Economics For Dummies?

Sean Masaki Flynn, author of Economics for Dummies, with sums up his book:

If a society can promote a set of legal and economic institutions in which there are 1) strong property rights, and in which 2) people are prevented from coercing each other and can only engage in mutually voluntary transactions, you are likely to have the highest-possible standards of living and the most rapid growth of living standards. This optimal outcome is only possible if there is robust competition between both buyers and sellers.

Monopolies, cartels, and other forms of “imperfect competition” can screw up the whole system, as can poorly enforced or poorly defined property rights. But economists are painfully aware that this “optimal” outcome does not guarantee equality of living standards. It only guarantees two very good things: 1) that our limited supply of resources will be directed toward producing the things that people are most willing and able to pay for, and 2) that those goods and services will be produced at the lowest possible cost.

But poor people have very little ability to pay for things, so their wants will not be satisfied under a market-based economic system. This can be grossly unfair and can be rectified by some combination of private-sector charity and/or public-sector policies regarding income redistribution.

Follow the link for more of his thoughts on the financial crisis, economics in general, and more.

It looks like his book gets a ton of great reviews. I'll have to check it out when I get some time -- I'm always on the lookout for good books that give an easy introduction to economics. I also noticed it's available in a Kindle edition.