He also says subsidised healthcare always 'costs far more than initially expected', despite the US spending by far the most money per capita on healthcare in the world? (.this isnt mentioned either).īecause of this I have no idea whether his arguments are even valid, and have had to check how true each of them are myself with further research, defeating the point of buying this book in the first place.

However he completely fails to mention that these other health care systems rank far higher than the US in almost every metric, and he doesn't even comment on the American systems glaring deficiencies.

For example Sowell insinuates that Americas private medical system is better than other developed countries, using a few vague statistics about waiting time differences and one specific example about a girl getting a cosmetic surgery, with no context for either (this forms part of a well-argued segment showing why government control of prices produces poor outcomes). Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.Heavy bias makes this book difficult to read, as you never know whether you're getting all the facts or not. A revised, 5th edition of this bestselling guide to the economy. Basic Economics, which has now been translated into six languages and has additional material online, remains true to its core principle: that the fundamental facts and principles of economics do not require jargon, graphs, or equations, and can be learned in a relaxed and even enjoyable way. Drawing on lively examples from around the world and from centuries of history, Sowell explains basic economic principles for the general public in plain English. In this fifth edition of Basic Economics, Thomas Sowell revises and updates his popular book on common sense economics, bringing the world into clearer focus through a basic understanding of the fundamental economic principles and how they explain our lives.

A common sense guide to the economy