The Cartoon Introduction to Economics - Volume 1: Microeconomics

Paperback

Author: Yoram Bauman (Economics) & Grady Klein (Illustration)

When I did Economics courses in Post Graduate college I had one goal, to clear them. For me, a Physics major Under Graduate, Economics was close to Quantum Physics or a little better. A little better because I could get more marks in the Economics courses, at least 25% more than the 35% passing minimum I managed to muster in Quantum Physics. I would term my performance a quantum leap for the below “the average” mankind.

Economics was not all that bad, more than the 50 odd names, I could also remember a few theories. And most importantly tell “Supply” from “Demand”, once you did this you’ve already passed the course. Many of us in the class had a doubt if it was the subject or the professor. The doubts grew stronger because the person always started his classes with the customary, “Economics, is a little dry subject… You need to put some effort to get it”. By the time I understood that it was a healthy combination of both, I had already managed to clear the course with some decent marks.

Economics came back to my life much later, when I saw this book called “The Undercover Economist” on a bookshelf. This one by Tim Harford lead me to another, to another and to one too many. So when I saw Harford’s recommendation of this book I thought it is time for me to do a crash course on the basics and do some catching-up. The other thing that interested me was the fact that Yoram Bauman is touted the first stand-up Economist. We people from Dubai have a special fascination about “firsts”, so I was tempted to check this “first”, one of the few contemporary first's not to be from Dubai or the region.

And this book didn’t disappoint me, more than just the crash course I was looking for it has offered me a great new perspective on Economics. The other face of Economics which is not dull, drab & boring as the popular face we know. And mind you, this is the first part that deals only with microeconomics. Macroeconomics would be his next book and that is coming soon.

The cartoon presentation is spectacular and it doesn’t take anything away from the concepts or doesn’t make the book something like an Economics joke book. The other thing I loved in the book was the way the concepts of microeconomics are introduced and how simply they are explained.

Every concept (or most of them) is cross-referenced with a Nobel winning Economic theory. And every time this introduction happens, the king of Sweden pops up with a “Congratulations, you win the Nobel prize” which I love.

This is a superb book that should be read by students taking an Economics course for the first time in their lives. Reading this book gets them do two things, (1) They get to understand the subject in a much, much better way compared to the conventional course material and (2) They will understand that Economics can be lively and Economists are human beings too.

A lovely book I would recommend to people who want to know what Economics is or to those who have done Economics courses and want to understand the concepts better.