Readable Economics Books

[Jordan]

I'm curious, does anyone have any recommendations for a good, readable book about basic economic theories, or a good book about other economic basics? I would love to learn more about economics, but I have bad memories of dull textbooks from high school AP courses. Yet often I will read an article that gets me excited about certain economic ideas, and I was hoping to foster that excitement with some good reading material.

 

[Oddball]

Economics in One Lesson - Here's a PDF e-book:

http://www.fee.org/pdf/books/Economics_in_one_lesson.pdf

Two by P. J O'Rourke:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Rich-Treatise-Economics-ORourke/dp/0871137607]Amazon.com: Eat the Rich: A Treatise on Economics (O'Rourke, P. J.) (9780871137609): P. J. O'Rourke: Books[/ame]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Nations-Books-Changed-World/dp/0871139499]Amazon.com: On The Wealth of Nations (Books That Changed the World) (9780871139498): P. J. O'Rourke: Books[/ame]


A great one by Mark Skousen:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Making-Modern-Economics-Lives-Thinkers/dp/0765604809]Amazon.com: The Making of Modern Economics: The Lives and Ideas of the Great Thinkers (9780765604804): Mark Skousen: Books[/ame]

 

[william the wie]

Niall Ferguson is among the most readable writers on economics. Strauss & Howe wrote four highly readable books on the impact of demography on economics and they are probably available at your library.

 

[Oddball]

Here's a great and readable series, from Dr. Walter E. Williams, former head of the econ department at George Mason University:

Economics for the Citizen, Part 1

 

[Baruch Menachem]

Freekonomics is a fun read.

Milton Friedman was a great read. But most of his stuff is graduate level.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0887308856/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/102-4043851-7054520?v=glance&s=books"]His son, David is more accessible.[/ame]

Adam Smith is really cool when you get to the 5th part.

the first part is necessary, but hard.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/New-Ideas-Dead-Economists-Introduction/dp/0452288444/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top"]Fresh Ideas from dead economists is the best text on understanding the background[/ame] of their arguments.

I now have a lot more respect for Malthus.

 

[JBeukema]

I'm curious, does anyone have any recommendations for a good, readable book about basic economic theories, or a good book about other economic basics? I would love to learn more about economics, but I have bad memories of dull textbooks from high school AP courses. Yet often I will read an article that gets me excited about certain economic ideas, and I was hoping to foster that excitement with some good reading material.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Meltdown-Free-Market-Collapsed-Government-Bailouts/dp/1596985879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289886290&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse (9781596985872): Thomas E. Woods Jr., Ron Paul: Books[/ame]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Capital-Critique-Political-Karl-Marx/dp/1453716548/"]Amazon.com: Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (9781453716540): Karl Marx: Books[/ame]

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Money-Reckless-Politics-Capitalism/dp/0670019070[/ame]

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/After-Capitalism-Managerialism-Workplace-Democracy/dp/0679418598[/ame]



Literature :: Mises Institute

 

[California Girl]

I'm curious, does anyone have any recommendations for a good, readable book about basic economic theories, or a good book about other economic basics? I would love to learn more about economics, but I have bad memories of dull textbooks from high school AP courses. Yet often I will read an article that gets me excited about certain economic ideas, and I was hoping to foster that excitement with some good reading material.

Roger A Arnold has done some excellent basic level economics books.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Economics in One Lesson - Here's a PDF e-book:

http://www.fee.org/pdf/books/Economics_in_one_lesson.pdf

Two by P. J O'Rourke:

Amazon.com: Eat the Rich: A Treatise on Economics (O'Rourke, P. J.) (9780871137609): P. J. O'Rourke: Books

Amazon.com: On The Wealth of Nations (Books That Changed the World) (9780871139498): P. J. O'Rourke: Books


A great one by Mark Skousen:

Amazon.com: The Making of Modern Economics: The Lives and Ideas of the Great Thinkers (9780765604804): Mark Skousen: Books

Economics In One Lesson is probably the best book on economics to start with. Very accessible to just about anyone.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289888022&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes (9780470526705): Peter D. Schiff, Andrew J. Schiff: Books[/ame]

Schiff's newest book is extremely accessible, probably even for small children.

 

[william the wie]

The thing to keep in mind is that a lot of economics is based on models that have turned out to be oversimplified. Michael Shermer, Robert Wright and others are trying to revise Austrian economics to conform to advances in behavior and neurology. Shiller, Reinhardt and others are trying to do the same in regards to Keynesian economics. Robert Shiller co-founder of the Case-Shiller housing index is a living example of unplanned inaccuracy. Since the only way to get the housing data out in time to mitigate the meltdown was to ignore Sq. Ft. and amenities in his index so that's what he did. As a result he understated how far down the eventual bottom in housing will be. So do be prepared to have much of economics rewritten in the near future.

