New Releases by Thomas Sowell

O SEGUNDO VOLUME DOS ESCRITOS ESSENCIAIS DE THOMAS SOWELL. Desde muito jovem, Thomas Sowell se dedicou a compreender as questões sociais que persistem em qualquer sociedade e, inclusive, discutiu sobre assuntos que se transformaram em pautas mais recentemente. De início, tratou-se de uma busca por entender as situações intrigantes e inquietantes que aconteciam ao seu redor. Tudo isso visou ao próprio esclarecimento pessoal, já que Sowell não tinha ambições políticas e, como ele menciona, nem os talentos políticos necessários para ocupar cargos eletivos ou nomeados. Mas, após ter alcançado certa compreensão de questões específicas — um processo que levou anos —, seu desejo era compartilhar esse entendimento com outras pessoas. Essa é a razão do material que foi publicado no primeiro e neste segundo volume de Thomas Sowell Essencial. Nesta segunda parte, Sowell abrange ensaios sobre Leis, Raça e Etnia, Educação, enquanto compartilha abertamente suas memórias de infância, relacionamento familiar, trajetória acadêmica, desafios pessoais e controvérsias que enfrentou ao longo dos anos. "A resposta longa para a pergunta sobre as grandes questões do nosso tempo são os livros de Thomas Sowell. Eles são uma resposta deliciosa, um exercício elegante de observação e análise que combina raciocínio aguçado, escrita cristalina e um poder de síntese sem igual." – ROBERTO MOTTA, AUTOR DE A CONSTRUÇÃO DA MALDADE

NESTE BEST-SELLER DO NEW YORK TIMES, O RENOMADO ECONOMISTA THOMAS SOWELL DERRUBA OS MITOS QUE EMBASAM O MOVIMENTO PELA JUSTIÇA SOCIAL. A busca por justiça social é uma poderosa missão de nosso tempo e que, por diversos motivos, tem um grande apelo a variadas pessoas. Mas aqueles que usam as palavras nem sempre apresentam os mesmos conceitos. Esclarecer essas concepções é o primeiro passo para descobrir em que concordamos e discordamos. A partir daí, é basicamente uma questão de conhecer os fatos. Falácias da Justiça Social revela como muitas afirmações consideradas verdadeiras simplesmente não se sustentam diante de fatos documentados, que geralmente são o oposto do que muitas pessoas acreditam. Por mais atraente que seja a visão da justiça social, a questão fundamental é se a agenda da justiça social nos levará à concretização dessa visão. A história nos mostra que essa agenda, muitas vezes, leva à direção oposta e, eventualmente, com consequências catastróficas. Há mais coisas envolvidas além de simples equívocos. Todos os seres humanos são falíveis, e os defensores da justiça social podem não cometer, necessariamente, mais erros do que outras pessoas. Porém os que têm certeza de sua missão geralmente não se deixam intimidar por obstáculos, evidências ou, até mesmo, riscos fatais. É nessa situação que grande parte do mundo ocidental se encontra no momento. A questão é se continuaremos ultrapassando o limite do impossível sem nenhuma cautela.

Un análisis brillante y valiente sobre el verdadero origen de las desigualdades económicas Los resultados socioeconómicos difieren enormemente entre individuos, grupos y países. Se han ofrecido muchas razones para justificar este fenómeno. Algunos creen que los menos afortunados son víctimas de los más privilegiados; otros piensan que las desigualdades responden a factores genéticos. Thomas Sowell, en cambio, cuestiona la extendida idea de que la explicación de estas diferencias pueda reducirse a un único factor. Porque, si ni siquiera hay una igualdad de resultados entre hermanos que han sido criados bajo el mismo techo, ¿por qué deberíamos esperarla para aquellos que parten de condiciones muy diferentes? Discriminación y disparidades demuestra con datos que la desigualdad de resultados no implica necesariamente discriminación, porque las distintas dotaciones iniciales de los sujetos influyen en el logro del éxito, incluidos factores naturales o fruto del azar que no pueden ser atribuidos a una injusticia. Desmontar los presupuestos falaces que inspiran las políticas públicas encaminadas a acabar con la desigualdad permitirá al lector entender por qué tantas soluciones políticas han resultado en un contraproducente fracaso. Gracias a sus análisis, Sowell se ha convertido en uno de los pensadores más influyentes en algunos de los temas más presentes en el debate público actual, como es el de las divergencias raciales. Y por hacerlo sin miedo a descubrir verdades incómodas, sobre la base de una evidencia empírica incontestable y de un debate racional alejado de cualquier dogmatismo. Este libro es una nueva muestra de ello.

