Easy to understand, EVERYONE needs to read this book. Once again, Sowell exposes the fallacies (as he calls them) of many social and economic perceptions pushed by the Left. His points are simple and extremely relevant, backed up by several dozen factual references for each chapter. Perfect gift for your friends who refuse to concede the failures of Big Government social policies! This book should be a staple in your library.

Thomas Sowell is direct and to the point. He writes in a way that is easy to understand and very informative. This book should be required reading for everyone before they get a credit card or vote!

My fantasy of having great wealth is to start a foundation that would give a book a week to every member of Congress, every state legislator, every government policymaker, every opinion columnist and every candidate. This would be the second book we'd give out. First would be Sowell's "Basic Economics." Yes, it might not do any good. I recently cited to a newspaper columnist Sowell's history of what happens to government revenues when you increase the Capital Gains tax (hint: the opposite of what's expected). The columnist told me those were "right wing facts" and he wasn't interested in any facts that supported business. Really. Too many people want to discard any facts that don't support their cherished illusions, preferring comfortable lies, which is why politicians of both parties get elected promising to do things that sound good, but hurt the majority of people they claim to be helping.

Reading Thomas Sowell would at least make it harder for them to do with a straight face. And if every voter read Sowell, it would be much harder for politicians to pander to their uninformed prejudice.

Thomas Sowell is a remarkable writer. He explains economics and politics in such a common sense way. Thomas Sowell's books and articles in [...] are always refreshing to read.

I decided that as a responsible citizen I should try to learn a few things about economics. I found that this book is a great aid in that endeavor. Dr. Sowell is a master in making the complex principles of economics easy for the layman. Although my favorite is his book, "Basic Economics," this book is an excellent further examination into some of the principles he brought up in that one. My favorites here were the chapters on college education, income disparity, and the third world. For those that wonder about some of the economic statistics that are so easily thrown around by the media--Dr. Sowell takes some of them on and clearly shows where they are wrong. Every informed citizen should read this book!

Many of the economic facts in his book contradict conventional wisdom and are somewhat counter-intuitive, but you cannot deny the facts and it makes me realize how little I really understand about economics.

In this election year it is interesting about how much bad economic policy is being spewed out by politicians on both sides of the aisle. Every politician should read this book....however, good economic policy is rarely popular since in many cases it is counter-intuitive.

Pete.

Because Dr. Sowell writes so very well it is easy to get swept up in his arguments. And because he is so edifying even to those with some expertise in economics, it is easy for us to put aside our critical faculties and go blithely along without noticing some unstated assumptions and what he leaves out.

Underlying Sowell's approach to economics are two main assumptions:

One, when it comes to humans, more is good. Conservatives tend to believe this because they fear that stagnant or shrinking populations will lead to stagnant or depressed economic growth.

Two, problems of depleted resources can be solved by human ingenuity. Essentially this is the position championed by the late Julian Simon who espoused a belief in endless resources and unlimited population growth made possible by scientific and technological progress. What this approach to economics ignores is quality of life and the cost to future generations.

In the chapter on "Urban Facts and Fallacies," Sowell criticizes "smart growth" laws, "open space" laws, eminent domain laws, and other restrictions placed on development by cities and counties. He demonstrates that such actions raise the price of existing housing while preventing developers from building more housing. Consequently, the average person can't afford to buy a house in places like San Francisco, Monterey or San Mateo counties in California, or Montgomery County in Maryland and elsewhere. On page 26 he gives the contrary example of Houston, Texas which "does not even have zoning laws, much less the array of severe housing restrictions found in some other cities." On the next page he notes "severe building restrictions began in" Palo Alto, California during the 1970s, "but not in Las Vegas, where builders could simply construct new homes as the demand for housing increased."

In addition to asking rhetorically "Where would you rather live?" I would note that it normal and historically sanctioned for people to protect the value of their property by preventing the growth of anything nearby that might lower that value. What Sowell is really objecting to is the influence of property owners on local governments. I don't know where Sowell lives, but I doubt if he would be pleased with the construction of a Soviet-style high rise housing development next door. Indeed I think he would use whatever political influence he has to prevent such a development.

