Product Description

If you think economics is a complicated discipline reserved for theorists and the intellectual elite and has nothing to do with you, think again! Economics impacts every aspect of our lives, from what we eat to how we dress and where we live. This book simplifies the history, principles, theories, and terminology behind micro and macroeconomics, helping you get to grips with how economic decisions affect you, your finances, and the world around you.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4917 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 404 pages

From the Back Cover
If you think economics is a complicated discipline reserved for theorists and the intellectual elite and has nothing to do with you, think again! Economics impacts every aspect of our lives, from what we eat to how we dress and where we live. This book simplifies the history, principles, theories, and terminology behind micro and macroeconomics, helping you get to grips with how economic decisions affect you, your finances, and the world around you.

About the Author
Peter Antonioni is a Lecturer in Management at University College London. He has worked in both the academic and private sectors as an economist. Sean

Masaki Flynn, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Economics.

Customer Reviews

Well written and explained...
Unlike some of the for dummies guides, this book is very well written and very well explained. With a variety of diagrams and tables this book is definately a good one to start with.

The only down side is a little bit of economic knowledge might be helpful when reading this as some of the diagrams maybe hard to get your head around.

The book is split into a number of sections whic are then split into chapters. It is pretty easy to read and understand as pages are broken down into smaller paragraphs which make it easier to digest. As well as an indepth glossary in the back of the book, this book is very good at explaining specific points and also uses 'real world' examples in its case studies and explanations.

A very good book for a beginner an intermediate economic student, however more advanced students maybe left wanting a little more.

You can see the joins...
A reasonable intro to economics with one major problem. It is clearly little more than the American edition with a few British references thrown in (and this is supposed to be the 'UK Edition' as it says on the spine).

The two authors write in very different ways and it shows. Sean Masaki Flynn, the American author is very 'MTV' and tries far too hard to be conversational and informal with the result that he is rather annoying. His bits talk about the joys of peanut butter cookies and Ben and Jerry's fudge sundaes in ways that are unlikely to appeal to Brits.

In contrast, Peter Antonioni's sections are authoritative, evenly written and don't try to constantly be your 'buddy'. Every time the text switches between the two authors it is rather jarring. Indeed, readin the acknowledgements at the beginning it is clear that they have very different styles, ages, temperaments and opinions of themselves. Masaki Flynn is simply annoying. Maybe it's suitable for a US audience - but this should not be marketed as a British edition just because Antonioni gets to make a fw asides about Arsenal (or was it Spurs?).

In retrospect I wish I had bought one of the older single-author editions of Economics for Dummies which I imagine blows less hot and cold.

On a more positive note, I took the option of buying Investing for Dummies at the same time, and this is a far superior book. In fact it's rather better at explaining the essentials of economic theory than Economics for Dummies is, even though it only does it in passing.

Useless as a stand alone text
Economics for Dummies is a dry theory driven academic textbook at its core. It explains ideas using made up charts, graphs and figures with very little real world contextualisation. Around 8 pages of it are spread throughout a 404 page book. This contextualisation is usually done by a teacher / lecturer in order to link theory to the real world. Without it, the text remains dry theory.

The theory is clearly but often patronisingly explained using simplistic methods, for example by counting apples, oranges and slices of pizza.

If you want to learn about how economics works in the world, you are much better off using a book that explains ideas using actual economic events and data. One such book is Economics by Parkin, Powell and Matthews. It uses real world figures, charts, graphs and press clippings to get ideas across, which it does in a simple, clear and concise manner. As a bonus it also comes with an internet based study guide.

Another book that has even better contextualisation is Economics by Hubbard & O'Brien, although its content is US centric. It talks about the Federal Reserve rather than the Bank of England etc. although the economic principles explained remain the same.

Although both books are expensive new, they can be found cheaper second hand, especially older editions. Either way, it's money well spent.