We use money every day. Yet the practice of exchanging paper or bytes for goods and services seems absurd if you think about it. Naked Money explores why money exists and why it so often gets entire nations in trouble. Charles Wheelan explains with his trademark wit and refreshing clarity how our banks and monetary systems should work in ideal situations, and he reveals the havoc and suffering caused in real situations by inflation, deflation, illiquidity and other monetary effects. With illuminating stories from Argentina, Zimbabwe, North Korea, America, China and elsewhere around the world, Naked Money demystifies the curious world behind the paper in our wallets and the digits in our bank accounts.

Once considered tedious, the field of statistics is rapidly evolving into a discipline Hal Varian, chief economist at Google, has actually called sexy. From batting averages and political polls to game shows and medical research, the real-world application of statistics continues to grow by leaps and bounds. How can we catch schools that cheat on standardized tests? How does Netflix know which movies you ll like? What is causing the rising incidence of autism? As best-selling author Charles Wheelan shows us in Naked Statistics, the right data and a few well-chosen statistical tools can help us answer these questions and more.

For those who slept through Stats 101, this book is a lifesaver. Wheelan strips away the arcane and technical details and focuses on the underlying intuition that drives statistical analysis. He clarifies key concepts such as inference, correlation, and regression analysis, reveals how biased or careless parties can manipulate or misrepresent data, and shows us how brilliant and creative researchers are exploiting the valuable data from natural experiments to tackle thorny questions.

And in Wheelan s trademark style, there s not a dull page in sight. You ll encounter clever Schlitz Beer marketers leveraging basic probability, an International Sausage Festival illuminating the tenets of the central limit theorem, and a head-scratching choice from the famous game show Let s Make a Deal and you ll come away with insights each time. With the wit, accessibility, and sheer fun that turned Naked Economics into a bestseller, Wheelan defies the odds yet again by bringing another essential, formerly unglamorous discipline to life."

This is a new edition of the best-selling economics book that won't put you to sleep. In our challenging economic climate, this perennial favourite of students and general readers includes commentary on hot topics such as automation, trade and income inequality. Ten years after the financial crisis, Naked Economics examines how policymakers managed the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

What would happen if you quit your life for a year? In a pre-COVID-19 world, the Wheelan family decided to find out; leaving behind work, school, and even the family dogs to travel the world on a modest budget. Equal parts "how-to" and "how-not-to"-and with an eye toward a world emerging from a pandemic-We Came, We Saw, We Left is the insightful and often hilarious account of one family's gap-year experiment. Wheelan paints a picture of adventure and connectivity, juggling themes of local politics, global economics, and family dynamics while exploring answers to questions like: How do you sneak out of a Peruvian town that has been barricaded by the local army? And where can you get treatment for a flesh-eating bacteria your daughter picked up two continents ago? From Colombia to Cambodia, We Came, We Saw, We Left chronicles nine months across six continents with three teenagers. What could go wrong?

What would happen if you quit your life for a year? In a pre-COVID-19 world, the Wheelan family decided to find out; leaving behind work, school, and even the family dogs to travel the world on a modest budget. Equal parts "how-to" and "how-not-to"-and with an eye toward a world emerging from a pandemic-We Came, We Saw, We Left is the insightful and often hilarious account of one family's gap-year experiment. Wheelan paints a picture of adventure and connectivity, juggling themes of local politics, global economics, and family dynamics while exploring answers to questions like: How do you sneak out of a Peruvian town that has been barricaded by the local army? And where can you get treatment for a flesh-eating bacteria your daughter picked up two continents ago? From Colombia to Cambodia, We Came, We Saw, We Left chronicles nine months across six continents with three teenagers. What could go wrong?

From debt ceiling standoffs to single-digit Congress approval ratings, America s political system has never been more polarized or paralyzed than it is today. As best-selling author and public policy expert Charles Wheelan writes, now is the time for a pragmatic Centrist party that will identify and embrace the best Democratic and Republican ideals, moving us forward on the most urgent issues for our nation. Wheelan who not only lectures on public policy but practices it as well (he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2009) brings even more than his usual wit and clarity of vision to The Centrist Manifesto. He outlines a realistic ground game that could net at least five Centrist senators from New England, the Midwest, and elsewhere. With the power to deny a red or blue Senate majority, committed Centrists could take the first step toward giving voice and power to America s largest, and most rational, voting bloc: the center."

Undressing the Dismal Science
Foreword by Burton G. Malkiel

Finally! A book about economics that won't put you to sleep.

Economics—it's everywhere you look, at the gas station and the grocery store, in your mailbox and your piggy bank. From those lollipops you buy at age five to that mortgage payment you make at age thirty-five, the "dismal science," as Thomas Carlyle called it, has you surrounded.

Dismal, it's called. But as Charles Wheelan shows us in Naked Economics, this essential science can be a rollicking good time. By "undressing" economics—stripping away all of the diagrams, equations, and jargon—and adding a dose of humor, Wheelan brings this often-overlooked subject to life. Packed with witty anecdotes and commonsensical examples culled from as far as sub-Saharan Africa and as near as the author's own backyard, this book is a fun and breezy tour of the economic world all around us.

Naked Economics is the perfect book for all of us who want another crack at Econ 101. It demystifies key concepts, lays bare the truths behind the numbers, and answers all of those "dumb" questions we've always been too embarrassed to ask. For all the discussion of Alan Greenspan in the media, what does the Fed actually do? What about all the debate over globalization and world trade? And tell me, how do I turn my money into more on Wall Street?

An economics book that won't put you to sleep—some said it couldn't be done. An entertaining book that will turn you into a sophisticated and educated citizen—impossible! Luckily, Wheelan has proven the naysayers wrong. Open up Naked Economics for economics like you've never seen it before.

"Wheelan has an anti-Midas touch. If he touched gold he would turn it to life. . . . I have often considered writing a basic introduction to economics myself. . . . Had I done so, this is the book I would have wanted to write." —Burton G. Malkiel, from the Foreword

"I devoured Naked Economics whole, start to finish. Finally an economist was speaking my language! Finally I could grasp not only the meanings of all those acronyms I only pretended to understand but also how the institutions and concepts for which they stand might—and do—impact my life. Bravo, Charles Wheelan, for doing the impossible: making the study of economics fascinating, comprehensible, and laugh-out-loud funny." —Deborah Copaken Kogan, author of Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War

"I recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain an understanding of basic economics with little pain and much pleasure." —Gary Becker, 1992 Nobel Prize winner in economics