The chapter on "Racial Facts and Fallacies" is fascinating and Sowell makes some excellent points. He rejects the idea that the reason for poverty in black ghettos is the "legacy of slavery." He shows statistically that things have gotten worse over time in black neighborhoods rather than better as we have gotten more removed from the time of slavery. What he doesn't do is account for this other than to note that fatherless families living on welfare produce children that do not do well economically. The implication might be that, well, they're black and not made of quite the right stuff. Sowell doesn't say this. Instead he blames "Southern culture" as he contrasts the attainment and quality of life of northern blacks with that of both whites and blacks from the South. He writes, "the regional culture of the South existed in particular regions of Britain in centuries past, regions where people destined to settle in the American South exhibited the same behavior patterns before they immigrated to the South. They were called 'crackers' and 'rednecks' before they crossed the Atlantic--and before they ever saw a slave." (pp. 165-166)

The hard-to-escape implication is that ultimately it is the inheritance of some kind of British subculture that is continuing to hold Afro-Americans down. This conclusion is further developed on page 187 where Sowell writes, "What lower-class white communities in Britain and black ghettoes in the United States have in common is a pattern of social pathologies that became pronounced in the latter half of the twentieth century, when similar ideas and polices became dominant in both countries." He concludes vaguely: "In both countries, politicians, activists, and ideologues who claimed to have solutions instead made many problems worse than before." Somehow I doubt that he was thinking about the leadership of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, although this nebulous statement doesn't rule that out!

Sowell points out that there is a whole lot of land in this world that is not developed. He notes (p. 10) that "more than nine-tenths of the land" in the United States "remains undeveloped." What he glosses over is the fact that the land that is developed is the best land, and that much of the undeveloped land cannot at present be profitably developed. Again in the conservative economic mindset there are always more resources to be developed by clever and industrious humans. Indeed, one cannot help but think that Sowell in particular believes that poverty is the end result of unclever and unindustrious humans. Again and again he points to great economic advances made by some particular group--the Chinese in Singapore, the Jews in New York, the Germans in Argentina, etc. And in this he is undoubtedly right. Indeed, this is one aspect of conservative economic thought that I find irrefutable.

Another major detriment to economic well being, as Sowell notes again and again, are corrupt and lawless governments. He cites many examples around the world demonstrating this truth.

Less convincing is his argument that slavery came first and racism later as a justification for slavery. (See page 162.) True, slavery is thousands of years old, but xenophobia, which is at the heart of racism, is even older. Furthermore it is easier to take and keep slaves that are of a different color or culture than that of the slave holders, both psychologically and as a practical matter. The man of color stands out in a white community, and a blue-eyed European would be conspicuous in ancient Egypt.

Having said all this I want to emphasize that this is an excellent book by a distinguished economist well worth the reading.

Excellent read. Thomas Sowell has done it again. He takes beliefs many of us have about economics and proves just how wrong these beliefs are. This should be required reading for high school as well as college. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in economics.

As always, Dr. Thomas Sowell has written yet another clear, incisive and illuminating book. His gift for explaining complex things in an easily understood manner is again on display.

There is no better way to learn and appreciate economics than to buy and read every Thomas Sowell book you can find. I regard him as the most insightful writer and teacher I have ever found. He is a national and an international treasure.

A very good book, does a great job of pointing out many fallacies that circulate in the USA. But I was disappointed in his citing of black "family incomes" below the poverty line in chapter 6. The statistics he cites in this chapter to show that the civil rights movement had a small influence in black poverty contradicts his discussion in chapter 5 about income fallacies, specifically the use of "Household income" to demonstrate a lack of income improvement among the poor. That contradiction stuck out to me like a sore thumb! Otherwise, a very enlightening book!

I am a big fan of Dr. Sowell's work, but this one just did not strike that same chord with me. While he had some very good points and data, it was delivered in a very belabored way that made it hard for me to finish. I actually had to push myself, whereas Basic Economics 2nd Ed: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy, Revised and Expanded Edition was easy to breeze right through the book. I believe you could get as much or more from reading his weekly syndicated articles. He's a great educator and genius of a man, just didn't quite hit the mark with this one.

As always, Sowell finds the whole truth! Now, most published statistics only use only the data that fits their agenda, but he gets to the true basic facts.

The Economic research herein is very good
and one can hardly doubt that Sowell's fine
friend of the libertarian feathers, George
Mason[VA]University Economic Professor Walt
Williams helped him on this. One silly revi-
ewer said that Sowell has the right questions
but not the right answers.

This book should not be considered the 'final
answer to the points raised therein. It's never
that simple. But the book definately raises the
right questions and suggests suitable alternat-
ives to the Economic mess we find ourselves in.

