If you would like to know what’s wrong with economic theory today, and how to understand what needs doing if our economies are to get out of the mess they are in, you should read this book.
This unique and thought-provoking book has been designed for anyone genuinely interested in unlocking the mysteries of how an economy works, or who is interested in a serious explanation of the operation of a market economy. It concerns entrepreneurs, value added, the nature of the market, radical uncertainty, Say’s Law and the causes of the business cycle. Steven Kates explains why Keynesian economics should not be used to manage an economy while outlining in detail what Keynesian economics is. The book discusses a vast array of issues often left out of traditional texts but which anyone who wishes to follow economic events needs to know.
Although the book is designed for the general reader and not as a textbook, it would nevertheless benefit students of economics whether used by themselves and on their own or within a classroom in conjunction with another more mainstream text. It is also perfectly compatible with the requirements of an introductory course in economics.
Some Comments on the Book
From Mark Skousen, editor, Forecasts & Strategies and former Adjunct Professor of Economics and Finance, Columbia Business School, US:
A refreshing theoretical counterattack to the established Keynesian world view that has left the West financially overpromised, disastrously broke, and vulnerable to crank ideas. Professor Kates has brilliantly resurrected Say’s law of markets – Keynes’s old nemesis – into a new modern framework that forms the foundation of a new sustainable economy.
From Mario J. Rizzo, New York University, US:
Steven Kates has written an exciting new book on the basics of economics. He avoids the dry and unrealistic assumptions of most introductions to economics. He puts change, entrepreneurship, uncertainty, decentralized knowledge and spontaneous order at the center of his analysis. The reader will profit from this fresh approach far more than from an ordinary textbook. This is a treatment for the general reader that both respects and engages one’s intelligence.
From Martin Ricketts, University of Buckingham, UK:
This book is a timely introduction to economics based around a restatement of the case for the ‘free market’. It explains clearly the importance of market processes both to the raising of living standards and to the protection of liberty. It anchors the case for the market not in a set of abstract mathematical theorems but in a much older tradition based upon a common sense understanding of what Marshall termed ‘the everyday business of life’.
From Wolfgang Kasper, University of New South Wales, Australia:
Steve Kates, an academic with business experience, does away with the unrealistic abstractions that make economics inaccessible to general readers. This book is about real, enterprising people with whom we can identify, and about how ordinary economic life evolves in conditions of uncertainty. We learn why vacuous modelling only misleads us and why economic freedom and secure institutions are essential to achieving the good life.
Title and Contents
Free Market Economics: an Introduction for the General Reader by Steven Kates, who had been the Chief Economist of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry where he was employed for twenty-four years, a former Commissioner on the Australian Productivity Commission and presently in the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia
Contents
Introduction
1. The Axioms and Underlying Principles of a Free Market Economy
2. The Economics of the Free Market
3. Value Added
4. Governments and the Market
5. Factors of Production, Finance and the Role of the Entrepreneur
6. Supply and Demand
7. Supply and Demand: Beyond Equilibrium
8. Marginal Analysis
9. Measuring the Economy
10. An Interlude on the History of Economics
11. The Keynesian Revolution and Say’s Law
12. The Basic Keynesian Macroeconomic Model
13. Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply
14. The Classical Theory of the Business Cycle
15. Cyclical Activity and Governments
16. The Financial System
17. Controlling Inflation
Afterword
References
Index
Where to Get the Book
Available through Edward Elgar: sales@e-elgar.co.uk and online via Amazon
The Elgar Prices:
Hardback £95.00 on-line price £85.50
Paperback £29.95 on-line price £23.96
This book is also available as an ebook 978 0 85793 043 9 from -www.myilibrary
www.ebooks.com
www.ebookscorporation.com
www.dawsonera.com
www.ebrary.com/corp/
www.books.google.com/ebooks
A great achievement. Congratulations.
C.L.
6 Aug 11 at 11:02 am
Incidentally, good luck against the competition. I understand that Messrs Swan and Homer have an economics text coming out this week, Blaming Howard and Understanding Hitler: An Economics Primer.
