Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan

Undressing the dismal science

Once in five years, may be once in a decade, you stumble upon a book that is so good, it is pretty much the definitive word on a subject.

For me, Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan is one such book. For years, I have wanted to understand Macroeconomics better, and I believe me I have tried. And boy, does this one hit home. (I usually recommend to people that they first read a book and only then decide if they want to buy. But this one you should buy. And read once a year to refresh some of the concepts.)

A highly readable economics book with no graphs and no equations (even though I happen to like graphs and equations) can't go wrong, can it? Wheelan has a great breezy writing style, with such great everyday examples to drive his points home.

I will post once or twice more about some of the details of this book, but in the very last paragraph of the book, the author has captured it wonderfully.

“The remarkable thing about economics is that once you’ve been exposed to the big ideas, they begin to show up everywhere. The sad irony of Econ 101 is that students too often suffer through dull, esoteric lectures while economics is going on all around them. Economics offers insight into wealth, poverty, gender relations, the environment, discrimination, politics. How could that possibly not be interesting?”

Tags: Economics, charles wheelan, naked economics, macroeconomics