Una refutación del mito más extendido (y peligroso) de nuestra época La lucha por la justicia social es una de las principales causas de nuestro tiempo, que interpela a muchas personas diferentes por diversas razones. Pero que se utilicen las mismas palabras no siempre supone estar hablando de lo mismo. Debemos aclarar los significados para descubrir en qué estamos de acuerdo y en qué discrepamos. El veterano pensador Thomas Sowell, que lleva más de seis décadas cuestionando los presupuestos económicos y filosóficos progresistas, demuestra en su último libro que muchas de las cosas que los luchadores de la justicia social creen verdaderas, sencillamente, no resisten una mínima confrontación con los hechos. Este libro, cargado de datos y argumentos, desmonta la visión distorsionada y victimista de la realidad del pensamiento woke que está arrastrando a la civilización occidental hacia el precipicio. Sowell nos recuerda que la agenda de la justicia social a menudo conduce en la dirección opuesta a su ideal, en ocasiones con consecuencias catastróficas.

★ 跳脫黨派框架，挑戰經濟不平等的謬見 ★ 對當代經濟問題，提出最「政治不正確」的反駁 ★ 長居亞馬遜經濟類書暢銷榜，讀者4.8顆星好評 ★ 外媒盛讚：「每位總統候選人都應該讀的書」 「這個世界從來就不是一個公平的競爭環境，萬物皆有代價。」 臺灣貧窮率「世界第二低」，我們真的富有嗎？ 收入統計數據代表什麼？背後隱藏什麼訊息？ 政府如何定義貧窮，會怎樣影響人民的生計？ 為什麼比起創造財富，政府更重視分配正義？ 美國重要的保守派經濟學家索威爾，在此書中勇敢挑戰經濟不平等的謬見。 如果你深信《國家為什麼會失敗》或《二十一世紀資本論》，那你一定要讀這本書──因為它揭露了權威人士和政治人物的無知與謬誤！ 有錢人與窮人的收入差距正在擴大？！ ▶根據收入所定義的貧困階級，大部分是由年輕人與較無工作經驗者所組成，但是沒有人會年輕一輩子。相反地，那些收入最頂層者，有超過一半的人在十年後，經歷了收入砍半甚至減少更多的情況。 福利制度能減少收入或財富的「不均」，終結經濟落差？！ ▶假設一個人能以勞動獲得一萬元的收入，卻因此失去一萬五千元的補助，這代表重返勞動市場會讓自己的生活水準下降──就某種程度而言，不斷擴大福利制度，就是讓更多人不需工作就能活下去，造成更嚴重的收入不均。 「錯誤的前提鮮少能帶來正確的結論。」任何政治上的干預，都會顯著影響經濟發展。中國曾創造許多優秀的古文明，卻因為十五世紀鎖國政策的失誤，再也回不去以往的盛世；全球第一個「日不落帝國」西班牙，如今卻是西歐最貧窮的國家之一……為什麼猶太人、黎巴嫩移民，總是能夠在各領域取得亮眼的成就，美國的黑人卻比白人更容易深陷貧窮？ 對「不平等」的過分關注，儼然成為知識分子、媒體與政治人物的重要標誌。許多經濟學家與政客出於政治動機，大肆宣傳模稜兩可的收入統計數據和理論，卻經常避開貧富不均的真正成因──生產力不均。如果我們只在乎財富分配，而忽視地理、文化、社會和政治因素造成的生產力問題，或是只關注收入差異，卻不去討論高收入者的成就或他們為社會帶來的好處，我們將無法得到客觀的事實。 無論是對資本主義的批判、自由主義的倡議，或是基於保守派的立場，都僅是為了提供不一樣的觀點與視野，如同作者在此書中說道：「對人類制度的研究，永遠都像是在尋找最可容忍的不完美。」本書若能提供關於真相的一小部分，目的就已達成。

