(Image: Marketplace)
“There’s economics and there’s economics,” writes NPR’s David Brancaccio. The right econ 101 course can be a stepping stone to personal success, and a "toolbox for studying all kinds of crucial issues from health care to poverty to happiness.” 
 
That’s why Brancaccio is hosting a virtual book club around the CORE team's open-source introductory textbook. With contributions by SFI’s Sam Bowles, Wendy Carlin, Simon DeDeo, Suresh Naidu, and Rajiv Sethi, CORE’s curriculum is econ like it oughta be. It tackles 21st-century issues that older courses tend to leave out — inequality, sustainability, and wealth creation in capitalist societies — all through the lens of complexity.
 
The “Econ Extra Credit” book club reads one chapter a week, with supplementary newsletters and broadcast interviews with Brancaccio, CORE contributor Homa Zarghamee, and other guests. As Brancaccio says, let's “increase our personal stock” and "unlock some of the secrets of the black box that is the economy by around the time our tax returns are due.”
 
Read Brancaccio’s full post on NPR’s Marketplace and sign up for the free Marketplace book club.