Remember, War is never the answer and Demo(n)cans
and Republicrats have not even been giving us the
right economic equations. Just ask Ben Bernake,
who just attended the Bilderberg Meeting here in
Northern Virginia recently!

Sowell gives some insightful views into the facts and taken-for-granted fallicies of economics. This has been very good reading! Thanks for the research and detail.

I felt like he spent too much time on the pay differences between men and women, but aside from that I thought it was really good. He shows how statistics can be misinterpreted to "prove" a point of view, but that if you dig down you can see how the statistics were misused.

For example discussing the disparity of income between rich and poor the fallacy is that people within one quintile are there for life. In fact people typically start out in the bottom quintile and as they get more experience and education they work their way up through several quintiles and eventually when they retire they return to the bottom quintile. Retired people with small incomes are not necessarily "poor" because they own their homes and have substantial assets, yet they are grouped with the poor when comparing incomes.

In this book Thomas Sowell shows again and again how "lies, damned lies, and statistics" are abused to buttress arguments--usually including a cry for some form of government intervention. The opening chapter alone should be required reading for anyone trying to understand the errors willfully propagated by politicians and media. Despite sharing a similar economic viewpoint much of the information was new to me. I found very interesting the different impacts of marriage on men and women, which of course made complete sense for social reasons, rather than any innate bias. Also interesting was the fact that income disparities between poorest and richest nations actually decreased over time when you compare the same countries, and not just the countries that are richest or poorest at different times. Many other interesting and illuminating facts can be found, and I would suspect most readers would be able to find something to make them think about an issue differently than they have in the past. The tone throughout is respectful and scholarly, and you may choose to disagree with some of his conclusions but as John Adams is quoted on the title page "Facts are stubborn things".

REad one of his essays, put the book down, think about what you read, apply it to your world around you, then pick up the book and read another essay. Sowell is my hero.

This is a book that everyone who believes himself or herself to be a rational, objective person should read. Thomas Sowell, in crisp, crystal clear writing, exposes the false beliefs, and conclusions drawn from them, which have become "revealed truths" in the most sacrosanct areas. These "truths" have formed the rationale for large-scale government programs of social redemption and reclamation, for planning commissions exerting increasing control over private lands, for average people attempting to understand important basis issues in their lives. Each chapter is self-contained enabling the book to be savored at separate readings without losing the continuity. Reading this book should help to sharpen our ability to more carefully evaluate the important issues which play major roles in our lives.

Leonti H. Thompson, M.D.

Well, with a presidential election fast approaching, NOW is the time for this book. See the assumptions underlying politicians' promises, and think through the potential consequences for yourself. Thomas Sowell does a remarkable job at making economics clear, logical, and reasonable for lay-people. He writes better than most journalists, and he makes you smarter.

easily lays out the most common fallacys we hear about in our world and elucidates these conceptsconcisely and with profundity

This is the most informative book on government intervention in the economy and it's destructive results. Anyone who wants to know why we are where we are and where we are headed, must read this wonderful book by Thomas Sowell.

If you are looking for 1. A very quick read; 2. Another example of one man's struggle to find reason amidst the tragedies of our time; 3. A series of fallacies that fails to explain pertinent facts of our time; 4. A distraction from the facts that have led to the greatest environmental challenge humans have ever faced; 5. Time away from any consideration of the true value of natural resources (perhaps you're a Native American or an oil-soaked Eskimo? 6. A devilish laugh: You Have Found One Excellent Diversion! If not give 'The Story of Stupidity' a chance, especially if you are interested in facts and fallacies.

Typical of Dr. Sowell's writing. Easily understood; irrefutable logic. Too many cold facts to be propaganda.

Sowell does an excellent job in this book. He explains the many facts and fallacies found in economics... especially applicable to the current political debates.

With all of the noise that comes before a presidential election, if you want to be grounded, if you want clarity, then read Thomas Sowell's newest book. Sowell provides a wealth of knowledge, on economic issues, based in facts you can further investigate.

Because this is a presidential year all issues will look very bleak to all canidates who are in the running for any political office. Any of Sowell's books are a great counterbalance to remove the unecessary emotion and blind nobility that can not produce the lofty promises made.

Sowell's newest book first defines classic fallacies to be on the look out, for the future. Also, he deals with specific issues like men and women earnings, academics, third world countries, and race. With each subject Sowell shows us classic fallacies the press or politicians will use to manipulate public perception.

