The Cartoon Introduction to Economics: Volume One: Microeconomics

March 9, 2010 | By In Movie |

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5 Comments so far

  1. Trevor Burnham on March 9th, 2010

    I’m a big fan of microeconomics. I’m a big fan of comics. So, I had great expectations for this “graphic textbook” from stand-up economist Yoram Bauman.

    Unfortunately, this volume has only one feature to recommend it: It’s cheap. Who is the target audience here? Obviously as someone who’s taken PhD-level micro, I’m not it. It would probably go over the head of a pre-high school child, while a bright college student would find it superficial as it skirts over each topic, dropping economic references with an absence of explanation matched only by its surfeit of tedious repetition. So that leaves two potential audiences: cynical high-schoolers, and adults who never got around to taking micro. Neither is likely to find this book very funny.

    Part of the problem is that Yoram Bauman’s schtick has always been aimed at people who’ve already mastered introductory economics. He drops as much econ vocab as possible into a litany of well-tread jokes. That approach doesn’t make sense here. Nor is he helped by the drab, unimaginative, monochromatic artwork. The comic does a reasonably good job at condensing a micro textbook into something that one can consume in an hour or two, but anyone with the appetite to do that would probably be better served by skimming Greg Mankiw’s top-notch textbook, Principles of Economics. Reading that lively, example-rich textbook in high school instilled a love of economic theory that I’ll never forget.

    If you really must have a comic that teaches economics, I’d suggest The Manga Guide to Calculus. Many of the examples it gives are from economics, and the higher-level math gives marginal analysis a deeper meaning. If you just want to witness an economist’s mind at work, solving whimsical yet philosophically deep puzzles, then I’d strongly recommend the sadly overlooked More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics. It’s a brilliant, deeply insightful book. And unlike “The Cartoon Introduction,” I can guarantee that it will make you laugh.
    Rating: 2 / 5

  2. Caraculiambro on March 9th, 2010

    First, I thought this was another outing by Larry Gonick, whose Cartoon Guide to Statistics and Cartoon History of the Universe 1 Vol. 1-7 (Cartoon History of the Universe) (Pt.1) I read and enjoyed. I liked his artwork.

    No, this is by a different artist: the art is aseptic and bland, almost abstract. It’s no fun to look at the page.

    That leaves us with the text. And if it’s just that, why don’t you go for Modern Principles: Microeconomics, which is the most entertaining book on microeconomics that I’ve seen in the last ten years. It’s actually more readable than this cartoon version, and has a bit more technical depth besides.

    If you’re just getting your feet wet in micro, I would advise you to steer clear of this. In my opinion, “let’s make it fun” books like this never do much good: you end up having to cover all the material again more seriously later anyhow, so why not just get started right off with something more solid? I made the mistake of doing that for statistics once. I had to get competent at statistics in a big hurry and thought I’d make it as painless as possible by reading the “Cartoon Guide to Statistics.” Ended up having to redo everything.
    Rating: 2 / 5

  3. Hans de Grys on March 9th, 2010

    I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Cartoon Introduction to Economics. The fundamental ideas in Microeconomics are presented in a clear and intelligent manner, with many humorous but thoughtful examples and analogies. The organization of the book is clean and logical, moving from the “optimizing individual” to “strategic interactions” of small groups to “market interactions” involving many people. A wide variety of topics are distilled down to their essence (decision trees, risk, pareto efficiency, auctions, trade, supply and demand, taxes, elasticity, etc.). Klein’s whimsical and funny illustrations add a great deal to the text, and hold the reader’s interest while at the same time helping to explain the various concepts and examples. This book is appropriate for many different ages and backgrounds, from high school or college students studying econ to the average adult seeking a little more knowledge and understanding of basic economic principles. I’ve read parts of it several times, and find that I get a deeper understanding of some of the more complicated and nuanced concepts the second time through. My one (minor) complaint is that this otherwise quick read bogs down a bit in some of the later chapters (e.g. margins and elasticity) with too much theory (and not enough jokes?). But this is a minor issue, and on the whole I enthusiastically recommend this book for both econ students and for people who just want to learn more about the topic (and have fun doing it).
    Rating: 5 / 5

  4. R. G McFadden on March 9th, 2010

    So you have a friend who thinks he/she takes econ, he/she’ll be up to his/her alligators in graphs and calculus. This book is a great way to reassure ‘em.

    And it’s a pretty good microecon refresher.

    Had I written this, I think *I* would have been a whole lot more impolite with people who structure their economic world around the fallacy of wishful thinking (“x” is true because I want it to be true). But, WTH, maybe I’ll write my one book some day!
    Rating: 5 / 5

  5. Mark Harrison on March 9th, 2010

    I preordered my copy, and was happy to find out that Amazon had shipped it early enough so that it would arrive at my home on the release date.

    I have quite enjoyed reading it, and if you’re looking for an easy-to-digest introduction to the topic, this might be the book for you. One thing that makes it a nice introduction is that

    Yoram Bauman is definitely a funny guy: search for “stand up economist” on youtube, or enjoy this presentation where he translates the 10 Principles of Economics into layman’s terminology. If you like this presentation you will like the book.

    [...]
    Rating: 5 / 5

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