A bit of background

Economic blindness has dire consequences for any society. The world is pushed back to Dark Ages every few years, when one or other ignorant politician winds the clock back on trade and prosperity. Moreover, the level of awareness of economics across society is very weak, making it easy for demagogues to mislead the entire public, making a mockery of the very concept of democracy.

Our intellectuals and writers should also display an understanding of the risks of unnecessary interference by government. Educating children well in economics is one of the most important projects ahead of us.

Lack of knowledge of basic hygiene and basic economics can be equally fatal. While the world has come to understand the need to teach basic hygiene, there is still a feeling that economics is about GDP and measurements. That is a mistake. I think everyone can understand basic economics if it is taught clearly at an early age.

In September 2015 I realised that that everyone needs good understanding of basic economics. I couldn’t readily find an existing book on economics for little children, so I’ve prepared my own.

This project languished for a while but I’ve now finished the first version of this book on 5 August 2018.

This book aims at giving children the confidence to let markets work their way through issues. Too often even trained economists are reluctant to implement market-based solutions, as they suffer from the baseless belief that bureaucrats will somehow perform a better role than markets. They sometimes imagine that regulation is as simple as making a law. But that’s not the way the world works.

There’s a wide  variation in the reading skills of children between the ages of around 10 to 16 – for whom this book is targeted. I tried to simplify matters and make ideas accessible to relatively good students in this age group. Some may find this too simplified, others may find it a bit challenging. Ultimately, I hope this proves useful to at least some.