Product Description

Reading and Understanding Economics enables you to get to grips with all the issues in today’s economy discussed at length everywhere you look in the media leaving you armed with a new vocabulary of key economic terms ready to conduct your own analysis next time you read a newspaper or listen to the news for business or pleasure

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #369212 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 251 pages

From the Back Cover

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Helping you move from reading economics textbooks to understanding the debates over economics and markets in the real world.

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• How do consumers react to uncertain economic times?
• Are you paying too much for electricity and gas?
• What is the best time to buy shares?
• Should you send your children to a private school? Add in extra one space allowing?

Do you want to know the answers to these questions? Then this is the book for you.

Reading and Understanding Economics analyses a selection of articles from a range of publications, all with recurrent themes relating to key economics issues in the news today. The book demonstrates how a good understanding of the key principles of economic theory can provide a solid framework for understanding many aspects of everyday life. International issues such as the demise of financial institutions, a monopoly on airports, inflation and the soaring cost of oil are analysed alongside more domestic concerns such as education, the minimum wage and using the tax system to reduce carbon emissions.

Articles are analysed in depth making it suitable for use by students studying on an introductory economics course, or indeed for anyone with an interest in current affairs. The book leaves you armed with a new vocabulary of key economics terms ready to conduct your own analysis next time you read or listen to the news for business or pleasure.         

Kevin’s Book blog:

Visit the book’s website at www.pearsoned.co.uk/boakes to access the author’s regularly updated blog for his take on the day’s business news as it unfolds, download pod casts with further article analysis and check your understanding with suggested hints to in-text questions. 

Also available:

Readingand Understanding the Financial Times ISBN 9780173715597

Also written by Kevin Boakes, this book helps you read and understand the Financial Times with confidence analysing articles with recurrent themes relating to some of the most important issues in the world of corporate finance.  

Quotes for back cover:

“This book will help you understand how economies and financial markets work, and how investors think. It helps you move from reading economics textbooks to understand the debates over economics and markets in the real world. I recommend it to anyone looking to work in financial markets or interested in the topic".

Michael Saunders, Economist Citigroup

“Reading and Understanding Economics integrates theory with real world applications in a unique way. Using nearly 30 recent articles as a starting point, Kevin Boakes manages to demonstrate just how effective simple micro-and macroeconomic tools can be in understanding a wide variety of topical issues from private schools to financial crises
 
The author does not shy away from using theory but always does so in such a way that the relevance is clear to the reader. The result is a book that will appeal to undergraduate and MBA students as well as anyone who wants to be able to understand what is really going on behind the headlines"

Professor David Paton, Professor of Industrial Economics,

NottinghamUniversity Business School

Quotes for inside front cover:

“The strength is the use of easily readable and interesting articles to explain and illustrate dry economic theory, especially useful to non-specialist economics students.                       

DennisMcGrath University of Westminster

 “It is a very readable guide to economic issues that occur in the news. It shows students not only how interesting such news articles can be but also how they can be used to investigate economics and make the bridge between theory and current affairs. The analysis of the issues is concise and very clear, and via the questions and podcasts readers will be able to build on the material provided in the text.”

Ian Sharpe Sheffield Hallam University.

“The main strength of the book is the provision of severaltechnology related features such as web-based activities and podcasts.

Muncinga Simatele, University of Hertfordshire

“The book is a very good addition to texts in introductory and intermediate economics modules as well as for modules in applied economics. It could also serve well as a textbook on its own for courses for non-economists. It is especially important as students often stress a need for real life examples to illustrate the topics they learn.”

PiotrJaworski Napier University

About the Author

After graduating with a degree in Economics, and an MSc from the London School of Economics, Kevin Boakes started his working life on the bond trading desk at Greenwell Montagu Gilt-edged, which is now part of HSBC Investment Bank. As their Chief UK Economist he was responsible for giving on the spot advice to bond traders as soon as economic stories hit the news screens. He regularly contributed articles to newspapers including the Times, Observer and Guardian and appeared on the BBC’s Money Programme and the Financial World Tonight. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Accounting and Finance at Kingston university. In addition to his academic work he has run a number of economics and financial market training courses for various Investment Banks. In early 2008 his first book “Reading and Understanding the Financial Times”, a practical analysis of financial articles from the FT, was published.