Sowell makes his data and evidence very clear; therefore, if you like to go to the primary source, he'll show you how to get there, if you're a researcher.

Sowell is well-versed in practical reality-based economics and makes common sense to his readershio. His points range from quite humorous (I think) to quite serious, and are not stated in a verbose or technical jargon, or literary fashion. He integrates well into my general speaking and thinking genre/pattern, so I truly do enjoy his authorship to date He may be said to be somewhat sociological, but the underlying ideas are much more important than fuzzy theories from ivory towers. I believe strongly in pattern recognition as a strong natural force and these are values I recognize clearly and readily.

Chris G.

While I may agree with most of the conclusions in this book, and agreement generally seduces four and five star reviews, at best this book deserves three stars for trying but two for falling short. Sowell, rightly wants to "torture" the data in order to reveal the truth, a truth that is very much at odds with common perceptions based on intentionally misleading superficial interpretations of the same data. While he does a much better job than most, he still falls well short of his objective. And worse, he knows it and intentionally disguises it. For that, I subtract one star.

For example, he (merely) asserts that changes in the marriage patterns of women largely accounts for changes in their relative pay. Perhaps, but more equal pay may very well have motivated significant changes in their behavior. Incentive based behavioral changes would surely be consistent with economic theory. He shows that while there might not be many women in careers like engineering, with other factors held equal, their equal pay demonstrate that women do earn as much as men. Perhaps, but employers desperately seeking the appearance of equality should likely have driven the salaries of scare women engineers beyond the pay of equivalent men.

In the case of hedonic quality adjustments and their critical effect on measures of inflation, he lists reasons why simple measures of price inadequately measure inflation, knowing full well that many of the factors he mentions are already incorporated into inflation measures as a result of the Boskin commission. He never mentions Boskin. Similarly, he creates a list of people that are rich but don't earn much, like the housewives of rich husbands, and then asserts that they account for "hundreds of thousands" of workers who are mistakenly classified as poor. "Hundreds of thousands" may sound like a lot but mathematically it's essentially zero. The list goes on. While Sowell searches for a more accurate interpretation of the data, at the same time he intentionally disguises flaws and weakness in his own analysis. A much fairer approach, and for me, a more persuasive one, would be to reveal and admit to the shortcomings of his own work.

Typical of his work is his chapter on income, which I found especially weak, despite agreeing with its conclusions. Given the current debate on income inequality, I would have thought this should have been the most important chapter. His analysis in this chapter can best be described as "thought salad" - a fact here and another quasi-related fact there, but never a more comprehensive picture of the "mix adjusted" data. He completely overlooks what is probably one of the most significant factors causing the appearance of flat wages, the dramatic shift in the demographics of the work force to what have traditionally been below average wage earners (first generation immigrants, minorities, women, single mothers, children of unwed mothers, etc). If you want to show that wages have increased over time when adjusted for demographic mix shifts, for example, then show the changes in wages rates for each demographic. If necessary, put the data table in an appendix. The book has no such appendices because he really hasn't analyzed the data. He merely reports factoids from other people's work. Why? Because he hopes the reader will carry a few of those factoids into the world. Ok, even if they're true factoids, that's still propaganda and not "four star" work. For me, it damages the credibility of the work.

Nevertheless, I would recommend everyone read this because there aren't many other works trying to use the data to reveal the truth, even if he is less straightforward then I would prefer. In the end, I can't help but wonder if the data the government collects isn't either unwittingly or intentionally obfuscated because it sure is misused and it sure is hard to use properly as evidenced by the fact that no one, not even Sowell, seems able to mix-adjust the data to the satisfaction of a critical layman, like myself.

There is no end to the exposure of crackpot left-wing theorists in the media. Happening upon an appearance of a conservative economist like Thomas Sowell in the media, however, is extraordinary, which is the nation's loss.

Sowell is a prolific writer, but I doubt he reaches a fraction of the audience of a crank like Paul Krugman.

In this slim volume, Sowell exposes, refutes and debunks six of the major economic fallacies of our time:

1. Urban Facts and Fallacies
2. Male-Female Facts and Fallacies
3. Academic Facts and Fallacies
4. Income Facts and Fallacies
5. Racial Facts and Fallacies
6. Third World Facts and Fallacies

As you've probably noticed, these are six of the major flashpoint issues of our times - and Sowell knocks down the myths and lies the left-wing has worked so hard to spread.

