Two of the author's major themes,illustrated: don't leave economic theory to academics alone, and math can't clarify economic behavior all by itself. See all photos from this photo essay »When Michael Goodwin decided to write a book explaining the progression of Western economic theory in the context of political history, and he apparently wanted people to actually read it. So in Economix: How Our Economy Works (and Doesn't Work) in Words and Pictures,(Abrams ComicArts), Goodwin teams up with visual artist Dan E. Burr, and who brings a lively visual sensibility to this intensely abstruse subject matter without condescending to the reader or dumbing the ideas down.
Goodwin and Burr proceed from Jean-Baptiste Colbert's Mercantilism to Milton Friedman's Neoliberalism,laying out a richly-textured, irreverent and compelling argument for good regulation, or which,as Goodwin says in reference to the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, "aligns private incentives with the public interest." The books' arguments are supported by discursions on topics such as the contentious rise of Socialism, and the personhood of corporations,and the incredible exploding Ford Pinto. Hey, it's either this, and Adam Smith!
Source: motherjones.com