A critical look at the failure of mainstream economics

Book Review Foundations of real-world economics: What every economics student needs to know (2nd ed.), by John Komlos, New York, Routledge, 2019, 306 pp., $42.95 (Paperback), ISBN 9781138296541. Many people in the United States of America are dissatisfied with the outcomes of the economy and some are suggesting measures that seem socialistic. The time has come to recognize that mainstream economics as taught in our schools is not serving students at all. The research sharing platform of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) states that John Komlos’s textbook Foundations of Real-World Economics: What Every Economics Student Needs to Know demonstrates how misleading it can be to oversimplify models of perfect competition relative to the real world (Vox LACEA, 2019). The math works well on college blackboards, but not so well on the main streets of America. This edition of Komlos’s text explores the realities of oligopolies, the real impact of minimum wage, the double-edged sword of free trade, and other ways that powerful institutions cause distortions in main stream models. Norbert Haring wrote “there is no doubt that a student who would otherwise be left with just the textbook wisdom will benefit greatly from reading this book and seeing that” (Haring, 2014, p. 4).