For example, Sowell shows how elitists have made the most desirable areas of California unaffordable for all but the very rich through restrictive policies. This results in various hypocrisies, such as driving out poor blacks from places like San Francisco and also contributes to the fallacy of a lack of "affordable housing". The latter is not the fault of evil conservatives, but of very selfish left-wingers.

Sowell applies his truly formidable knowledge and scalpel-like logic to each of these six fallacies, slicing away the untruths and revealing that the United States is not a nation of massive inequalities, but is in fact still the land of opportunity.

As Sowell puts it so well, "[s]ome things are believed because they are demonstrably true. But many things are believed because they are consistent with a widely held vision of the world - and this vision is accepted as a substitute for facts." For those willing to learn, Sowell demolishes six major myths here. Would that there were more like Sowell - and those willing to learn from him.

Jerry

I had second thoughts about buying this book. I have already read several of his other books and I read his column regularly. When I got it in the mail I worried that I might already have heard everything he was going to say.

Nope. It was fresh and new.

Sowell is such an easy writer to read. His writings have a high concentration of facts. His facts read like anecdotes. They are easy to digest but they are all backed up by solid scholarship.

Parents who send their children to State Colleges must read Dr Sowell chapter on "Non Profits" Underutilitized classrooms, non-teaching faculity and padding of expenses ought to enrage everyone who see the cost of education increase by over 40% with knowledge transfer declining. What is wrong with this Picture?

Thomas Sowell, a prolific author and columnist, is a national treasure and indispensable debunker of popular misconceptions, faulty reasoning and lying with statistics. His conclusions are grounded in history, hard facts and dispassionate analysis. Public policy is judged by results rather than intentions, showing how the best intentioned government action frequently makes the problem worse.

For example, blacks are under represented in the legal profession, so let's use affirmative action to increase their enrollments in the best law schools. The result? Blacks have a much higher drop out rate because many don't have the educational background to compete with the top students from other groups. But the same black who fails at Harvard may well have succeeded in a less demanding law school, so the net effect is fewer, not more, black lawyers.

An example of faulty logic is to compare black/white statistical data on income, SAT scores, mortgage approvals or some other category and conclude that the higher figures for whites shows racial discrimination against blacks. But the same statistics show a similar advantage for Asians over whites. Does that establish racial discrimination against whites? No, the fact is that groups can differ from one another in these categories for reasons other than discrimination.

If you want to really understand how the world works (and how politicians and others demagogue the issues), a good start would be to pick up anything written for the layman by Sowell. His writing style can sometimes be challenging, but stick with it and you'll be well rewarded. One gem from this book:

"Many beliefs which collapse under scrutiny may nevertheless persist indefinitely when they are not scrutinized, and especially when skilled advocates are able to perpetuate those beliefs by forestalling scrutiny through appeals to emotion. Some popular fallacies of today are centuries old and were refuted centuries ago, even as they are repackaged in up-to-date rhetoric to suit current times."

I have a BS in Finance and found this to be very readable. Sometimes it takes me a couple weeks to read a book when I am unable to get into it. Not this book. I find myself thinking about the facts and fallacies presented in this book while I am at work and looking forward to getting home so I can read another section. Worth a read.

Thomas Sowell's air-tight reasoning can't be beat! Liberals beware: you may find yourself thinking conservative thoughts if you read this book. I am now officially convinced most politicians (on both sides of the aisle) truly don't have our country's best interests at heart. It's all about political expediency, not about what will make us an even greater economic power in the world.

As usual, Mr. Sowell gives an excellent analysis of underlying factors that are easy to overlook in many superficial economic and life situations. Not using the usual jargon, he explains in simple terms facts of life and goes below the "average" and looks at commonalities and differences that cause apparent discrimination. Well written and very readable.

Long before Freakonomics hit the bookstores, Thomas Sowell was popularizing economics in simple plain language. In his latest book, he continues to illuminate the dismal science cheerily, shining his flashlight on a handful of fallacies common to policy makers and even some professional economists. After describing these fallacies, Sowell shows them at work in discussions of urbanization, gender equality, education, income, race and economic development. The result is a bracing tonic that will almost certainly change your views on some of the most emotional issues of the day. getAbstract recommends this slim, fast-moving read to those who are unafraid to subject their convictions to the light of the economic evidence.

