Thomas Sowell Is Now Telling Me What To Think

. . . by which I mean that I’m reading his book Basic Economics. (Thanks to those who recommended additional books; I’ll check ’em out!)

Sowell’s book is very good. Quite easy to read (just like his columns). In fact, it’s designed to be able to be read by high school students. He even has a set of study questions in the back for homeschoolers to use with their kids.

I’m impressed enough with the book that if I had any homeschool high schoolers, I would set them to reading the book immediately. Having a basic understanding of economics is something that (a) virtually all young people lack and that (b) will serve them very well in life.

Homeschoolers: THIS BOOK WILL GIVE YOUR KIDS A COMPETITIVE EDGE OVER OTHER YOUNG PEOPLE AS THEY MOVE OUT INTO THE WORLD OF WORK.

It is also likely to help solidify them conservatively so they don’t flirt with braindead liberal economic policies that will hurt both them and society in the long run.

And, of course, having more voters out in society who understand economics is a boon to society as a whole that will make things better for everyone in the long run.

Now, there are occasionally a few big words in Sowell’s writing–words that I wouldn’t have known when I was in high school–but then I went to a public high school (or, as I referred to it at the time, a sucking vortex of madness and pain), and homeschoolers either will already know these terms or will know how to look them up in a magical book known as a "dictionary."

But what momentary discomfort there may be at encountering an occasional twenty-five cent word will be more than made up for (a) by the increased knowledge of economics that the kid will have and (b) the fact that he will now know the twenty-five cent word.

But beyond that, Sowell is just entertaining and easy to read. If you’ve looked at some of his columns that I’ve linked, you already know that. In his book, his style is much the same, and he illustrates his economic principles with countless interesting examples from all over the world and all through history.

Parents (and non-parents) should read this book, too. He is startlingly clear about things and puts many in a perspective that cuts through the typical rhetoric we often have economic issues wrapped in by politicians and pundits eager to advance their own causes. He even cuts through the illusions that we ourselves tend to have.

Consider:

Many people see prices as simply obstacles to their getting the things they want. Those who would like to live in a beach-front home, for example, may abandon such plans when they discover how expensive beach-front property is. But high prices are not the reason we cannot all live on the beach front. On the contrary, the inherent reality is that there are not nearly enough beach-front homes to go around and prices simply convey that underlying reality. When many people bid for a relatively few homes, those homes become very expensive because of limited supply. But it is not the prices that cause the scarcity, which would exist whatever other economic or social arrangements might be used inestead of prices (p. 7-8).

See? Bet you, like me, have often perceived prices as the barrier between you and getting what you want. But that’s too short-term a view. The real reason is that there is a limited supply of what you want and other people want it, too. In a free market, prices simply the mechanism by which you and others figure out how much value you are going to place on getting the thing you want.

If people start valuing something less, prices drop. You can see this at work on Amazon. The books that are newly out and all the rage right now are expensive. But if you look at books there were all the rage a few years ago, you can now get them dirt cheap (like for a penny plus shipping costs) on Amazon’s used book service. This is the case with a bunch of the diet and nutrition books there. The ones that everyone’s talking about this year are expensive, but the good ones that are a few years old (like Atkins’ books) are now incredibly cheap. Less demand, lower prices (and bargain-hunter’s paradise: the obvious strategy being to wait until the "fad" factor has worn off a particular book and you can get it for a song).

I’m going to be keeping Sowell’s book right next to my copy of The Rules of Acquisition.

Now if I could just get Borg implants so Sowell could tell me what to think via direct neural interface.

GET SOWELL’S BOOK.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live." View all posts by Jimmy Akin