When you study a subject for so long, whether it is mathematics, physics, economics, psychology, you tend to lose tract with the reality you see every day. Among many pieces of works of Frederic Bastiat, this piece of work is so brilliant that I can say it allows people who are new to economics to understand the principle of economics firmly.
Economists today use the expression Opportunity Cost to express the cost of time that you may spend on something else. For example, you may say going to a free conference is free but actually it is not because the opportunity cost is that you can do something else and you lose the opportunity to do so when you choose to go to the conference. Thus, it is not free. The author Henry Hazlitt of Economics in One Lesson wrote his worldly famous book basing on this simple concept, very simple that some Nobel laureates in economics tend to miss.
I can say NO economist would disagree with this concept. Actually no one would (tell me if you meet one!) It is self-evident to say that ones must consider both seen and unseen consequences. Seen ones are easy to see because it is seen (hint: tautology is there). The unseen may be less focused. Economists take pride in themselves to focus on the unseen in results of any policy.
The example of this simple concept draws in plenty of disagreements. For instance, the example of Broken Window. Keynesian would consider it as an opportunity to create jobs, but Bastiat did not. From small to big interventions, I believe you would find this essay very fun to read, and it may change your way of seeing the world.
My rating for this book is 4.5/5.
The Conundrum
Economists divide time into two: short-run and long-run. Some economists agree with Bastiat as a long-run model in economics but disagree with it in the short-run model. For instance, in the short-run where prices are not responding to changes in supply and/or demand, the Broken Window concept is useful to push for economic growth. Thus, governments need to initiate spending on even seemingly useless projects.
The Foundation for Economics Education, for instance, reserves its rights and publish it for free to the public. What is not free, the opportunity cost (quick application!), is your time to read it.
Author: M. Frederic Bastiat.
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (August 7, 2013) [this one is not free even in financial terms!]