Thomas Sowell is prolific and clear writer who revisits economic issues and places them in perspective so that its easy to see just how timeless the lessons of economics really are. There really is no "free lunch".

Economists are driven crazy by the misleading conclusions that journalists and politicians draw from using numbers in the wrong way. Dr. Sowell uses this book as an opportunity to challenge some of the conclusions that abound concerning cities, male-female incomes, academia, middle-class incomes and size of the group, racial differences, and characteristics of the third world versus the developed countries. It also points out that these errors have consequences in misallocating resources that could be better applied elsewhere.

If you have never sat through a class on what it takes to make a valid comparison, this book is one long essay on that point. That's the meta-message.

The micro-messages relate to suggesting that problems aren't as large and serious as they seem from frequently quoted statistics. I thought that Dr. Sowell was at his best in describing mismeasurements about middle class income in Chapter 5.

In several of the other chapters, especially Chapter 3, it seemed to me like he was over arguing about statistics at the expense of drawing the right conclusion from looking at the context of what is going on. There seemed to be a desire to show virtuosity that appeared to get in the way of answering the question posed in the chapter. Of course, it's absurd to say that if half of an employer's employees are women that management positions should also be 50 percent female. But if the management positions are only held by women 13 percent of the time, it does seem like something else might be going on (including possible discrimination against women). Dr. Sowell would prefer to leave the argument at the apples and oranges stage.

Some of the historical comparisons are interesting (such as how the number of highly educated women in the workforce has changed in the last 110 years). Parents who resent the high tuition their children's colleges charge will resent those charges even more after understanding more how those high prices are reached and maintained.

The book would have been a lot better if it had included a more solid description of what questions we should be asking and answering in each of these areas to understand what's going on. Without that fully developed foundation, even after reading this book many will be at sea in understanding what's going on in society and the world.

So many issues in modern life are underpinned by economic principles in action but unseen by most people; and so many political and social utterances by public figures are devoid of informed economic fundamentals. Once again, Thomas Sowell has brought economics to the intelligent reader. Read Sowell and you can never think the same again. He is one of the most important intellectuals of our times. I highly recommend this book.

Excellent book. Easy to read and understand. Everyone should read this prior to any and all elections.

Excellent book as usual. Simple, straightforward presentation of important information. A must read if you're not afraid of the truth.

Thomas Sowell's latest work is masterful in it's simplicity, by a combination of clever anecdotes, well-researched and articulated facts and statistics, and brilliance Sowell is able to masterfully explain away false assumptions the vast majority of us have simply taken for granted, and in the same breathe creates a powerful argument for reanalyzing many of the approaches and methods taken to examining many of the current problems of the day. A must read not just for people interested in economics, but for basically everybody to have a better understanding of the workings of the world we live in.

Those interested in the pursuit of truth and the dangers of falsehoods masquerading as truth will enjoy this book. Those needing an education in economics as well as those already well-versed in economic reasoning will find this book entertaining and informative. Fans of Sowell's many other outstanding books--this reviewer is one of them--will enjoy this effort. I am sending copies of this to both of my daughters in college. We hear the mantra "critical thinking" frequently. In Economic Facts and Fallacies, Thomas Sowell shows readers how it should be done. If eligibility to vote ever depends on passing a test, I hope the questions are based on the reasoning in this book!

Dr. Sowell is a gifted economist, and this book would be an excellent introduction to Economics for someone who felt that the mainstream is far too market-unfriendly.

Unfortunately, his analysis all too often sets up straw man arguments, which he is able to tear apart with evident ease.

His frame leaves out much though: in discussions of race discrimination, for instance, he seems to totally ignore the issues of "buyer preference" i.e. whether an employer would actually PREFER to hire a white employee, and be prepared to pay such a preference.

An excellent introduction to the concept of markets as applied to contemporary political issues and some widely held misconceptions. However, by omitting issues like externalities etc., "Economic Facts and Fallacies" unfortunately presents a distorted, if compelling read.

Thomas Sowell sees people's world views as coming from some conceptual constructs which are often based on faulty premises and faulty thinking. He not only smashes lots of common notions, but tries to expose the ideas which lead people to accept those false ideas.

He does this in a fair and to a large part objective manner. So, for example, if he is looking at how discrimination factors into earnings differences between men and women, or blacks and whites he will examine many factors which contribute to those differences. Reasoning that if we can identify 3 or 4 other causes of earnings differences, and those factors account for some of the difference, then discrimination and other unidentified factors could only account for what is left.

