Outside the box [Review of Thomas Sowell's new book]

The Washington Times ^ | January 13, 2004 | Richard W. Rahn

[xsysmgr]

Have you wondered why politicians frequently recommend policies that are destructive to economic growth? Or why cities with "rent control" end up having decrepit housing? Or why medical care costs rise much faster than inflation?

The answers to these and many other public policy questions can be found in Thomas Sowell's informative and entertaining new book, "Applied Economics." If I had chosen the title, I would have dropped "Applied Economics," which sounds boring (the book is not), and led with the subtitle "Thinking Beyond Stage One," which is the real theme of the book.

[BartMan1]

good reading

[hobbes1]

Excellent!!!! I got that for Christmas, and am just about to crack it open...

[KC Burke]

Sowell bump

[B4Ranch]

"Many of the and programs would have been foreseeable from the outset if these processes had been analyzed in terms of incentives and constraints they created, instead of in terms of the desirability they proclaimed. Once we start thinking in terms of the chain of events set in motion by particular policies -- and following these events beyond stage one -- the world begins to look very different."

"unintended consequences of policies"

Hmmmm? I have ny doubts about "unintended consequences"

Scan the whole page for good reading!
Conservative Debate Handbook

[B4Ranch]

"Many of the and programs would have been foreseeable from the outset if these processes had been analyzed in terms of incentives and constraints they created, instead of in terms of the desirability they proclaimed. Once we start thinking in terms of the chain of events set in motion by particular policies -- and following these events beyond stage one -- the world begins to look very different."

"unintended consequences of policies"

Hmmmm? I have ny doubts about "unintended consequences"

Scan the whole page for good reading!
Conservative Debate Handbook

[Alberta's Child]

I'm reading this book right now -- I highly recommend it.

My only complaint about Sowell's books on economics is that they sometimes appear to be cobbled together from groups of essays or shorter tracts. He'll sometimes use an example more than once to illustrate two different points, without ever acknowledging that the example is the same one as the one he cited earlier. A simple, "As we saw in the example cited in Chapter 3 . . ." would be great.

[Aquinasfan]

Many of the unintended consequences of policies and programs would have been foreseeable from the outset if these processes had been analyzed in terms of incentives and constraints they created, instead of in terms of the desirability they proclaimed.

This should be posted at DU 1-2 million times.

[Aquinasfan]

Hmmmm? I have ny doubts about "unintended consequences"

Yeah. Like this one.

[IncPen]

see #9...