In this instant New York Times bestseller, renowned economist Thomas Sowell demolishes the myths that underpin the social justice movement The quest for social justice is a powerful crusade of our time, with an appeal to many different people, for many different reasons. But those who use the same words do not always present the same meanings. Clarifying those meanings is the first step toward finding out what we agree on and disagree on. From there, it is largely a question of what the facts are. Social Justice Fallacies reveals how many things that are thought to be true simply cannot stand up to documented facts, which are often the opposite of what is widely believed. However attractive the social justice vision, the crucial question is whether the social justice agenda will get us to the fulfillment of that vision. History shows that the social justice agenda has often led in the opposite direction, sometimes with catastrophic consequences. More things are involved besides simply mistakes. All human beings are fallible, and social justice advocates may not necessarily make any more mistakes than others. But crusaders with an utter certainty about their mission are often undeterred by obstacles, evidence or even fatal dangers. That is where much of the Western world is today. The question is whether we will continue on heedlessly, past the point of no return.

Traditional Chinese Edition of [Discrimination and Disparities]

Simplified Chinese edition of Wealth, Poverty and Politics

This book is the culmination of 15 years of research and travels that have taken the author completely around the world twice, as well as on other travels in the Mediterranean, the Baltic, and around the Pacific rim. Its purpose has been to try to understand the role of cultural differences within nations and between nations, today and over centuries of history, in shaping the economic and social fates of peoples and of whole civilizations. Focusing on four major cultural areas(that of the British, the Africans (including the African diaspora), the Slavs of Eastern Europe, and the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere -- Conquests and Cultures reveals patterns that encompass not only these peoples but others and help explain the role of cultural evolution in economic, social, and political development.

The Einstein Syndrome is a follow-up to Late-Talking Children, which established Thomas Sowell as a leading spokesman on the subject of late-talking children. While many children who talk late suffer from developmental disorders or autism, there is a certain well-defined group who are developmentally normal or even quite bright, yet who may go past their fourth birthday before beginning to talk. These children are often misdiagnosed as autistic or retarded, a mistake that is doubly hard on parents who must first worry about their apparently handicapped children and then see them lumped into special classes and therapy groups where all the other children are clearly very different. Since he first became involved in this issue in the mid-90s, Sowell has joined with Stephen Camarata of Vanderbilt University, who has conducted a much broader, more rigorous study of this phenomenon than the anecdotes reported in Late-Talking Children. Sowell can now identify a particular syndrome, a cluster of common symptoms and family characteristics, that differentiates these late-talking children from others; relate this syndrome to other syndromes; speculate about its causes; and describe how children with this syndrome are likely to develop.

Sowell challenges all the assumptions of contemporary liberalism on issues ranging from the economy to race to education in this collection of controversial essays, and captures his thoughts on politics, race, and common sense with a section at the end for thought-provoking quotes.

A collection of essays that discusses such issues as the media, immigration, the minimum wage and multiculturalism.

In dozens of places in New York City where a charter school and a traditional public school hold classes in the same building, charter school students in those buildings have achieved "proficiency" on statewide tests several times more often than traditional public school students taking the same tests. In 2013, a fifth-grade class in a Harlem charter school scored higher on a mathematics test than any other fifth-grade class in the entire state of New York. That included, as the New York Times put it, "even their counterparts in the whitest and richest suburbs, Scarsdale and Briarcliff Manor." Nationwide, charter schools have only a fraction of the number of students who attend traditional public schools. But charter schools enrollment is growing faster, especially in low-income minority communities. From 2001 to 2016, enrollment in traditional public schools rose 1 percent, while charter school enrollment rose 571 percent. In cities across the country, with many students on waiting lists to transfer into charter schools, public school officials are blocking charter schools from using school buildings that have been vacant for years, in order to prevent those transfers from taking place. Even in states where blocking charter schools from using vacant school buildings is illegal, the laws have been evaded. In some places, vacant school buildings have been demolished, making sure no charter schools can use them. Book jacket.