He also exposes factors which make some the the statistics we normally see misleading. So, for example, if the average age of one group of people is 30 and another is 35 and a third is 43, then we would expect that their incomes would also be different, with the older groups making more money. This is what we see with Blacks (30), all Americans (35) and Japanese Americans (43). So at least some of the income differences are explained by age.

The book examines:
- Urban Facts and Fallacies where interesting facts about city planning come to light
- Male-Female Facts and Fallacies
- Academic
- Income
- Race
- Third World poverty

The book is jam packed with information, and insights. You are bound to have ideas you held to be true shown clearly to have overlooked important variables.

After reading this book, you will have a better understanding of the reality of these topics and the statistics used to support various views.

It is just too bad that Sowell's work is not mandatory reading for everyone.

It is easy to predict the contents of "Economic Facts and Fallacies" knowing that Sowell is a respected conservative writer. Thus, however, that does not prevent him from providing and useful information.

Early in the book Sowell takes on what he calls the "zero-sum" fallacy in economics. His point is that free-market transactions involve two "willing parties - ergo, both feel better off. True, but that does not eliminate the possibility that one of the parties has unfair advantage, perhaps due to withholding information, outright fraud, or simply much greater economic strength. Regardless, Sowell makes a viable case against rent-control and minimum wage laws.

On the other hand, what about OSHA safety regulations? Assuming a relatively inelastic labor supply vs. personal risk, employers would otherwise be free to let economic forces compel employees to accept risky jobs - for what point? As for improved job safety reducing employment, that must be balanced against also reducing the externality of disabled workers dependent upon greater society. More recently, it is also difficult to see how society has been served by the recent sub-prime mortgage mess.

Sowell, of course, supports free trade - claiming benefits to millions impoverished within third-world countries - ignoring evidence that the U.S., England, Japan and South Korea all used protectionism to establish their initial strengths, and the U.S. considers to do so today, using patents instead of tariffs (especially in pharmaceuticals). And then there's the problems of millions of down-scaled American workers caused by "free trade" - unaddressed by Sowell.

Sowell, however, is totally on target when alleging that government restrictions are a major cause of high housing costs - eg. much of the L.A. area restricts development. (This also considerably raises the potential for disastrous fires.) On the other hand, these restrictions were imposed through democratic vote. In any case, Sowell is off base contending that because Houston's commute times went down while adding 100+ freeway miles/year, and up when building slowed supports a case that "cities can pave their way out of traffic congestion."

Sowell also points out that homeowners living in areas with restrictions (eg. large minimum lot sizes) deprive others with less funds of the "right" to live in the area - forgetting that the original homeowners have a right to exclude the negative financial impact such housing would bring to their investments. (In fact, they most likely paid a premium to obtain such restrictions, contrary to Sowell.

His material on how accreditation agencies restrict competition between established colleges/universities and newer innovative approaches (eg. employing part-time practitioners, instead of full-time academics; increasing teaching loads while reducing "research") is another area on target and well worth considering.

Bottom Line: Worth reading and careful consideration, though not always the last word.

It is easy to predict the contents of "Economic Facts and Fallacies" knowing that Sowell is a respected conservative writer. Thus, however, that does not prevent him from providing and useful information.

Early in the book Sowell takes on what he calls the "zero-sum" fallacy in economics. His point is that free-market transactions involve two "willing parties - ergo, both feel better off. True, but that does not eliminate the possibility that one of the parties has unfair advantage, perhaps due to withholding information, outright fraud, or simply much greater economic strength. Regardless, Sowell makes a viable case against rent-control and minimum wage laws.

On the other hand, what about OSHA safety regulations? Assuming a relatively inelastic labor supply vs. personal risk, employers would otherwise be free to let economic forces compel employees to accept risky jobs - for what point? As for improved job safety reducing employment, that must be balanced against also reducing the externality of disabled workers dependent upon greater society. More recently, it is also difficult to see how society has been served by the recent sub-prime mortgage mess.

Sowell, of course, supports free trade - claiming benefits to millions impoverished within third-world countries - ignoring evidence that the U.S., England, Japan and South Korea all used protectionism to establish their initial strengths, and the U.S. considers to do so today, using patents instead of tariffs (especially in pharmaceuticals). And then there's the problems of millions of down-scaled American workers caused by "free trade" - unaddressed by Sowell.

