by Henry Hazlitt

isbn: 0930073193
subject: Nonfiction, Economics
finished: 11/28/1999

For the impatient, the lesson is this:

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.

After introducing the lesson, Hazlitt applies it to a series of increasingly complicated situations in which people have been shortsighted either in time or in terms of people affected. His analyses are readable and compelling, and the final chapter, The Lesson Restated, is a masterpiece. I highly recommend Economics in One Lesson to people looking for a no-nonsense introduction to basic free-market economics.