Economics in One Lesson (Superpower: Understanding the fundamentals of economics...and wandering down the dark,Austrian path eventually)
Austrian economics is the opposite of a superpower. It's a mental device for rationalizing the present state of the world so that you never have to act.
I'd second that. This book gives you a lot of wrong ideas (for example how banking works), a lot of moralizing and nothing at all about useful new concepts like monopolistic competition and externalities.
You will learn much more about mainstream economics from about.com for example.
It's a mental device for rationalizing the present state of the world so that you never have to act.
Well, except for the fact that an Austrian economist would change almost everything about how most Western governments handle economic policy. That's a cute sentence though.
It gives you an interesting perspective on things which is always good.
You will see a lot of the subchapter type arguments mentioned in the news and the like and at least now you have one perspective on the issues which even if you don't agree with it forces you to articulate your own side better.
It's a really good book for a layperson to start thinking about the economics section of the news. It's written well, too.
I have given away ~20 copies of this book so far and have gotten nothing but praise even from Marxists.
I don't know why I even bother to make this long post since Austrians in general are very,very far removed from being status quo-ists so your comment doesn't even make sense. The book is also not overly Austrian apart from the recommended reading.
Feel free to recommend a better "basics of economics" book.
Whether Austrians are happy with the status quo is an entirely political/class matter.
When banks get bailed-out by government, they're unhappy. When trade agreements and refusal to enforce labor laws pushes down wages and lengthens hours, that's "the free market".
Austrian economics is the opposite of a superpower. It's a mental device for rationalizing the present state of the world so that you never have to act.