Reviews for Common Sense Economics

The average rating for Common Sense Economics based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-10-16 00:00:00 David Thomas A very good book on the austrian perspective on the business cycle but quite rough and hard to follow at certain points for people more new to the austrian school. I would say this is not an subject intro book but it is of intermediary complexity.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-08-10 00:00:00 Frances Poel Lucien Albert Hahn was a sort of Keynesian during the 20's, but then changed sides when the rest of the world was going in the opposite direction. This book is his last attempt to explain his own model of how the economy works, and to throw some punches at the Keynesian tide. My impression from reading his books and articles is that Hahn must have enjoyed being a sort of contrarian and standing apart from the herd. Much to my disappointment, this book is not the brilliant gem I somewhat naively thought it was. I suspect in the end Hahn believed too much in his ability to explain the fundamental issues of pure, theoretical economics. I don't think he succeeds in providing a recommendable introduction to economics and to the economic system in general, although students may find some of his tools quite intuitive, such as the multi-period production/consumption scheme. Of course, being a friend of Ludwig von Mises, some of the latter's influence still shines through the book, which accounts for a nice focus on the time factor, on roundabout production, on uncertainty and entrepreneurship, etc. That much is recommendable. But some examples seemed simply wrong, and his explanation of profit as "a slice of somebody else's output" is outright dangerous. That sort of thing made me a bit reticent to give this one the 4 stars. Still, he shines through in discussing inflation and business cycles, the topics that accompanied him for all of his life. His discussion is very convincing. One really gets the feeling that the author knows what he's talking about from first hand experience. As such, this is a valuable resource for students and investors that which to explore the different phases of inflation and economic cycles. Hahn is very explicit in his rejection and critiques of Keynes (also, I believe, due to some resentment that Keynes in the end got famous for ideas that Hahn believed to have anticipated). I will consider to translate his chapter on "the economy in inflation and deflation" into Portuguese. Of special interest to investors will be the author's focus on stock market events at the end of each chapter.