Author: Tom Gorman
Publisher: Alpha, a member of the Penguin Group (USA). 414 pages
Book Review by Ramu Nakliba
There is so much covered in this hefty book of 414 pages that it is truly a delight to find a huge amount of information and unique insight that only Tom Gorman can provide. There is constant talk of news and information glut these days. I add that there is also dearth of insight.
To give you an example, when the 9-11 terrorist attack occurred, we were constantly barraged with the who, what, when, where and how. But our thirst for the all-important question of “Why?” was not adequately quenched. The first journalist to help us understand and make some sense of the reason theUnited Stateswas attacked was Fareed Zakaria with his front-page story in Newsweek, “Why They Hate Us.”
When you read this sentence on the cover “Understand the forces behind the ups and downs of our economy” it is a refreshing offer that the book promises to provide insight, not just information. And Tom does deliver on that promise as you go through the voluminous book of 23 chapters.
When most people think of the word “economics” they think of numbers, charts, tables, and long, analytical explanations of all the data prevented. But Tom Gorman explains economics in very simple terms: Basically the way I understand it is that it is human behavior in a market, such as buying, selling or barter. The market may be in a small geographic area, such as a city or a state. Or it could be a larger one like a state, a country or a continent.
There are also markets for commodities, services or space, such as the oil market or the legal service market or the commercial real estate market.
Gorman explains “who gets what, and how,” the difference between macroeconomics and microeconomics, how the gross domestic product of a country is calculated, what tools economists use, how supply and demand affects prices of goods and services as well as wages (prices of labor) what role the government plays and how its actions lead to recession, depression and unemployment, what leads to inflation or deflation.
He explains the critical role of banks in an economy and how currency as a medium of exchange for goods and services controls our economic behavior and lives
One of the most important chapters is the one on the global economy, which explains how the economic interdependence of countries leads to the rise or drop of prices of goods, services and wages. For example, the high unemployment rate in theUShas partly been caused by globalization, which enables companies in theUSto buy labor inIndia.
This is a very good book, not just worth reading once, but keeping as a valuable reference source. Our congratulations to Tom Gorman for his excellent work.