C.L.
6 Aug 11 at 11:05 am
G’day,
Thats about $47 for the paper back version. Are you really aiming it at the general reader?
ta
Ralph
Ralph Buttigieg
6 Aug 11 at 11:36 am
Tipicyal cratallrxy cap. If onlyl you raEd a littel more, CL!
.
6 Aug 11 at 12:06 pm
Can’t seem to find an electronic version.
wreckage
6 Aug 11 at 12:08 pm
Congrats on getting your book out. A e-book version would be handy.
Andrew Carr
6 Aug 11 at 12:10 pm
Since we’re speaking of books anyway, anyone tell me what their favourite Classical Liberal book for the general reader is? I can handle some jargon, but a book that is nothing but technical argument would be largely wasted on me.
wreckage
6 Aug 11 at 12:12 pm
$160 for the PDF version. I don’t think that this market participant will participate at that price.
Jacques Chester
6 Aug 11 at 12:38 pm
Kates:
Make your money then give it away, if it doesn’t breach your contract.
.
6 Aug 11 at 1:04 pm
Speaking in glowing terms of your own book!!?? An outstanding bit of self promotion, Steve.
Septimus
6 Aug 11 at 2:31 pm
I bought the hardcover on Book Depository for $144. Not bad.
Generic Person
6 Aug 11 at 3:23 pm
Speaking in glowing terms of your own book!!??
Yeah, you’re meant to say “Don’t buy my book, I’m shit. My book is shit. I am going to go cut myself.”
wreckage
6 Aug 11 at 5:22 pm
[...] the text of what is in this previous post is merely the transcript of the advertising brochure that Edward Elgar has distributed online and [...]
Follow up on my post on Free Market Economics at Catallaxy Files
6 Aug 11 at 5:39 pm
wreckage, on your question about a good book on liberalism, check out Liberalism by von Mises, you can try before you buy because it is on line at the Mises Inst.
http://mises.org/liberal.asp
not too long, no jargon
Rafe
6 Aug 11 at 6:47 pm
Steve – thanks for writing it. Amazon is now processing my order although they say the release date isn’t until the end of the month so I suppose I’ll actually get it around the end of September.
TerjeP
6 Aug 11 at 9:46 pm
Ever read any advertising copy? Ever read a book?
Abu Chowdah
6 Aug 11 at 9:58 pm
Just had a sample read of Steve’s latest on Amazon, which has convinced me to buy it. I’ll also read Rafe’s suggested Liberalism.
I have it on good authority that Economics: An Introduction for the General Reader by Henry Clay is “the best introductory book on economics written during the whole of the twentieth century” so that is on my reading list also.
Gabrielle
6 Aug 11 at 10:00 pm
$37 for the paperback is a very acceptable price for anything other than a pulp novel, by the way.
wreckage
7 Aug 11 at 2:31 am
.
liberalism p 155
Rafe
7 Aug 11 at 6:54 am
[...] find out about Say’s Law in the world today and there’s much else besides. You can read my book or you can read Jimmy’s. Preferably you will read both but Jimmy’s is much funnier than [...]
The Waffle Street Tales – Say’s Law as Literature at Catallaxy Files
19 Aug 11 at 9:19 am
Steve, much as I’d like to read your book, I find your publisher has significantly overpriced it.
I’m unable to understand why a general book (not textbook, which requires 10 times more editing resources) of 350 odd pages should cost from $50(paperback) to $150 (hardback). Books for general readers must necessarily be priced in the $10-$15 range. An extreme max of $20 could be tolerated, but $50?
Please consider asking your publisher for a good explanation for such extreme pricing which is preventing your audience from reading your work.
Btw, my book Breaking Free of Nehru (Anthem Press) is still available (a few copies) at less than $20, but more importantly, I’ve provided the entire book free of cost. That means thousands of people have had the chance to read it. Most of us write to spread a message, not to make money. Economics books for the layman must be priced really sharply.
Sanjeev Sabhlok
22 Oct 11 at 1:09 pm