Best Textbooks; M. Skousen

Fortunately, free-market economists have gradually filled a gap by teaching sound principles at every level of econom ics. There's still much more to do, but the direction is clear-more textbook writers are producing books that teach market principles. Mark Skousen is an economist at Rollins College, Department ofEconomics, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida 32789, a Forbes columnist, and editor of Forecasts & Strategies. He is also the author of Economics on Trial (Irwin, 1993), a review of the top ten textbooks in economics. He is currently working on his own textbook, Economic Logic. Here are my choices for the best text books in each category: IntroductoryTexts: Significant Progress There are quite a few introductory texts to choose from. Most of my colleagues select The Economic Way of Thinking, by Paul Heyne (University of Washington), now in its eighth edition (Prentice-Hall, 1997). It focuses primarily on the micro foundations of the economy and avoids defective macro concepts such as aggregate supply (AS) and aggregate demand (AD).

Economics: Private and Public Choice, by James D. Gwartney (Florida State) and Richard L. Stroup (Montana State), now in its eighth edition (Dryden Press, 1997), is another favorite. It consistently applies market principles to a host of problems, including the environment, taxes, and gov ernment spending. It is the only textbook I know that spends several pages on Social Security privatization. The only drawback is that it begins its macro section with AS-AD, a fundamentally Keynesian concept (the idea that the econ omy can be stuck indefinitely at equilibrium at less than full employment). Gwartney and Stroup should take a cue from Greg Man kiw's popular new textbook, Economics (Dryden Press, 1997), which begins its macro section with the classical model (which he terms "the real economy in the long run") and relegates the short-term 752 AS-AD model to the back of the book. AS-AD is introduced in chapter 8 of Gwart ney and Stroup but chapter 31 in Mankiw!

Another free-market textbook that puts classical economics ahead of the Keynesian model is Principles of Economics (Addison Wesley, 1997) by Roy J. Ruffin and Paul R. Gregory, both professors at the University of Houston. They introduce AS-AD in chapter 27. Economic growth (the long-run classical model) is emphasized over the ups and downs of the business cycle (short-run Keynesian model). Ruffin and Gregory have many other advantages: They are the only major text book to cite favorably the Austrian econo mists Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and Joseph Schumpeter throughout the textbook, including the first chapter. Most textbooks quote liberally from John May nard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and Karl Marx, but Ruffin and Gregory break new ground here. The authors focus on four major historical events ("Defining Moments in Economics") and their impact on eco nomic thinking: the industrial revolution, the rise and fall of socialism, the Great Depression, and globalization. They also devote major sections on privatization, pub lic choice, the gold standard, and economic success stories in Europe and Asia.

Overall, the works by Ruffin and Gregory, and Gwartney and Stroup, are quickly be coming known as the most innovative text books on the market today. Breakthrough in American Economic History Now let's turn to economic history. Gene Smiley (Marquette) has written a first-rate textbook for American economic history classes: The American Economy in the Twen tieth Century (SouthWestern Publishing, 1993). It is the only textbook I know that considers all the major conflicting theories 753 for explaining the major events of the twentieth century. It even includes an Austrian interpretation of the Great De pression and the World War II economy. I just wished Smiley covered events prior to the twentieth century; his book is that good. History of Economic Thought Many economics teachers have wisely replaced Heilbroner's Worldly Philosophers with New Ideas from Dead Economists, by Todd G. Buchholz (Plum, 1990). Among other things, Buchholz is much more critical of Marx and central planning. Unfortu nately, Buchholz's book says almost nothing of the Austrian school. One book that does isA History ofEconomic Theory and Method, by Robert B. Ekelund, Jr., and Robert F.

Hebert (McGraw-Hill, 1990). Murray N. Rothbard originally intended to write a one-volume history of economics, but his work gradually developed into a series of tomes, only two of which were completed before his untimely death: Economic Thought Before Adam Smith and Classical Economics (Edward Elgar, 1995). Both books are more appropriate for advanced courses in economic theory and philosophy. Other free-market books may be helpful in various courses. For money and banking classes, Murray Rothbard's The Mystery of Banking (E. P. Dutton, 1983) is useful. Dominick T. Armentano's Antitrust and Monopoly, second edition (Holmes & Meier, 1990) is an ideal supplement in classes on industrial organization. And, of course, there is a wide variety of books on free-market economics to supplement the textbooks-works by Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Israel Kirzner, Henry Hazlitt, George Reisman, Hans Sennholz, and a host of others.

In short, free-market economics is back in the college classroom. 0 754 BOOKS lfiJQ;gry'Ghosts:Mao's Secret Famine ·by Jasp'er Becker The Free Press. 1996 • 352 pages. $24.50 Reviewed by Steven W. Mosher .S·ome of tho e darkest chapters in recent human history have been written in the People's Republic of China. From the rad ical .experiment in utopian engineering known as the Great Leap Forward, to the state-sponsored terror of the Cultural Rev ()lution, to the Draconian one-child policy of today, China's communist rulers have visited disaster after disaster upon the Chi nese people. While much is known about these' and other political campaigns gone awry, there is one man-made disaster of monumental proportions that has been kept 'carefully under wraps. From 1958 to 1962 Chinese people starved to death' by the tens of millions. But tbe"three difficult years," as the Beijing regime still daintily refers to this atrocity, saw not merely death· from famine on a massive scale. It was also a period of state terror, during which Party officials ran sacked villages, torturing and murdering .peasants for refusing to hand over secret stores of grain that did not exist.