Audiobook13 hours
Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science
Written by Charles Wheelan
Narrated by Kerin McCue
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
International bestseller
At last! A new edition of the economics book that won’t put you to sleep. In fact, you won’t be able to put this bestseller down. In our challenging economic climate, this perennial favorite of students and general readers is more than a good read, it’s a necessary investment—with a blessedly sure rate
of return. This revised and updated edition includes commentary on hot topics such as automation, trade, income inequality, and America’s rising debt. Ten years after the financial crisis, Naked Economics examines how policymakers managed the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Demystifying buzzwords, laying bare the truths behind oft-quoted numbers, and answering the questions you were always too embarrassed to ask, the breezy Naked Economics gives you the tools to engage with pleasure and confidence in the deeply relevant, not so dismal science.
"Clear, concise, informative, [and] witty."—Chicago Tribune
At last! A new edition of the economics book that won’t put you to sleep. In fact, you won’t be able to put this bestseller down. In our challenging economic climate, this perennial favorite of students and general readers is more than a good read, it’s a necessary investment—with a blessedly sure rate
of return. This revised and updated edition includes commentary on hot topics such as automation, trade, income inequality, and America’s rising debt. Ten years after the financial crisis, Naked Economics examines how policymakers managed the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Demystifying buzzwords, laying bare the truths behind oft-quoted numbers, and answering the questions you were always too embarrassed to ask, the breezy Naked Economics gives you the tools to engage with pleasure and confidence in the deeply relevant, not so dismal science.
"Clear, concise, informative, [and] witty."—Chicago Tribune
More audiobooks from Charles Wheelan
We Came, We Saw, We Left: A Family Gap Year Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Write for Your Life: A Guide to Clear and Purposeful Writing (and Presentations) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Naked Economics
Related audiobooks
The Economic Naturalist's Field Guide: Common Sense Principles for Troubled Times Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair, and Sustainable Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Understandable Economics: Because Understanding Our Economy Is Easier Than You Think and More Important Than You Know Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat Would the Great Economists Do?: How Twelve Brilliant Minds Would Solve Today's Biggest Problems Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Physics of Wall Street: A Brief History of Predicting the Unpredictable Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Civilization: The West and the Rest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/513 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing (Eleventh Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Behavioural Economics: Psychology, neuroscience, and the human side of economics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Divide: Global Inequality from Conquest to Free Markets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Teaching Methods & Materials For You
Summary: The Laws of Human Nature: by Robert Greene: Key Takeaways, Summary & Analysis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary: I'm Glad My Mom Died: by Jennette McCurdy: Key Takeaways, Summary & Analysis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Learn Spanish While Sleeping Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everyday Spanish for Beginners - 400 Actions & Activities Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication: Apply Them and Make the Most of Your Message Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary: Greenlights: by Matthew McConaughey: Key Takeaways, Summary & Analysis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pound The Stone: 7 Lessons to Develop Grit on the Path to Mastery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Taking Charge of ADHD: The Complete, Authoritative Guide for Parents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elements of Style Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Learn Like a Pro: Science-Based Tools to Become Better at Anything Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 5 Love Languages of Teenagers: The Secret to Loving Teens Effectively Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Financial Feminist: Overcome the Patriarchy’s Bullsh*t to Master Your Money and Build a Life You Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Teaching Children: All I Learned from a Lifetime in the Classroom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Talk So Kids Can Learn: At Home and In School Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Smart but Scattered Teens: The "Executive Skills" Program for Helping Teens Reach Their Potential Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Naked Economics
Rating: 4.010380643598617 out of 5 stars
4/5
289 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Macroeconomics is really world politics; if you understand markets, incentives, and government and meta-government entities like the Federal Reserve and the International Monetary Fund, then you'll understand the news of current events. _Naked Economics_ is a readable, logical, and lucid explanation of these topics.Don't be put off by the jacket blurbs. I was concerned that an economics book touted as "laugh-out-loud funny" would be another one of those fluff armchair-economics books that try to divert you by presenting one confounding and counter-intuitive puzzler after another (a la _Freakonomics_ and _More Sex is Safer Sex_). Those books can be entertaining, but I haven't found that they improve or deepen my understanding of politics and world events. _Naked Economics_, on the other hand, drives exactly at that deeper understanding. A side effect of being authored in 2001, it is eerily prescient about topics like auto-industry bailouts and courting deflation when you push interest rates around too much.No, I wouldn't say this book is "funny." Instead, it's like getting a clear explanation of some obtuse topics from your cool, hip friend, in a way that makes you feel smarter when you've finished.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great read. Wheelen’s approachable and conversational style made this a fun read.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Facile and shallow. However, it did remind me that I want to dig into that more substantive work, "Economism", by James Kwak.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I picked up this book after reading Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data by the same author. I truly enjoyed that book and this one is no different. This book is really good for people like me who are not Economists by profession. I got familiarized with the basics of economics and am now curious for more.The author emphasizes the importance of free trade and although this might mean loss (to some extent) to the United States (his home country), he still pushes for this as it as a positive global impact in the long run.I could easily assimilate the concepts like GDP per capita, how interest rates affect us and what affects them, inflation and deflation and their implication on the global market. The author puts them in elementary language which makes it easy to grasp.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazingly, the author does not show strong ideological bias, for an economics book this is very strange. I now know what 'The Fed' does, also he has converted me wholly to free-trade (previously I was uncommitted).
