I'm reading The Economics Anti-Textbook by Rod Hill and Tony Myatt, and I must say that this is one of the best books on the basics of economics that I've ever read. And that means ever. EVER!!!! In contrast to Steve Keen's Debunking Economics (for in-depth discussion of that book see the blog Unlearning Economics), which attempts to destroy what is dear to the dyed-in-the-wool hard core neoclassical (and by extension neo-liberal) economist, the anti-textbook is much gentler. It does not actually debunk any of the theories presented. Rather, it highlights biases, analytical weaknesses and internal inconsistencies in those theories in an attempt to offer some sort of a second opinion. Also, competing theories are presented that contradict the mainstream, but that have some merits on their own, for example empirical evidence to support them (which the mainstream often doesn't). I would strongly suggest that anyone studying economics reads The Economics Anti-Textbook as a kind of inoculation against the propaganda and indoctrination of a so-called science that, according to McCloskey, should be more like an art of rhetoric.
In the following weeks I'm going to review some of the chapters of the anti-textbook, so stay tuned.
