Preface 7
Chapter 1 Economic Errors 9
Luddite Fallacy 9
Lump of Labour Fallacy 14
Broken Window Fallacy 18
Sunk Cost Fallacy 21
Zero-sum Game 24
Fallacy of Composition 27
Middlemen 30
This Time is Different (Why Bubbles Reoccur) 34
Chapter 2 Political Quandaries 39
Tax Cuts 39
Government Debt 44
Immigration 49
The President's Responsibility 54
The Trickle-down Effect 59
Inflation 64
Exchange Rates 69
Bailouts 73
Recessions 78
Health or Economy - Is There a Trade-off? 82
Chapter 3 What You Really Need to Know About… 87
Division of Labour 87
Raw Materials 91
Economic Forecasting 96
Farming and Agriculture 100
Rational Consumers 104
Deflation 108
Monetary Policy 112
Adam Smith 117
John Maynard Keynes 120
The Euro 124
Chapter 4 You'll Never Get Rich By… 129
Fighting Wars 129
Trade Wars 134
Propping Up Farming or Heavy Industry 139
Acquiring Lots of Money 143
Free Trade 147
Chapter 5 Eco Bombshells 151
Nature 151
Shared Resources 156
Air Travel 159
Fat Taxes Are Fair 163
Protecting the Environment Will Create Jobs, Not Destroy Them 167
Recycling is Good 171
Is Economic Growth Damaging to the Environment? 175
Chapter 6 Business Myths 181
Ticket Touts Are Bad 181
There is Greater Value on Diamonds than Fresh Water 185
Workers Are Motivated Only By Money 189
It is Unfair that Airlines Keep Changing the Price of Tickets 193
The UK and US Economies Should Be More Balanced 196
Afterthoughts 201
Index 202
Notes & Bibliography 206
Acknowledgements 208