Economics for Everyone

Published in the Catalyst, Vol. 32, No. 2 - Spring 2009

Economics for Everyone: A short guide to the economics of capitalism
Jim Stanford
London: Pluto Press, 2008

Reviewed by Chandra Pasma

As a political science student, I had to take undergraduate courses in micro and macroeconomics. Economics was presented as a combination of math and science, neither of which I was particularly good at, and the experience left me believing that the economy was a mystery far beyond my capacity to decipher.

Jim Stanford manages to achieve something none of my economics professors could in his book, Economics for Everyone: A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism : he explains capitalism and economic principles in a clear, accessible, humorous way. Stanford’s goal is to create economic literacy, helping people to understand that everyone contributes to the economy and therefore everyone has an interest in how the economy functions, as well as “in whose interests it functions.” Economics, he argues, is too important to be left to economists.

Economics for Everyone breaks the economy down to its most basic building blocks, and then uses those building blocks in explaining ever greater circles of economic interactions. Pictorial maps help to chart the progress, while illustrations by Tony Biddle provide humour by skewering sacred cows and offering some real life examples of economic practices.

Stanford deals not only with the “whats” of capitalism, but the “hows” and the “whys.” For instance, the widespread growth of inequality in capitalist economies when there is little or no government intervention is easy to understand when you learn that 85% of households depend on employment for most of their income, while the 15% who make up the capitalist class of investors hold most of the economic power and therefore greater political power. Our entire economic system is structured to create and perpetuate inequality, which has implications for how we respond to poverty.

Stanford also considers the implications of capitalism for global distribution of wealth and resources, including the deep poverty of the global south compared to the wealth of the global north, and its impact on human well-being and the environment.

Ultimately, recognizing the failures of capitalism to focus on human well-being with its attendant negative consequences, Stanford concludes with a look at options for how capitalism could be reformed or transformed. If I have one complaint about the book, it would be that I wish this section were longer. After so much in-depth exploration of the flaws of capitalism, I longed for an in-depth exploration of alternatives.

Overall, the book is an excellent tool for demystifying our economy and for deconstructing much of the value-laden language economists use to describe our economy. I highly recommend this book to everyone, whether you think you’re interested in economics or not. This book will change the way you think about economics!