How Markets Work

Gr 8 Up—In looking at how markets work, Bailey presents a nice balance of viewpoints in a conversational tone. She maintains a global perspective throughout the text and uses numerical examples to make the concepts easily accessible, all the while using market-specific terminology such as "economy of scale," "positive-gain game," and "market economies." This well-rounded book includes basic market theories along with a little background on the economists who created them, such as Adam Smith and the "invisible hand," and Garrett Hardin and his essay "The Tragedy of the Commons." Brezina's Federal Reserve confusingly discusses the "Great Recession of 2007-2010." This text is laden with acronyms (FOMC, FDIC, IMF, BIS, GAO, etc.), which, though defined in situ, would have benefited from being included in the glossary. It does give a succinct and clear assessment of how the collapse of our housing bubble not only caused the Great Recession via subprime mortgages but also impacted the global economy. The chapter on how our Federal Reserve ultimately affects the global economy puts our own monetary woes well into perspective. Gross Domestic Product is a solid review text for students with prior knowledge of this subject. Brezina writes in broad brush strokes with weak definitions, and the dry text could benefit from real-life examples, e.g., with numbers and dates to illustrate "economic indicators leading into the Great Recession." She throws out data with minimal interpretive or comparative analysis. The volume wraps up with a cursory summary of the "Great Recession of 2007–2009."—Meredith Toumayan, Langley-Adams Library, Groveland, MA