An empirical examination of how economic and other disparities arise Economic and other outcomes differ vastly among individuals, groups, and nations. Many explanations have been offered for the differences. Some believe that those with less fortunate outcomes are victims of genetics. Others believe that those who are less fortunate are victims of the more fortunate. Discrimination and Disparities gathers a wide array of empirical evidence from to challenge the idea that different economic outcomes can be explained by any one factor, be it discrimination, exploitation or genetics. It is readable enough for people with no prior knowledge of economics. Yet the empirical evidence with which it backs up its analysis spans the globe and challenges beliefs across the ideological spectrum. The point of Discrimination and Disparities is not to recommend some particular policy "fix" at the end, but to clarify why so many policy fixes have turned out to be counterproductive, and to expose some seemingly invincible fallacies--behind many counterproductive policies.

In Wealth, Poverty, and Politics, Thomas Sowell, one of the foremost conservative public intellectuals in this country, argues that political and ideological struggles have led to dangerous confusion about income inequality in America. Pundits and politically motivated economists trumpet ambiguous statistics and sensational theories while ignoring the true determinant of income inequality: the production of wealth. We cannot properly understand inequality if we focus exclusively on the distribution of wealth and ignore wealth production factors such as geography, demography, and culture. Sowell contends that liberals have a particular interest in misreading the data and chastises them for using income inequality as an argument for the welfare state. Refuting Thomas Piketty, Paul Krugman, and others on the left, Sowell draws on accurate empirical data to show that the inequality is not nearly as extreme or sensational as we have been led to believe. Transcending partisanship through a careful examination of data, Wealth, Poverty, and Politics reveals the truth about the most explosive political issue of our time.

Say''s Law—the idea that "supply creates its own demand"—has been a basic concept in economics for almost two centuries. Thomas Sowell traces its evolution as it emerged from successive controversies, particularly two of the most bitter and long lasting in the history of the discipline, the "general glut controversy" that reached a peak in the 1820s, and the Keynesian Revolution of the 1930s. These controversies not only involved almost every noted economist of the time but had repercussions on basic economic theory, methodology, and sociopolitical theory. This book, the first comprehensive coverage of the subject, will be an indispensable addition to the history of economic thought. It is also relevant to all social sciences concerned with economic prosperity, with the nature of intellectual orthodoxy and insurgency, or with the complex relationships among ideology, concepts, and policies. Originally published in 1972. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Thomas Sowell takes aim at a range of legal, social, racial, educational, and economic issues in this latest collection of his controversial, never boring, always thought-provoking essays. From "gun control myths" to "mealy mouth media" to "free lunch medicine," Sowell gets to the heart of the matters we all care about with his characteristically unsparing candor.

This essay unscrambles gross misconceptions that have made rational debates about tax policies virtually impossible for decades.

Thomas Sowell''s incisive critique of the intellectuals'' destructive role in shaping ideas about race in America Intellectuals and Race is a radical book in the original sense of one that goes to the root of the problem. The role of intellectuals in racial strife is explored in an international context that puts the American experience in a wholly new light. The views of individual intellectuals have spanned the spectrum, but the views of intellectuals as a whole have tended to cluster. Indeed, these views have clustered at one end of the spectrum in the early twentieth century and then clustered at the opposite end of the spectrum in the late twentieth century. Moreover, these radically different views of race in these two eras were held by intellectuals whose views on other issues were very similar in both eras. Intellectuals and Race is not, however, a book about history, even though it has much historical evidence, as well as demographic, geographic, economic and statistical evidence -- all of it directed toward testing the underlying assumptions about race that have prevailed at times among intellectuals in general, and especially intellectuals at the highest levels. Nor is this simply a theoretical exercise. The impact of intellectuals'' ideas and crusades on the larger society, both past and present, is the ultimate concern. These ideas and crusades have ranged widely from racial theories of intelligence to eugenics to "social justice" and multiculturalism. In addition to in-depth examinations of these and other issues, Intellectuals and Race explores the incentives, the visions and the rationales that drive intellectuals at the highest levels to conclusions that have often turned out to be counterproductive and even disastrous, not only for particular racial or ethnic groups, but for societies as a whole.

