Found in 18 comments on Hacker News
smitty1e · 2024-04-19 · Original thread
The answer is the former[1], but the policy will tend toward the latter.

“The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.” Thomas Sowell[2]

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Reality-Optional-Essays-Institution-P...

smitty1e · 2023-07-22 · Original thread
It doesn't take much reading in Basic Economics[0] to see that government interference in markets drives up prices.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465...

treeman79 · 2022-11-30 · Original thread
Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell.

Spent a few years trying to figure out how Help people without trying to force businesses to do what’s right.

Anytime I hear a new fiscal policy or laws idea I can usually figure out if it’s going to work or cause problems

https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465...

treeman79 · 2022-08-27 · Original thread
Hard to get better then Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell.

https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465...

giorgioz · 2022-02-04 · Original thread
I recommend reading Basic Economics from Thomas Sowell for more examples of how fixing prices and a centralized allocation of prices and resources is terribly inneficient and it backfires terribly bring misery to entire countries: https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465...

Thank you to user on Hacker News that suggested this book in a comment a few years ago. It was eye opening and one of the most important books I've ever read.

treeman79 · 2021-11-26 · Original thread
Read Basic Economics for a proper foundation.

https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465...

Well meaning redistribution leads to lack of motivation. Why should I work hard if I get paid the same mentality. Leading to shortages.

Cruel competition causes people to work hard to produce the most goods with the least resources. Leading to surplus. Meaning poor people have access to far more now. So much so that historically poor people whom were skinny are now as fat as old world rich people. as food has gotten absurdly cheap.

Absolutely.

This is a great primer for those completely unfamiliar: https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465...

treeman79 · 2021-06-19 · Original thread
Oh my, next people will do basic research (https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465... ) and start making sane decisions.
smitty1e · 2021-01-31 · Original thread
Those who do not understand Thomas Sowell[1] are doomed to wonder why reality never quite conforms to their conceits.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465...

seibelj · 2020-10-16 · Original thread
> Every year, we think that this cannot possibly continue, and every year it does.

> Until now. As covid and wildfire smoke have atomized us all into whatever living space we can afford, and into a grid of separate video boxes on a screen, the place as it was no longer exists. The forces that kept people here are temporarily gone. Through cratering rents San Francisco is finally proving to opponents of growth that supply and demand apply to housing too.

Intelligent people will twist themselves in knots trying to disprove basic economics. I see long threads on HN all the time of brilliant people convinced that supply and demand is just "far too simple" or "totally disproved" etc. etc.

This book is a classic https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465...

yaa_minu · 2020-04-14 · Original thread
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Basic Economics[1] by Thomas Sowell.

It's a fairly detailed book but it's worth the time. If you're too busy to read a whole book, you might want to take a look at "Economics in One Lesson" [2] by Herny Hazlitt.

The foundation for economic education[3] has some great articles too about economics and public choice.

[1]https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowel/dp/04650... [2] https://fee.org/media/14946/economicsinonelesson.pdf [3] https://fee.org

keanzu · 2020-03-06 · Original thread
Basic Economics, Fifth Edition: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell

https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465...

dmix · 2017-09-29 · Original thread
Thomas Sowell is brilliant at highlighting the unexpected nature of many parts of economics as well as the countless government policies initiated in the name of helping the poor or lower class that end up either doing little to help or, more often, ultimately helping the upper-middle class and above the most.

He helped me grow beyond a cliche idealistic libertarian worldview into something much more practical and based in real world policy.

I highly recommend his 'Wealth, Poverty and Politics': https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Poverty-Politics-Thomas-Sowell...

Or for something more lightweight see his book 'Basic Economics': https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465... --- Despite it's name it's not an economics 101 guide, it basically a teaching-through-example guide by listing policy after policy that were implemented in the realworld, for ex:

- rent control in NYC/Toronto in the 1970s which severely reduced access to affordable housing, disincentivized building maintenance, incentivized arson, and gave countless upper/middle class residents cheap rent for beautiful properties

- various industry licensing pushed by market incumbents not protecting consumers, such as interior designers requiring 4yr bachelors degree to choose the colorscheme of an apartment

- etc, etc

He digs into their good intentions but unintentional self-defeating side-effects. Many of which have countless analogies to today (see Uber vs Black cabs in London).

After reading it I'm hardly surprised Japan's economy has stagnated, to the point where it's almost so obvious it saddens me. They are one of the worst proponents of the type of heavy handed economic-intervention he critiques.

acdanger · 2017-09-12 · Original thread
Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics book was a great introduction, too, though I didn't always agree with some of the politics.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465...

elmar · 2017-07-22 · Original thread
for a completely diferent view on economics I recomend the book "Basic Economics"[1] written by Thomas Sowell [2] 704 pages without a single mathematical formula or graph.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465... [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sowell

· 2017-03-27 · Original thread
I only found one book that I could actually get through, but it is written by a controversial guy who many people consider an out-of-touch war hawk.

https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465...

But the book itself was written before he became controversial, is VERY readable and approachable, and I would particularly recommend it if you have already tried to learn economics before and stopped because you could not stand the sheer tedium.

Also, the other commenters are right about how the stuff you read in microeconomics simply wouldn't scale to macro (so don't expect it to help you invest and stuff).

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