Book Review: The Cartoon Introduction to Economics Vol. 1: Microeconomics by Grady Klein et al.

The Cartoon Introduction to Economics Volume 1: Microeconomics by Grady Klein and Yoram Bauman, Ph.D.

This book is a fun and informative guide to the basics of economics, covering the economic activity of individuals, small groups of people, and markets. Various terms like the Invisible Hand, marginal analysis, sunk cost, etc. are explained clearly with entertaining examples. Recurring characters help to tie the confusing terminology and ideas together more easily. The running gag about Nobel-Prize winning economists is fun.

I have not studied economics so I am not sure how comprehensive the book is. It does seem comprehensive. There is a section on economic policies that can reduce carbon emissions which strikes me as a too specific application in a general overview of economics. The cartoon economist says "The way to get people to pollute less...is to make polluting expensive!" (bold in origin, p. 189) The king of Sweden (who has been handing out Nobel Prizes throughout the book) says, "Wow, now that's an idea worthy of a Nobel Prize!" Dr. Bauman is an environmental economist, so I suppose his bias is showing (or maybe he thinks he should get a Nobel Prize). That makes me interested in reading another economics primer to compare.