Principles of Economics – ENG

About the book

Principles of Economics
is a university textbook that provides a comprehensive, interesting and easy-to-use overview of the field of economics. The book is valuable for students at university as well as for the general reader and the professional economist.

Saifedean Ammous’ first book, The Bitcoin Standard, is an international bestseller, translated into 36 languages. The book has received praise from eminent scientists, successful entrepreneurs, professional athletes and many readers around the world. The author is renowned for his fascinating and illuminating portrayal of complex economic and technical concepts. In his books, he presents his themes in a way that is understandable to the general reader. With its follow-up, The Fiat Standard, Ammous has established itself as one of the world’s most effective communicators of economic ideas, read by a growing global audience.

Content

In the book
Principles of Economics
, Ammous’s most comprehensive work to date, offers readers a powerful antidote to modern economics textbooks. After two decades of learning and teaching economics at university level, Ammous realised that most economics textbooks confuse rather than enlighten students, and that most university students who are forced to read these textbooks learn very little of use. The result of four years’ work, this book uses the under-appreciated approach of the Austrian School of economics to introduce the principles, methods and concepts of economics in a readable, interesting and informative way. Rather than relying on mathematical analysis of aggregates and distorted theoretical models, the book effectively illustrates key economic concepts in clear written language.

The book first introduces the method of the Austrian School and the fundamental concepts of value and time. Once these foundations are laid, the second part of the book explores how people individually act to achieve their goals in situations of scarcity – in other words, how people manage. This section is devoted to detailed overviews of labour, property, capital, technology and energy. Each topic is accompanied by vivid examples to explain their relevance to the reader. The third part of the book examines the economy in a social context. With chapters examining trade, money, the market order and capitalism, the author introduces important concepts that are often overshadowed by misconceptions in most contemporary treatments.

The fourth part of the book presents the Austrian view of monetary theory, laying the foundations through a detailed discussion of time preference. It then looks at banking and credit, and the business cycle and its monetary origins. The last part of the book explains why respect for property rights in an expanded market order is the cornerstone of human civilisation. Finally, the author explains how the market order protects against aggression and the failures of monopolistic defence provision.