Ever wished that Market Economics 101 was written in the form of an easily accessible story? Well, wish no more—Rich & Lost in Prosperia (Mill City Press, Inc.; ISBN: 978-1-936107-72-8) is here to help ease all your nightmares of that particular subject. Inspired to teach young people about economics in a creative and enjoyable way, longstanding economist Doramas Jorge-Calderón has come up with a tropical tale set on a couple of neighboring isles that helps explain the basics of what typically is a dry and dusty subject. Young adults will love this adventure story of how two dudes master the basics of island life to their entrepreneurial mutual benefit. And, no, it’s not all fiction, but grounded in solid Economics theory, which is presented in straightforward point form, in between chapters containing the unraveling of the story, in which the principles can be seen in practice.
Richy, one of the cool dudes referred to earlier, is a native of Prosperia, which is depicted as “an ocean island between the tropic and the equator, not too far from the continent.” Though he would have loved to have gone to college and study (right, I didn’t say the story line was particularly credible, now did I?), he wasn’t able to, as he’d been a lousy scholar. However, our anti-hero and ostensible island dropout has big dreams—he wants to run his own business and be free (somewhat of a dichotomy in terms, m’thinks…), so, being an exploratory soul (with the mega ambition of taking a long trip to the neighboring island of Stagnia), he sets about realizing his dream. Alongside this young guy with inflationary hopes is another local 20s+ character, whose sole ambition is to make boodle, and lots of it. When Richy is taken in hand by a handy economics prof, things really start to rumble. These are only a few of the entertaining characters who make up the cast of this novel come introductory text to market economics. Boring it most definitely isn’t, with the plot dealing with a range of relevant topics, including privilege, profit, trust, respect, trickery, professionalism, smuggling, half-truths, competition and passion. A positive maelstrom of delights…
Seriously though, this 281-page book is a gem, and well worth reading by any youngster who feels overwhelmed by unwieldy subject matter and the straitjacket of hardcore academia. Now if only Jorge-Calderón would loose himself on a couple of other subjects, like law, IT, and suchlike I’m sure that the younger generation would be only the happier…
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