Author Description

Economists Have A Bad Reputation. Not Only Do They Assume That Everyone Is Self-interested And Amoral, They Are Almost Always Cheerleaders For The Free Market. As A Result, Most People Who Do Not Already Share Their Beliefs Ignore Everything That Economists Have To Say. This Is A Problem. Even Among The Highly Educated, Economics Is A Minefield Of Fallacies And Errors. Among Those Who Know Little About The Subject--a Group That Includes The Average Taxpayer And Consumer, As Well As Most Journalists, Political Activists And Politicians--almost Every Widely Held Belief Is False. The Level Of Economic Illiteracy Is Stunning. Filthy Lucre Aims To Level The Playing Field And, In This Time Of Enormous Market Volatility And Unprecedented Instability, Raise Our Level Of Economic Literacy. Drawing On Everyday Examples To Skewer The Six Favourite Economic Fallacies Of The Right And Then The Left, We Learn Why The Right Wing So Wrongly Believes That Capitalism Is The Natural Order Of Things, That Any Tax Cut Is A Good Tax Cut, And That Personal Responsibility Can Solve Any Problem. And, Contrary To How The Left Feels, Why We Must Resist The Urge To Fiddle With Prices, Why The Pursuit Of Profit Is Not Such A Bad Thing, And Why, Despite Efforts To Improve Or Even Fix Wages, Some Jobs Will Always Suck.--publisher's Website. Capitalism Is Natural: Why The Market Actually Depends On Government -- Incentives Matter: Except When They Don't -- The Frictionless Plane Fallacy: Why More Competition Is Not Always Better -- Taxes Are Too High: The Myth Of The Government As Consumer -- Uncompetitive In Everything: Why International Competitiveness Doesn't Matter -- Personal Responsibility: How The Right Misunderstands Moral Hazard -- The Just Price Fallacy: The Temptation To Fiddle With Prices, And Why It Should Be Resisted -- The Psychopathic Pursuit Of Profit: Why Making Money Is Not So Bad Afterall -- Capitalism Is Doomed: Why The System Is Unlikely To Collapse (despite Appearance To The Contrary) -- Equal Pay: Why Some Jobs Must Suck, In Every Aspect -- Sharing The Wealth: Why Capitalism Produces So Few Capitalists -- 0 Leveling Down: The Wrong Way To Promote Equality. Joseph Heath. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.