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"To most people, the word "economics" sounds like homework. In "Visible Hand," Wall Street Journal op-ed editor Matthew Hennessey brings basic economic principles vividly to life in plain English, without resort to numbers, graphs, or jargon. This isn't Fed policy or the stock market. This is the essential stuff: supply and demand, incentives and trade offs, scarcity and innovation, work and leisure. A teenager should be able to discuss these things intelligently. Sadly, too few of us can explain them even in adulthood. "Visible Hand" equips readers withthe essential vocabulary necessary to understand and explain how we make the choices we do. In Hennessey'shands, economics is far from the dismal science. It's the sparkling art of decision making. No homework necessary"--
About the author
Matthew Hennessey is the
Wall Street Journal's deputy op-ed editor.
Summary
“Matthew Hennessey’s Visible Hand is a wise reminder that free markets are essential to human flourishing.” —Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal Columnist
“Econ 101 should always be this much fun.” —Larry Kudlow, former director of the National Economic Council
To most people, the word "economics" sounds like homework. In Visible Hand, Wall Street Journal op-ed editor Matthew Hennessey brings basic economic principles vividly to life in plain English, without resort to numbers, graphs, or jargon. This isn't Fed policy or the stock market. This is the essential stuff: supply and demand, incentives and tradeoffs, scarcity and innovation, work and leisure. A teenager should be able to discuss these things intelligently. Sadly, too few of us can explain them even in adulthood. Visible Hand equips readers with the essential vocabulary necessary to understand and explain how we make the choices we do. In Hennessey's hands, economics is far from the dismal science. It's the sparkling art of decision making. No homework necessary.
Additional text
“What we badly need
right now is someone to remind us of what economic freedom is and does. Matthew
Hennessey’s Visible Hand is a wise reminder that free
markets are essential to human flourishing. In an engaging and highly amusing
style he boils economic concepts down to their essence. Buy this for any son or
daughter who needs to know what American capitalism is, what it isn’t, and why
its departure would bring great ill.”—Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal columnist
“Matthew
Hennessey makes the case for liberal democracy and American capitalism in plain
English—and he does it with a sense of humor, too. Nothing dismal here.
Econ 101 should always be this much fun.”—Larry Kudlow, former director
of the National Economic Council
“Matthew Hennessey brings to economics the sensibility of a man
who grew up helping to tend bar at his father’s saloon in New Jersey: He has no
interest in putting on airs, only in telling you the story. In Visible
Hand he has produced the most completely enjoyable book on
economics I’ve ever encountered. Economics? Enjoyable? Did I just write that?
Because of Matt, I did.”—Peter Robinson, Murdoch Distinguished Policy
Fellow at the Hoover Institution
“As a libertarian, I don’t like mandates, but Visible
Hand should be required reading for every American. It will restore faith
in the power of capitalism to increase opportunity for all of us, especially
those born without wealth and privilege. For too long, economics has been the
province of writers of gray prose and makers of two-dimensional
supply-and-demand charts. Hennessey uses personal experience, history, and
popular culture to create a thrilling story about how the world actually works.
I’m going to make my sons—a Millennial and a Zoomer—read Visible Hand, which
explains how individualism, free markets, choice, and entrepreneurial risk make
us richer, happier, and more fulfilled."—Nick Gillespie, editor at large, Reason
“This delightful and entertaining
book makes the ideas behind economics accessible to all. It also reminds both
novices and econ wonks why economic reasoning is so important and critical to
understanding the world today.”—Allison Schrager, Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow
