BookMarks #136: So You Want To Know About Economics

Title: So You Want to Know About Economics

Author: Roopa Pai

Genre: Non-Fiction, Economics

Published: 2017

BookMarks

“So You Want to Know About Economics” is a good primer for anyone wanting to learn about the subject of economics. The author answers quite a few questions on economics, markets, and its impact on the world and its people.

What is Economics? - The answer maybe varied or as the author imagines an economist would say ‘It’s about, you know, markets and things. Supply, demand, price elasticity, externalities, cost-benefit, scarcity, resources, exchange rates, maximising utility, protectionism, globalisation, and all of them, of course, ceteris paribus…’

Why is Economics important? “Economics is important because it is really the study of how the world thinks and works!”

What do Economists do? “Economists are really superheroes fighting for a fairer world! Just like environmentalists, they are constantly trying to understand how we, the 7 billion people that inhabit this planet, can get the most out of what the universe gives us for free. Economists are wizards who make magical things happen with numbers.”

What is the root of economy? “Trade”. And the root of trade? “Money”. And the role of money – “Money’s a matter of functions four, A Medium, a Measure, a Standard, a Store”

And thus it goes on about the concepts of macro and micro economics, banking, government interventions, markets etc.

Overall, an interesting primer for anyone who wants to learn a little bit more about economics before delving into the likes of Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes. 

Previously on BookMarks: Mad Money Journey 

BookMarks #135: Mad Money Journey

Title: Mad Money Journey: A Financial Adventure

Author: Mehrab Irani

Genre: Fiction, Finance, Self-help

Published: 2014

BookMarks

Mad Money Journey can be described as a 3-in-1 kind of book, primarily a lesson in personal financial management alongwith with being a travelogue and food guide as well. The book narrates the story of John Pinto, a successful but bankrupt doctor, who receives advice on financial matters from a childhood friend. The book is a narration of his travels as he gathers financial wisdom.

Lines which stood out

“I was once a slave to my orthodox way of life and money-wage slave of the employer, tax slave of the government and loan slave of the bank. I was a prisoner of money.”

On financial mistakes - “I was guilty of innumerable common financial mistakes, such as mental accounting, loss avoidance, decision paralysis and selective thinking among others”

On education - “something that would expand one’s knowledge and understanding, not just something that would help one score well in exams… education was making mistakes and learning from them, not avoiding failure for fear of being called stupid by teachers, parents or other students…education was a journey beginning from the cradle and ending with the grave, not with the earning of a degree… education was the freedom to do whatever you wanted in life, rather than becoming a slave to your profession. It was financial independence, where your money works for you, instead of you working for money.”

“Your problem is not having less money, but the belief that you have less money and that it will never be enough.”

“there are two kinds of investors, be they large or small – those who don’t know where the market is headed, and those who don’t know that they don’t know where the market is headed. Then again, there is a third type of investor – the investment professional, who indeed knows that he or she doesn’t know, but whose livelihood depends upon appearing to know where the market is headed.”

“The most precious resource of people isn’t their time, it’s their energy. Manage it well.”

“In the stock market, analysis does not work, but the jobs of the analyst is always secure.”

Overall, a different attempt on a self-help book. Merging financial lessons into a story. Although the dialogues and narration seem forced most of the times. But an interesting try nevertheless.

Previously on BookMarks: O Jerusalem! 

On similar lines: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

BookMarks #134: O Jerusalem!

Title: O Jerusalem!

Author: Dominique Lapierre, Larry Collins

Genre: Non-fiction, History

Published: 1971

BookMarks

O Jerusalem! Narrates the events of 1947-1948 covering the creation of a separate Jewish state in Palestine. How the voting for the partition happened at the UN, and the intense violent aftermath of the Arab-Jewish conflict. The events which are yet to be fully resolved and repercussions are still going on. The book provides a good context for understanding the current issues as well.

Overall, quite an informative read about the events. At times, feels a bit overdetailed at times, especially if your are unfamiliar with the protagonists & the geography, but is necessary to get a clearer picture. Creation of a new state is not an easy task and takes super-human efforts from the leadership to the ordinary citizens to build and sustain it. Little decisions at seemingly insignificant junctures have played a critical role is shaping the present – an overheard conversation, supplies landing in the wrong hands, over-estimating the others power, some delays, some hurried decisions (like the ceasefire) all played a crucial role in shaping the Middle East of today. And most of all it is a human tragedy - a tale of the struggle to survive from starvation and war, as lines drawn on maps become borders on the ground.

A few notes from the book

On the Jewish State

• Theodor Herzl developed a one-hundred-page pamphlet titled Der Judenstaat "The Jewish State." It stated that “The Jews who will it, shall have a state of their own."
• David Ben-Gurion: ”in the city of Tel Aviv on the fifth day of Iyar, 5708, the fourteenth day of May, 1948Let us all stand to adopt the Scroll of the Establishment of the Jewish State."
• Israel did not initially have a name. "Elath thought as he started to draft his request. It presented only one problem: Elath did not know the name of the state for which he was requesting recognition. Solving the problem by calling it simply "the Jewish state," he had dispatched his letter to the White House."

On Jerusalem

• "Jerusalem a city where men came to die as well as to live, and generations of Christians, Jews and Moslems slept scattered under a sea of whitened stone around the valley, achieving in death in Jerusalem what they had so often failed to achieve in life: a peaceful reconciliation of their claims to its ramparts."
• "One place in the city stood apart from the rancor and chaos of Jerusalem, however—a little island all its own in which a handful of Jews and Arabs lived together in peace and harmony. It was the government insane asylum."

The Arab view 

• For the Arabs, and above all for the 1.2 million Arabs of Palestine, the partitioning of the land in which they had been a majority for seven centuries seemed a monstrous injustice thrust upon them by white Western imperialism in expiation of a crime they had not committed.
• "The problem is Palestine, not petroleum."
• Transjordan’s King Abdullah to Jewish Agency - "you must convince the Americans to force us to make peace with you. We want to do it. But it's only possible for us politically if we are forced to do it."
• The armies of the 5 nations fought the same war separately!

A Few lines which stood out

• subtlety, indirection and surprise. - life's tactics
• a mania for secrecy so deeply rooted that before opening his safe he looked in the mirror to make sure who he was.

Some Trivia from the book

• Assiya Halaby was the first Arab woman in Palestine to own and operate her own car.
• The republic of Venice enriched the vocabulary of the world with the word ghetto from the quarter, Ghetto Nuovo -New Foundry - to which the republic restricted its Jews.
• oldest continually observed religious ceremony, the Jewish Passover.

Previously on BookMarks: The Answer Is No 

Also by the same authors: Freedom at Midnight 

2025: The Year Gone By

As the Year 2025 moves into history, time to take a look back at some events to remember (or maybe not) the year by

1. Word of the Year

Six-Seven, as chosen by dictionary.com. What does it even mean? No one is quite sure, but kids everywhere seem to be latching on to it with the accompanying moving arms action!

2. The Year of Wars and Skirmishes threatening to break out into wars. 

It almost seemed as if the world was hell-bent on proving Thomas Friedman wrong, with missiles/drones flying all over – Russia-Ukraine, the Middle East, India-Pakistan, Thailand-Cambodia, with the neutral Qatar taking hits from both sides. News channels were busy recycling pictures/videos more reminiscent of mythological series & video games than theatres of war. And somehow gave a feeling that all these were just the beginning of something bigger. The geopolitical chessboard seems to be on the cusp of something violent

3. Economic Term of the Year: Tariffs. 

All market theories went for a toss, Research reports needed constant updation, Markets fluctuated, Numbers kept changing, Policy uncertainty prevailed and the global economy gave the impression of a cat sitting on hot tin roof.

4. The Louvre Heist

Has there been a real-life event somehow more outrageous than most satirical spoof that the movie industry could serve up. Artworks stolen in broad daylight, password, security systems, with the password “LOUVRE”, the forklift company getting free advertisement, a nattily dressed gentleman on the crime scene initially thought to be a police detective but wasn’t, comments on the French working hours. If not for the fact that actual artwork went missing, this was a pretty good plot for an Austin Powers/Pink Panther movie.

5. The AI era

AI usage expanded rapidly blurring the boundaries of real and artificial. From texts to pictures to videos to TV series, there is AI content everywhere. And it is becoming more and more indistinguishable from real. Wonder how much damage an increased reliance on AI without human judgement will cause?

6. What does that company really do? 

The world learnt about Astronomer after its CXOs were caught behaving awkwardly on being seen on the concert camera at a Coldplay concert

7. The meme generator

The Indonesian boat race kid who danced at the head of the boat seemingly contributing to the team through his hand gestures (dubbed aura farming by the internet)

8. The biggest gathering: Mahakumbh. 

If the numbers thrown by travel agencies & administrators are to be believed, nearly a third of India was there at some point or the other. Even otherwise, it was the largest ever gathering of humankind.

Overall, 2025 was a year dominated by geopolitical uncertainty and AI. Lets see what 2026 throws at us (it has begun even more crazily).

To all readers a Belated Happy New Year. 

P.S. This entire post was typed out and not AI generated or modified.