Economics in Two Lessons: Why Markets Work so Well, and Why They Can Fail So Badly Audiobook (Free)

A masterful introduction to the key concepts behind the successes-and failures-of free-market economics

Since 1946, Henry Hazlitt’s bestselling Economics in a single Lesson has popularized the belief that economics can be boiled down to one particular lesson: marketplace prices represent the true cost of everything. But one-lesson economics tells only half the storyplot. It can clarify why markets often work so well, but it can’t clarify why they often fail so badly-or what we should do when they stumble. As Nobel approximately Economics in Two Lessons: Why Marketplaces Work therefore Well, and Why THEY ARE ABLE TO Fail So Badly Prize-winning economist Paul Samuelson quipped, ‘When someone preaches ‘economics in a single lesson,’ I advise: return back for the second lesson.’ In Economics in Two Lessons, John Quiggin teaches both lessons, offering a masterful introduction to the key ideas behind the successes-and failures-of free of charge markets.

Economics in Two Lessons explains so why market prices often neglect to reflect the full cost of our options to society as a whole. For example, each time we travel a car, take a flight in a plane, or flick a light change, we contribute to global warming. But, in the absence of a cost on carbon emissions, the expenses of our activities are borne by everyone else. In such instances, government action is needed to achieve better results.

Two-lesson economics means quitting the dogmatism of laissez-faire as well as the reflexive assumption that any economic problem can be solved by federal government action, since the right solution often involves a mixture of marketplace forces and federal government policy. However the payoff is usually huge: focusing on how marketplaces actually work-and what to do when they don’t.

Brilliantly accessible, Economics in Two Lessons unlocks the fundamental issues at the heart of any kind of economic question.