Economics in One Lesson

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Economics in One Lesson is an introduction to free-market economics written by Henry Hazlitt and published in 1946, based on Frédéric Bastiat's essay Ce qu'on voit et ce qu'on ne voit pas (What is Seen and What is Not Seen).

The "One Lesson" is stated in Part One of the book:

the art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.

Part Two consists of twenty-five chapters, each demonstrating the lesson by tracing the effects of one common economic belief, and showing that common economic belief to be a fallacy.

In a paperback edition in 1961, a new chapter was added on rent control, which had not been specifically considered in the first edition apart from government price-fixing in general. A few statistics and illustrative references were brought up to date.

In 1978, a new edition was released. In addition to bringing all illustrations and statistics up to date, an entirely new chapter on rent control replaced the previous one of 1961, and a final new chapter, "The Lesson After Thirty Years," was added.

The 50th Anniversary edition came out in 1996 from Fox & Wilkes in paperback (ISBN 0930073193) and hardback (ISBN 0930073207)

The Madrid-based spanish publishing house Unión Editorial, which traditionally publishes books in spanish language in defense of market economy and liberalism, released "La Economia en Una Lección" in 1981, 1996 e 2005.

[edit] The contents of the fiftieth anniversary edition

• A Foreword by Steve Forbes
• Part One: The Lesson
• Part Two: The Lesson Applied
  • The Broken Window
  • The Blessings of Destruction
  • Public Works Mean Taxes
  • Taxes Discourage Production
  • Credit Diverts Production
  • The Curse of Machinery
  • Spread-the-Work Schemes
  • Disbanding Troops and Bureaucrats
  • The Fetish of Full Employment
  • Who's "Protected" by Tariffs?
  • The Drive for Exports
  • "Parity" Prices
  • Saving the X Industry
  • How the Price System Works
  • "Stabilizing" Commodities
  • Government Price-Fixing
  • What Rent Control Does
  • Minimum Wage Laws
  • Do Unions Really Raise Wages?
  • "Enough to Buy Back the Product"
  • The Function of Profits
  • The Mirage of Inflation
  • The Assault on Savings
  • The Lesson Restated
• Part Three: The Lesson After Thirty Years

[edit] External links

• The Foundation for Economic Education
• Three Rivers Press, publisher of Economics in One Lesson
• Unión Editorial, publisher of the spanish translation
• Economics in One Lesson (PDF version) [1][2]