Essays in Economics Book

Varoufakis set himself a very difficult task here, and his success is uneven. His goal is to provide an exposition and history of the basic concepts of neoclassical economics, and a criticism of them as well. For the most part, his exposition is excellent, and readers looking for an introductory critical perspective on neoclassical economics would do well to begin here (it is a bit more readable than Steve Keen's Debunking Economics, for example). However, the criticisms he provides, couched at the same level as the introduction, are too frequently "gotcha" jabs that would hardly withstand a serious response from neoclassicals. That's not to say there is nothing valuable here. The discussion and critique of welfare economics, in particular, is quite good. However, when it comes to marginal utility and production functions, Varoufakis' critique is quite shallow. Overall, a good introduction, but if you've already spent some time with critiques of economics, you may want to look elsewhere to broaden your foundation.