Books I love. by Natalie MacNeil

What can I say but a heartfelt thanks to Natalie for recommending my book to her audience of women? I am glad she loved it!  It seems to me that economics is usually thought of as a male dominated subject (especially finance) but  my book has a definite feminine side…one that women can relate to.  (Just so you know many men have enjoyed it as well.)

Let me quote from my final chapter…

Well, there you have it.  A few big ideas and a lot of small talk about markets.  I hope you feel more confident during cocktail party conversations.  Even if these kinds of conversations aren’t your thing and you would rather discuss the latest movie or novel, there are still some benefits to knowing this material.  If you happen to be a women, remember that an educated understanding of a subject viewed as a typically male one is like fantastic underwear.  No one has to see it, but you can feel the difference and it changes how you carry yourself.  If you are a man, lightly chit-chatting on these matters with savoir faire is very attractive, especially if you know when to stop.  Cocktail Party Economics pg 168

But apart from this contemporary mood, the ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood.  Taken from The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money pg 383 by John Maynard Keynes

As far as I am concerned what you are about to read can only be described (in the British vernacular) as ‘brilliant’.  Brian manages to bring to life the times and importance of Keynes in his introduction to The General Theory taught as a 4th year seminar course at the University of Guelph.  It should be read by all who love or hate Keynesian economics. (Those who don’t really care are of course exempt.)  If you are interested at all, you will find this text a pleasure to read.

Evie Adomait

Lectures on Keynes’ General Theory by Professor Brian Ferguson winter 2013: 

Lecture 1: Chapter One, Background and Historical Setting

Introduction: 

John Maynard Keynes’ General Theory of Employment, Interest and Prices[1] is one of those rare books which actually deserves to be labeled revolutionary.  Regardless of one’s take on Keynesian macroeconomics, the publication of the General Theory marked a major change in the way economists thought about macroeconomic issues.  Indeed, Keynes can be credited with (or slammed for) creating the concept of macroeconomics.  Arguably, prior to the General Theory, most professional economists thought of the macroeconomy in a general equilibrium sense, as an aggregate of a large number of individual markets, and they assumed that the analysis of how individual markets behaved could be carried over pretty much unchanged to the collection of markets which constituted the economy as a whole.  There was, it seemed, no need to think of the economy as anything other than the sum of its parts, and an understanding of how those parts worked was sufficient to understand how the economy as a whole worked.  After the General Theory, that no longer held.  Economists started to think in terms of aggregates.

As on most days, I got my shoes shined four or five times.  Not that they needed it, but it gave me a few precious minutes with a child or an old man who needed a kind word and a few cents for their work.  My car likewise was washed numerous times each day with the filthy water that ran down the street gutters.  Each occasion gave me the excuse to joke with the child who graced me with his industriousness.  Taken from Just A Minute pg 207-208 by Wess Stafford President and CEO of Compassion International

Book group is this Sunday night and I am ready.   Partly because there was a mess up with my car and I ended up sitting at the dealership for an extra hour and a half which enabled me to finish the book and not feel like I was taking valuable time away from marking final exams.  This book is inspirational in a Chicken Soup kind of way except all of the royalties go towards Compassion International’s work with poor children.  I happen to sponsor a child through them but I just send money.  I don’t write letters.  This book made me feel like I should write to my child and make it more personal. That the input of encouragement from a complete stranger is as helpful as a monthly cheque.  I will have to think about this some more.

To the quote from the book at the beginning of this blog…I completely agree that the marketplace is a place to help people and seemingly frivolous purchases can do great good.  Thus I get a manicure weekly from a place where the language of choice is Vietnamese.  The world is a better place for them and for me.  I call this a gain from trade.