Economics Facts and Fallacies

Thomas Sowell has studied and taught economics, intellectual history, and social policy at institutions that include Cornell University, UCLA, and Amherst College. Now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Sowell has published more than a dozen books, the latest of which is a revised and expanded second edition of Economic Facts and Fallacies.

"Some things are believed because they are demonstrably true. But many other things are believed simply because they have been asserted repeatedly," states Sowell in his latest book. Here, he demolishes some accepted "facts," ranging from housing ("The biggest economic fallacy about housing is that 'affordable housing' requires government intervention") to race and economics ("Race doesn't account for difference in black-white income") to race and culture ("the current fatherless families so prevalent among contemporary blacks are not a 'legacy of slavery.'") About 33 minutes.