Sowell, however, is totally on target when alleging that government restrictions are a major cause of high housing costs - eg. much of the L.A. area restricts development. (This also considerably raises the potential for disastrous fires.) On the other hand, these restrictions were imposed through democratic vote.

Sowell also points out that homeowners living in areas with restrictions (eg. large minimum lot sizes) deprive others with less funds of the "right" to live in the area - forgetting that the original homeowners have a right to exclude the negative financial impact such housing would bring to their investments. (In fact, they most likely paid a premium to obtain such restrictions, contrary to Sowell.

His material on how accreditation agencies restrict competition between established colleges/universities and newer innovative approaches (eg. employing part-time practitioners, instead of full-time academics; increasing teaching loads while reducing "research") is another area on target and well worth considering.

Bottom Line: Worth reading and careful consideration, though not always the last word.

Thomas Sowell once again has the courage to critically examine generally accepted and politically correct social policies. His well researched and documented arguments unmasks these fallacious and ill conceived policies. "Economic Facts and Fallacies" is historically documented and an academic breath of fresh air.
This book should be required reading for all elected officials on the Municipal, County, State, and Federal level. Social Engineers could use a dose of economic reality as well.

Economic Fallacies is the third book by Thomas Sowell I've read this year and it continues to illustrate why he is one of the most important conservatives in America today. His writing beams with scholarship and clarity. There are no wasted words and the work is an arsenal of information. These chapters should be read and reread as they thoroughly refute the positions of those who irrationally regard America as being a racist, sexist and corrupt state.

Sowell debunks the myth of female oppression by highlighting the way that statistics are jiggled in the hopes of morphing the USA into a patriarchy. Indeed, in my opinion, our nation is closer to being a matriarchy than it is anything else. The old 74 cent to the dollar feminist canard is refuted after he teases out the example of unmarried, childless women. They oftentimes are anything but oppressed. Indeed, in many cases they make even more money than their male age-mate peers. Much of the difference between the sexes, in terms of wage, is a result of personal choice. Women work fewer hours and are more likely to choose stability over cash when deciding on a career. Women also select less dangerous jobs than do men as indicated by the statistic he cites showing that 92 percent of those who die in job-related accidents are male.

In terms of class, all of us who ever have tried to debate the left comprehend the error in their perceptions--as does Sowell who eliminates their positions with ease. Unfortunately, it's a serious challenge to ever get them to come around as they would feel contaminated should they ever try to examine world events through the eyes of a conservative. Rife among our opposition is the belief that only a finite amount of money exists in the world, and, if you have lots of it, that automatically means that thousands have none of it. While pseudo-liberals appear to have heard of "economic growth" they have yet to internalize its meaning. This is why they are so enamored with redistributing the rest of population's wealth. They dub this larceny "social justice" despite real social justice embodying the practice of letting people keep what they earn. Tragically, without a basic understanding of economics the left will continue to hike taxes until...the welfare state collapses along with the nation as a whole. Once they eradicate the rich there will be no one left to fund the dole.

With race, Sowell tears apart [yet again] the notion that blacks make less due to discrimination. He refers to an argument here I never heard elsewhere--but greatly appreciate--which is that when a particular group's mean age is lower, as is the case with blacks, they generally have lower incomes than do groups with higher mean ages. This makes perfect sense as a group of 20-year-olds never make as much as those nearing the end of that particular decade; although, his insight matters little as the mainstream media has no use for nuance. They crusade against injustice even though, most often, they are ones who perpetuate it.

This is a nice book and a refreshing read considering the fact that most economists are clueless. The one drawback to the book is, in the tradition of all econmists, this book lacks practical application how to use the information for investments. This is most likely due to the fact that economists have very little real world experience and they certainly have no experience managing assets.

I would recommend "America's Financial Apocalypse: How to Profit from the Next Great Depression (Condensed Edition)" as an excellent companion to those interested in doing well with their investments over the next several years. The book has an excellent chapter detailing how Washington economists distort and hide critical economic data such as GDP and inflation. In addition, it is the only book to detail ALL of America's problems (health care, Social Security, Real Estate Bubble, Free Trade, Immigration, Peak Oil, Corporate Fraud, Foreign Ownership, Education, etc.)

Finally, the author makes bold predictions about the future of America and the capital markets and shows how to profit. Thus far, he has been 100% correct in his predictions. America's Financial Apocalypse: How to Profit from the Next Great Depression (Condensed Edition)