assumes the reader is intelligent and able to deal with a variety of ideas, and able to make their own mind up. A good start.

4.5/5 - it gets somewhat tedious and/or dense in spot.

Other that that small ding, this is an excellent book. Unlike most economics books, which focus on the author's pet system/theory, Chang addresses what he considers the 9 major ones. He gives their strengths and limitations and then goes on to show why economics is not a science in the sense of physics or chemistry, but rather in the sense of sociology or history - or politics.

No one of them is universally applicable, and at different times - both in an absolute since and the relative time of the development of a country's economy - different policy will be better than others.

It's a refreshing approach and one that, to me, makes a lot more sense than the one size (currently show more neo-classical) fits all approach to what economies of very different countries, with different cultures and forms of government and at different stages of development.

If you read only one economics book this year (or in your entire life), read this one. show less

In Economics: The User's Guide, Ha-Joon Chang wants us to know enough background to be able to understand economic news, what it means, and when it might be trying to fool us. So he provides nearly 400 pages of history, theory and real world numbers. Some of the numbers might be out of date by now, but Chang gives advice on where to find newer information. I say information, because there is more to econ than numbers.

After a short prologue explaining why we should be interested, there is a half page guide to reading the book, depending on whether we want to spend ten minutes, maybe two hours, half a day, or are willing to go through the whole thing.

That's the kind of author Chang is, wanting to tell us what he knows and believes, but show more aware that we won't all be willing to follow through completely. What he does, works for me. I've tried to read about economics before, but have always bogged down and lost interest. This time it was different. I learned how econ is much more than markets and businesses, more than capitalism. Chang gives a quick history of how we, the whole world, developed the field of economics and how different countries got the kind of changing economies they have now, and how much of economics is really politics.

He writes about nine different "schools" of economics, explaining their points of view, how they grew, what they can explain well, and how they all have failings but also strengths. Maybe the best part of the book is a four page table in chapter four summarizing each school.

Of course, I can't remember it all, but the structure of the book makes sense, and the index is helpful. A kindle edition, which I also own, is searchable and in some ways even more useful. This is a keeper, a good reference book. show less

Written for those with a short attention span, it's overly concise & simplistic. Bullets aren't communicative text. And though he repeats often that a reader should read widely to get different viewpoints, he often brags that he objectively presents a variety of viewpoints himself in this brief book. And, further, it's clear from reading selected sections with care, that he is anything but objective.

I mean, it's fascinating. And from what I read (maybe 1/3, total), I agree with much of what he was 'selling' about what state our world community is in, and what hopes we can have for it. But, as best as I can tell, it's too difficult for some young person brand-new to studies of economics to fully understand, and too simple for someone show more wanting more information than what they've already picked up from a lifetime of studying the issues.

I'm not sure what would help me gain the understandings I'm looking for, but this ain't it. show less

"Economie" heb ik gekocht, niet omdat ik een (eh, geen) enorme interesse heb in het onderwerp dat ons leven danig beïnvloedt, maar juist omdat het zo vaak in het nieuws komt en omdat bepaalde partijen toch zo "de economie" adoreren, en ik eens op klare en duidelijke taal wat inzicht wil verwerven.

Ha-Joon Chang schrijft zelf dat er nood was aan een dergelijk boek, omdat vele andere werken te technisch zijn en vooral gericht op specialisten en dergelijke. Plus, hij geeft zelf tips over hoe je zijn boek kunt lezen, of je nu weinig tijd of veel tijd hebt. Bovendien zijn alle hoofdstukken in hapklare brokken ingedeeld.

Allerlei onderwerpen die verband houden met economie komen aan bod:
- werkgelegenheid / werkloosheid en de impact op de show more samenleving en economie
- internationale handel
- banken: hoe men zelf niet meer wist hoe de vork aan de steel zat, hoe niet-financiële bedrijven zelf een financiële instelling werden (bijv. autobouwers)
- het kapitalisme
- wie de spelers in het economische spel zijn
- soorten economische scholen (klassiek, neoklassiek, keynesiaans, Oostenrijks, Marxistische, enz...): wat ze inhouden en vergeleken met de anderen
- welke rol de staat/overheid speelt in het economische universum, in de vrije markt (die er niet is, gezien een overheid nog steeds regels en wetten vastlegt om aan te duiden wat bedrijven mogen verhandelen en wat niet, enz.)
- enzovoorts.

Natuurlijk komen er ook veel cijfertjes in voor: Bruto Binnenlands Product (van vergeleken continenten/landen), aantal werkenden, handeltekorten/overschotten, ... Ook op het einde van elk hoofdstuk geeft Chang een samenvatting van wat er besproken werd, plus een overzicht met relevante lectuur.

Chang hoopt met dit boek de mensen wat interesse in economie bij te brengen, of ten minste ze een blik te geven op wat dat nu is, "economie". Vooral ook omdat hedententage veel economisten blijkbaar de wijsheid in pacht hebben en zo de bevolking soms een rad voor de ogen draaien. Chang schrijft zelf dat je economisten nooit 100% mag geloven, dat je kritisch moet blijven en dat dit boek daarvoor een middel is, zodat je zelf wat inzicht verwerft en niet steeds moet afgaan op wat er in de pers verschijnt.

"Economie: de gebruiksaanwijzing" is een boek dat je meermaals kunt vastpakken, waarbij je eender welk item kunt lezen zonder dat je de vorige moet gelezen hebben. Als je bijv. iets specifieks zoekt, of bepaalde kernelementen nog eens wilt lezen, dan kan dit perfect. Lichte kost is het niet, tenzij je thuis bent in de materie, maar het is in alle geval wel een zeer leesbare introductie tot economie. Aanrader! show less

Just like an ad campaign for Volkswagen in the 50s in the US, this is my second economic book, meaning that I don’t advise anyone to start with it, but after you are well aware of the neo-classical Keynesian synthesis, this can be a good critique. The author adheres to what he calls a development school, or what mainstream views as dirigisme. He is far from being impartial, but that can be said about many economists. So, if you’re interested in a quality critique of mainstream economics that’s a book for you.