The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World, Revised and Updated

The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World, Revised and Updated

Released January 2013
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781118391570

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Book description

An accessible, thoroughly engaging look at how the economy really works and its role in your everyday life

Not surprisingly, regular people suddenly are paying a lot closer attention to the economy than ever before. But economics, with its weird technical jargon and knotty concepts and formulas can be a very difficult subject to get to grips with on your own. Enter Greg Ip and his Little Book of Economics. Like a patient, good-natured tutor, Greg, one of today's most respected economics journalists, walks you through everything you need to know about how the economy works. Short on technical jargon and long on clear, concise, plain-English explanations of important terms, concepts, events, historical figures and major players, this revised and updated edition of Greg's bestselling guide clues you in on what's really going on, what it means to you and what we should be demanding our policymakers do about the economy going forward.

  • From inflation to the Federal Reserve, taxes to the budget deficit, you get indispensible insights into everything that really matters about economics and its impact on everyday life

  • Special sections featuring additional resources of every subject discussed and where to find additional information to help you learn more about an issue and keep track of ongoing developments

  • Offers priceless insights into the roots of America's economic crisis and its aftermath, especially the role played by excessive greed and risk-taking, and what can be done to avoid another economic cataclysm

  • Digs into globalization, the roots of the Euro crisis, the sources of China's spectacular growth, and why the gap between the economy's winners and losers keeps widening

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Contents
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Foreword
  7. Introduction
  8. Chapter One: The Secrets of Success
    1. A Recipe for Economic Growth
    2. Take a Growing Population
    3. Add Capital
    4. Season with Ideas
    5. Nurturing Growth
    6. Into the Weeds
    7. Will the United States Become the Next Japan?
  9. Chapter Two: Economic Bungee Jumping
    1. Not Your Father’s Business Cycle
    2. Ringing the Gong
    3. When the Bungee Cord Breaks
  10. Chapter Three: In-Flight Monitor
    1. The Four Engines of the Economy
    2. The Mapmakers
    3. How to Make Astrologers Look Prescient
  11. Chapter Four: Labor Pains
    1. Say It Ain’t So
    2. Diving into the Employment Petri Dish
    3. Payday
    4. Unemployment, Naturally
    5. Into the Weeds
    6. The Job Market of Tomorrow
  12. Chapter Five: Fire and Ice
    1. From Cigarettes to Aztecs
    2. Even Worse than Inflation
    3. The People’s Choice
    4. Into the Weeds
  13. Chapter Six: Drop the Puck!
    1. A Gravitational Pull from Afar
    2. It’s Complicated
    3. A Question of Balances: Trade Deficits and Surpluses
    4. Meet Mr. Smoot and Mr. Hawley
    5. Into the Weeds
  14. Chapter Seven: All the World’s an ATM
    1. Financing Deficits and More
    2. The American Dollar: The World’s Problem
    3. Into the Weeds
  15. Chapter Eight: The Price of Economic Freedom
    1. What Drives Exchange Rates
    2. Exchange Rate Regimes
    3. The Euro
    4. Into the Weeds
  16. Chapter Nine: All the President’s Men
    1. The Company Presidents Keep
    2. The Long Arms of the Law
  17. Chapter Ten: The Buck Starts Here
    1. Spandex Money
    2. Who’s in Charge?
  18. Chapter Eleven: White Smoke over the Washington Mall
    1. Inside the FOMC Meeting
    2. Punch Bowls and Ham Sandwiches
    3. Fedspeak
    4. Into the Weeds, Conventionally
    5. Into the Weeds, Unconventionally
    6. When Monetary Policy Stops Working
  19. Chapter Twelve: When the World Needs a Fireman
    1. A Rude Awakening
    2. Could the Fed Go Broke?
    3. Into the Weeds
    4. Lender to the World
  20. Chapter Thirteen: The Elephant in the Economy
    1. What the Government Giveth
    2. What the Government Taketh Away
    3. In Search of a Better Tax System
    4. Into the Weeds
  21. Chapter Fourteen: Good Debt, Bad Debt
    1. Three’s a Crowd
    2. Stimulus versus Austerity, the Great Debate
    3. Debt Traps and Debt Crises
    4. Could It Happen Here?
    5. Into the Weeds
    6. The Hidden National Debt
  22. Chapter Fifteen: Love-Hate Relationship
    1. Where Have You Gone, George Bailey?
    2. Capital Markets
    3. The Teenage Boys of Finance
    4. A Species of Neuralgia
  23. Acknowledgments
  24. About the Author

Product information

  • Title: The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World, Revised and Updated
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: January 2013
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781118391570