Economía Básica es un manual de economía para aquellos que quieren entender cómo funciona la economía, pero que no tienen ningún interés en aprender a desarrollar fórmulas matemáticas o ecuaciones complicadas. En sus páginas, el economista Thomas Sowell pone de manifiesto los principios generales sobre los que se asienta cualquier tipo de política económica, ya sea capitalista, socialista o feudal. Con un estilo ameno y fácil de leer, permite a cualquier tipo de lector, independientemente de su formación académica o grado de conocimiento de la ciencia económica, entender cómo funciona la economía. En esta nueva versión, actualizada y ampliada, el autor ahonda en temas de rabiosa actualidad que van desde la negociación colectiva a los impactos en la economía real de los mercados de acciones.

These selections from the many writings of Sowell over a period of a half century cover social, economic, cultural, legal, educational, and political issues. The sources range from Dr. Sowell''s letters, books, and newspaper columns, to articles in both scholarly journals and popular magazines.

Thomas Sowell “both surprises and overturns received wisdom” in this indispensable examination of widespread economic fallacies (The Economist) Economic Facts and Fallacies exposes some of the most popular fallacies about economic issues-and does so in a lively manner and without requiring any prior knowledge of economics by the reader. These include many beliefs widely disseminated in the media and by politicians, such as mistaken ideas about urban problems, income differences, male-female economic differences, as well as economics fallacies about academia, about race, and about Third World countries. One of the themes of Economic Facts and Fallacies is that fallacies are not simply crazy ideas but in fact have a certain plausibility that gives them their staying power-and makes careful examination of their flaws both necessary and important, as well as sometimes humorous. Written in the easy-to-follow style of the author''s Basic Economics, this latest book is able to go into greater depth, with real world examples, on specific issues.

The fourth edition of Basic Economics is both expanded and updated. A new chapter on the history of economics itself has been added, and the implications of that history examined. A new section on the special role of corporations in the economy has been added to the chapter on government and big business, among other additions throughout the book. Basic Economics, which has now been translated into six languages, has grown so much that a large amount of material in the back of the book in previous editions has now been put online instead, so the book itself and its price will not have to expand. The central idea of Basic Economics, however, remains the same: that the fundamental facts and principles of economics do not require jargon, graphs, or equations, and can be learned in a relaxed and even enjoyable way.

Sowell delivers a broad-based and withering critique of America''s current trajectory, in this collection of essays.

Basic Economics is a citizen''s guide to economics-for those who want to understand how the economy works but have no interest in jargon or equations. Sowell reveals the general principles behind any kind of economy-capitalist, socialist, feudal, and so on. In readable language, he shows how to critique economic policies in terms of the incentives they create, rather than the goals they proclaim. With clear explanations of the entire field, from rent control and the rise and fall of businesses to the international balance of payments, this is the first book for anyone who wishes to understand how the economy functions.

This is a plain-English explanation of how we got into the current economic disaster that developed out of the economics and politics of the housing boom and bust. The "creative" financing of home mortgages and the even more "creative" marketing of financial securities based on American mortgages to countries around the world, are part of the story of how a financial house of cards was built up -- and then suddenly collapsed. The politics behind all this is another story full of strange twists. No punches are pulled when discussing politicians of either party, the financial dangers they created, or the distractions they created later to escape their own responsibility for what happened when the financial house of cards in the financial markets collapsed. What to do, now that we are in the midst of an economic disaster, is yet another story -- one whose ending we do not yet know, but one whose outlines and implications are explored to reveal some surprising and sobering lessons.

The influence of intellectuals is not only greater than in previous eras but also takes a very different form from that envisioned by those like Machiavelli and others who have wanted to directly influence rulers. It has not been by shaping the opinions or directing the actions of the holders of power that modern intellectuals have most influenced the course of events, but by shaping public opinion in ways that affect the actions of power holders in democratic societies, whether or not those power holders accept the general vision or the particular policies favored by intellectuals. Even government leaders with disdain or contempt for intellectuals have had to bend to the climate of opinion shaped by those intellectuals. Intellectuals and Society not only examines the track record of intellectuals in the things they have advocated but also analyzes the incentives and constraints under which their views and visions have emerged. One of the most surprising aspects of this study is how often intellectuals have been proved not only wrong, but grossly and disastrously wrong in their prescriptions for the ills of society—and how little their views have changed in response to empirical evidence of the disasters entailed by those views.