re: Economics Book Club (EBC): Book 4 Starts Aug 21 (The Smartest Guys in the Room)

Had no idea a Book Board existed.

I'm interested. B.S. in Marketing & Economics, Masters in International Management. Some experience teaching business and econ to middle and high schoolers.

I should add that I was born and raised in Romania and left the country when it was still a Communist 'paradise.' Thus have some experience living and experiencing reality in a communist economy.

Looking forward to it!

Great to have you. My wife and I have been nearly everywhere in Western Europe but haven't ventured over into Eastern Europe yet. That emerging capitalist status set against the backdrop of a communist past makes for a fascinating case study though. My father has spent considerable time in Romania and has always been very fond of the Romanian people. I've also done business with Lithuanians and always found they bring a certain level of sincerity and humility to the business world that is often lacking amongst the traditional Westerners. I think drilling down some into Eastern Europe, who actually seem to be taking a tougher stance on some of today's biggest problems compared to their Western European peers, would lead to some timely conversation.

Alright, looks like we have enough interest to proceed. I've edited the first post to reflect the diversity of backgrounds we have represented here and think this will be a really great group. Obviously, others can join as they want, but I propose we go ahead and get an initial book in the hopper and begin putting the schedule together. These are what have been proposed so far:

- Something from Thomas Sowell (Basic Economics, maybe?)
- Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
- Anyone have anything else?

quote:

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Something from Thomas Sowell (Basic Economics, maybe?)

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Though i've read this one, I think it's a good start.

It might be tempting for someone else to suggest a start with one of the classics, but Sowell covers much of the classics in a very readable format.

Basic Economics is a very long read though, perhaps an introduction of the topic at an intermediate level might be better served with Sowell's Applied Economics. It helps make the case for why the study of economics is relevant for everyone to better understand human decision making.

Yea that's what I'm talking about. And yea it's some Chinese guys, I mainly do fraud cases so you know where that's going.

I think we could start simple and maybe do something like the smartest guys in the room with Enron? Maybe people have already read it though

I've not read it. Fine starting there though. Something light and easy to get things going feels like the right approach. I imagine the pendulum will swing quite a bit from wonky to more mainstream titles that read more like a novel.

I'll give everyone, say, the rest of the day to weigh in with suggestions and then we'll vote and (depending on the selection and whether people need hard copies shipped, etc.) target a Monday the 12th start date. Anything from Amazon shouldn't take more than three or four days to arrive and of course no time if delivered to Kindle, so I think this target will work. And the Economics in One Lesson is available free online so no travel time needed there either.

I''m down. I'd enjoy to learn more and discuss topics with others

Welcome. Feel free to share some background info (education, profession, stance on fiscal/economic issues) etc. This will help guide us a bit.

This is a pretty good representative group

Also the Enron book may be less strictly economics and more fraud/accounting

I'm a value investor and Graham acolyte. We will definitely be mixing in some finance here and there.