Economics Explained: Everything You Need to Know about How the Economy Works and Where It's Going by Robert L. Heilbroner and Thurow, Lester C
	Simon & Schuster 1994 285pp. 0-671-88422-0 Index YA

Heilbroner and Thurow are two of today's better-known economists, their commentary more likely to appear in the New Yorker or Newsweek than as a piece in the American Economic Review. This is the substantially revised and updated third edition of their primer on economics. Well written and readable, it successfully targets those with little or no background in the subject, clearly explaining concepts such as the GNP, deficit spending, and price systems. It also provides an overview of the history of economic thought by contrasting the theories of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes. While economic theories are often likely to be colored by political or moral values, the authors readily identify opinions or statements that may be controversial.

--Reviewed by David Rouse in Booklis, 90 (January 15 1994), p. 906.