Economics for Lovers of Literature (eBook)

This book provides an engaging introduction to economics through a literary lens. Drawing on writers such as James Joyce, George Eliot, Edith Wharton, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and Elizabeth Gaskell, each chapter is framed around a quote from a classic text of English literature that helps tease out a key economic concept and demonstrate its broader relevance. While rigorous, the book is virtually free of technical language and aims to give a concise overview of all the main topics in contemporary economics - from supply and demand, pricing, labour markets, externalities, and game theory, to environmental and behavioural economics, fiscal policy and business cycles, modern approaches to macroeconomics and economic growth.

Interweaving literary examples with easy-to-follow explanations and reflective tasks, the book takes an interdisciplinary approach to economics and literature that requires no prior knowledge in either camp, but which illuminates patterns of real-world behaviour observed by novelists and economists alike. This concise and accessible book will be a valuable tool for students embarking on introductory economics courses, economics modules in business studies, and interdisciplinary courses more broadly, as well as the general reader interested in building their knowledge of economics.

Geraint Johnes is Emeritus Professor of Economics at Lancaster University, and has also worked at Dartmouth College New Hampshire, Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, the Australian National Univeristy, and Beijing Normal University. He has also served as director of the London-based think-tank, the Work Foundation, and is regularly in demand as an economic commentator on global TV news channels including the BBC, ITV, Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, and France 24. He was founding editor of the journal, Education Economics, and was previously editor also of the International Journal of Manpower. He is author of numerous articles in major journals, and has authored and edited books most recently including the Handbook of Contemporary Education Economics (Edward Elgar, 2017).