 

[psikeyhackr]

The real deal at the down and dirty level.

The Screwing of the Average Man by David Hapgood
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/screwing-average-man-David-Hapgood/dp/B0006W84KK]Amazon.com: The screwing of the average man: David Hapgood: Books[/ame]

Historical overview of the delusions about economics in European thought.

The Age of Uncertainty by John Kenneth Galbraith
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Age-Uncertainty-John-Kenneth-Galbraith/dp/0395249007]Amazon.com: The Age of Uncertainty (9780395249000): John Kenneth Galbraith: Books: Reviews, Prices & more[/ame]

Video of Uncertainty

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smFUjYKTGHk[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB0vk076-io[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOsEYstZzUY[/ame]

The problem with all of this economic theory is that planned obsolescence was not going on before 1900. It didn't go into high gear until after World War II. But economists are technological morons and can't evaluate good products anyway and ignore the Demand Side Depreciation fo all of the junk.

But now we are supposed to listen to scientists talk about global warming even though they didn't say anything about planned obsolescence producing lots of unnecessary CO2 since the 60s.

Economic Wargames

Double-entry accounting is 700 years old. When have economists suggested that it be mandatory in the schools. The job of the economics profession is to RATIONALIZE the economic power game.

psik

 

[Jordan]

Thanks for all the input! New Ideas From Dead Economists and Economics In One Lesson are probably going to be the books I read first, and then some of the others that were recommended. I want to get the basics down first.

 

[psikeyhackr]

The thing to keep in mind is that a lot of economics is based on models that have turned out to be oversimplified. Michael Shermer, Robert Wright and others are trying to revise Austrian economics to conform to advances in behavior and neurology. Shiller, Reinhardt and others are trying to do the same in regards to Keynesian economics. Robert Shiller co-founder of the Case-Shiller housing index is a living example of unplanned inaccuracy. Since the only way to get the housing data out in time to mitigate the meltdown was to ignore Sq. Ft. and amenities in his index so that's what he did. As a result he understated how far down the eventual bottom in housing will be. So do be prepared to have much of economics rewritten in the near future.

But the laws of physics don't give a damn about human behavior.

The economics profession is playing word games with us.

A hamburger that costs $3 is a consumer good.

An automobile that costs $30,000 can be a consumer good.

An identical automobile purchased by Hertz or Avis would be a capital good. Hertz could file the depreciation on the car. But economists can say depreciation of durable consumer goods is irrelevant because they are all just like hamburgers.

PBS Discussions :: View topic - The Algebra of Economics

How many automobile have Americans thrown on the junk heap since 1960? Galbraith wrote about the planned obsolescence of automobiles in The Affluent Society in 1959. What did Milton Friedman ever say about it?

psik

 

[boedicca]

One of the best:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Free-Choose-Statement-Milton-Friedman/dp/0156334607/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289942444&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: Free to Choose: A Personal Statement (9780156334600): Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman: Books: Reviews, Prices & more[/ame]

 

[Toro]

Economics in One Lesson was the first book I ever read on economics. I'd recommend it to anyone starting out. It is pretty simplistic but it gives you the basic concepts of economics.

Greg Ip also has a new book out called The Little Book of Economics. I haven't read it, but that line of books is usually pretty good at basic overviews of the subject at hand.

 

[psikeyhackr]

One of the best:

Amazon.com: Free to Choose: A Personal Statement (9780156334600): Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman: Books: Reviews, Prices & more

I hear Milton Friedman wrote that after he learned Galbraith was creating The Age of Uncertainty TV series with the BBC. Both of the books and the television series came out in 1977. I watched both of them and got the books and read them. Galbraith blew Friedman away.

The trouble is we need to separate Economics from Economics Philosophy. Lots of people are more interested in justifying their philosophies than in doing economics and that usually involves LEAVING OUT INFORMATION.

How do ALL OF THESE ECONOMISTS manage to forget to mention the depreciation of all of the automobiles in the United States? Didn't they get added to GDP? Oh yeah, the economists hardly ever mention Net Domestic Product regardless of what economic policies they advocate. How about the Mandatory Accounting in the schools policy? Is that Liberal or Conservative or Communist?

I have had a communist accuse me of trying to save capitalism. ROFL

psik