Another review of The Literary

Another review of The Literary Book of Economics

Jeff Jacoby gives it a good review in today's Boston Globe, here: "The unbearable dullness of economic writing". He wonder why economics writing is so hard to read:

"Ahem!" said the Mouse with an important air, "are you all ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! `William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria --' ""Ugh!" said the Lory, with a shiver. -- Lewis Carroll

"Alice in Wonderland"

IF LEWIS CARROLL were writing today, he would have the Mouse recite "the driest thing I know" not from an old history book, but from something by a contemporary economist. Something like -- oh, like Alan Greenspan's testimony before Congress last month: "Some of the residual war-related uncertainties have abated further and financial conditions have turned decidedly more accommodative, supported, in part, by the Federal Reserve's commitment to foster sustainable growth and to guard against a substantial further disinflation. Yields across maturities and risk classes have posted marked declines, which together with improved profits boosted stock prices and household wealth. If the past is any guide, these domestic financial developments, apart from the heavy dose of fiscal stimulus now in train, should bolster economic activity over coming quarters..."

Michael Watt's, the author of the new The Literary Book of Economics,

"...had the ingenious notion of representing economic principles with selections drawn from literature, poetry, and drama. The result is a wonderfully rich and vivid survey of the economic realm -- a compilation far more likely to kindle an interest in economics than Greenspan's jargon-filled sludge.

"For Watts, Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" illustrates the idea of opportunity cost -- the options forgone every time a choice is made. Six epitaphs from Edgar Lee Masters's "Spoon River Anthology" help illuminate specialization and the division of labor -- key elements of industrial productivity. "A Modest Proposal," Jonathan Swift's satirical recommendation that Irish children be eaten, is a perfect -- and grisly -- example of cost-benefit analysis..."

I posted about this book a few days ago, here: "This looks like an interesting book".