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I started reading this book feeling I was reasonably clever, and I finished this book realizing that I wasn't even fit for extremely stupid. Not that this book isn't good - it's too good, that's the problem, I think.
This book simplifies a lot of concepts, but still, with my slow mind, I had to keep going over bits, re-reading paragraphs to finally absorb it.
Now I've finished the book, I've got mixed feelings; I'm feeling guilty about feeling relieved that I've finished this book after 1 month and 2 days, but I'm kind of feeling like I should read more books like this one so that, eventually, I might be able to read it would pausing and re-reading. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I found Mr. Wheelan's discussions of government policy and economics to be very enlightening. And his discussions of international trade and world poverty were also very interesting. This was a very readable look at basic economic principles applied to real life world issues.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A very good, "no-tears" approach to basic economics. Although it discusses markets, the book spends most of its time on macro-economics, monetary policy, international trade, and development. Well written and amusing, but also thoughtful and accurate.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is a great general-public book on economics. With humor and simple words, it explains the basis of economy : free-trade and state regulation, human capital, interest rates and inflation, etc. It is not written like an academic book with highly detailed outlines and a bunch of theoretical references, and it is nice and easy to read. It is a real good basis for economics 101 and even gives some notes to go further. Moreover, it is written by a Chicago-based correspondent for the Economist, so it is full of examples from Chicago life.The author is sometimes described as a moderate liberal but to my point of view, he is really in favor of free-trade and speaks badly about left-wing activists and antiglobalization groups. He believes that social actor is fully rational and that the free-trade is fair for all : he seems to forget about cheating, insiders tradings, disinformation and others capitalist tricks and evils. So it is a great book for basic understanding of economic process but you’d better think twice about the big figure of capitalism and wars for profit.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I gave it a 4 for an economics book which is saying something , but this is not equivalent to a 4 for ....say ....an ANNE Rice novel. But as an economics book , this easily digestible primer , is not only informative but mildly amusing. The author explains the theories and tenets of economics without boring you to tears. I believe I have more of a complete understanding of economics as some of the blanks in my comprehension of this subject has been filled. I recall one of my first book adventure capitalist as a fun economics book that tauted free trade , but this book truly explains why it works.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lucid and amusing, Naked Economics provides an excellent, engaging introduction to the subject for the novices, math-phobes, and lovers of good writing among us. It's perfect for providing some conceptual understanding to those, like me, who remain curious about the workings of the world, yet whose formal education didn't take in what it should have. (Or who didn't take in what we should have, during them!) As the title playfully suggests, this is economics stripped of the impeding charts, equations, and graphs, leaving essential, exciting concepts visible in all their naked glory. They're bared to a point of great liveliness and accessibility. I finished feeling a sense of comprehension I wish I could pay Wheelan for, far beyond the price of the book. Never again will my eyes glaze at a mention of the Federal Reserve; nor will I be confounded by the failure of certain bright and altruistic ideas I wanted to work; nor the success of peculiar, minor special interest groups; nor the continued dominance of McDonald's, to the detriment of the intriguing place next door (not that this one flummoxed me, but he does dissect it beautifully, in 'The Economics of Information'). Never again will I approach an economy dogged by the vague, yet dispiriting sense that within each only a fixed number of jobs does or could exist. And so on, ad infinitum. I thought the chapter 'Trade and Globalization' especially illuminating, as Wheelan makes an excellent case for the benefits of international trade running both ways, even when they look disadvantageous to the poorer countries, or involve lost jobs in the wealthier. It's not without genuine downsides in the short term, and for individuals, which is neither minimized or overlooked; but he puts his points about the overall, long-term benefits with great clarity and good sense. I found that, like much else, not only lucid but bracing.Much as I'll benefit by rereading (and reading other economics works), Naked Economics invites it, and lays enough groundwork that you can begin knowing nothing, and end not merely willing, but eager, to seek out more difficult books on the subject.