Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics

Hazlitt's "one lesson" is simple, and told in Chapter 1. The rest of the chapters are all stories in which the lesson plays a prominent role. In short, Hazlitt doesn't merely tell us the lesson, he actually shows us the lesson -- over and over and over, until we've got it.

With stories on tariffs, minimum wage, rent controls, taxes. unions, wages, profits, savings, credit, unemployment, and so much more, Hazlitt takes some of the most difficult economic concepts and makes these easily accessible to the lay person who has no economic training, background, or even inclination.

It's one thing for me to recommend this book. It's quite another for my students to recommend it semester after semester. I can imagine no higher praise.


I've missed my life's calling.   July 12, 2001
Aaron Jordan (Salt Lake City, Utah)
146 out of 153 found this review helpful

I should have studied economics. Hazlitt's book is remarkably readable, coherent, and logical. It just confirms that truth is usually understandable, whereas complicated obfuscation is usually the major alarm bell that tips you off when people are trying to shaft you. This guy really knows his stuff.

The one lesson is so simple that it takes about five minutes to read the chapter about it. The rest of the book lists various scenarios in which that lesson applies. The general principle of the lesson applies so naturally to various specific cases that it simplifies economics immensely. Hazlitt must have studied logic as well as economics.

The one lesson is simply this: economic planning should take into account the effects of economic policies on all groups, not just some groups, and what those effects will be in the long run, not just the short run. That's it. That's the lesson. Fallacious economic policies almost invariably seek to benefit one group at the expense of all others, or to bring about short-term benefits at the expense of long-term benefits. With this as his thesis, Hazlitt examines the numerous manifestations of such fallacies in different situations.

His chapters are short, his prose is easy to follow, and his logic is compelling. I've never taken an economics class in my life, yet I had no trouble following the reasoning in this book. This is a must read for anyone who wants to understand basic economics and the keys to widespread prosperity in the long run.


An excellent primer in basic economics   November 26, 2001
James P. Brett (Valrico, FL United States)
101 out of 109 found this review helpful

The average American knows very little about economics or monetary theory. That's why they tend to believe whatever they see and hear on their televisions. By reading this short book, you'll gain a basic understanding of economics, and an explanation of the many myths that are taken as truths.

In the final chapter of this book, Hazlitt revists his work 30 years later (he was writing in 1978, and the book came out originally in 1946). He surmises that during that period, nothing was learned. If anything, he says, subjects related in the book (wage rates, price controls, government "make work") have become more political. I wonder what Hazlitt would say now.

You need to read this book in order to appreciate the real consequences of actions your government wants to take. The theme emphasized over and over in the book is that actions must be thought through to see what the long term effects will be, not just the highly visible short term ones.


Mises Made Easy   November 30, 2002
Steve Jackson (New England)
29 out of 29 found this review helpful

Henry Hazlitt is best known for this brilliant work, one of the most concise and persuasive defenses of the free market ever written. One reason why socialism and statism appeal to the common man is that government actions are immediate and dramatic: they give the impression that something is being done about a specific problem or crisis. To show that government intervention in the economy isn't wise, one must "look not merely at the immediate but at the longer effect of any act or policy; one must trace the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups."

Hazlitt proceeds to apply the above lesson to numerous government actions. By drawing the reader's attention to the unseen effects, the failure of socialism is exposed. Take for example government "jobs programs." If the government employs 500 people, one might think that government has "created" 500 jobs. However, government had to tax its citizens to fund these jobs. Had the money been left in the hands of taxpayers, their spending would have resulted in an equivalent number of employed individuals. Government didn't "create" jobs - it merely destroyed jobs in the private sector. On issue after issue, Hazlitt demonstrates that government intervention in the economy fails to achieve its stated goals (although its real goal - an increase in government power - is always achieved). In addition, many basic economic falicies are refuted, such as "machines destroy jobs," and workers need "to earn enough money to buy back the products."

If you are new to the study of economics, don't stop here. Be sure to read Rothbard's "Man, Economy and State"; Von Mises' "Human Action"; and Reisman's "Capitalism." They are the twentieth century's "big three" works in economics.


Put This Book In Your Children's Hands   July 17, 2000
Lloyd A. Conway (Detroit)
36 out of 38 found this review helpful

And make them read it. Less a primer in economics than a concise debunking of crank positions on economic issues, this book can clear the air (and the mind) quickly after some interested sophist plumps for a discredited idea. Hazlitt's parable of the broken window, meant to show how what dosen't happen as a result of human action is at least as important as what does, is the best introduction to economic theory for the average reader since Adam Smith. The visible results that people see as a result of government intervention in the market must be weighed against what did not come to pass because of the reallocation of resources (i.e., your hard-earned money) that such action necesitates. This book is timeless, in that it is not tied to concrete examples drawn from the headlines of 1946, and is also remarkably free of venom , passion, or spite, which too often mar polemical works on economics - and serve to camouflage bad reasoning. This book can be a basic education in itself, or the beginning of deeper study, in the works of Von Mises, Von Hayek, Schumpeter, or of Hazlett himself. Unlike his opposition (Keynes, et al), Hazlitt is actually readable. -Lloyd A. Conway