Basic Economics?

11/3/07 | bear_slayer

[Bear_Slayer]

I tend to be analytical and enjoy studying what makes situations occur.

I understand that economics plays the largest part in what drives politics, both locally as well as globally.

I know so little about economics, though.

Short of taking an economics college course

can anyone recommend websites or books that explain and discuss economics?

[Bear_Slayer]

I've learned a lot of FR, but want a complete understand from the ground up.

Thanks!

[BfloGuy]

Thomas Sowell's "Basic Economics" was the first economics book I ever read.

It's excellent -- I was able to get through the "Wealth of Nations" next just on the basis of what I'd learned from reading Sowell.

[Bear_Slayer]

Thanks. I’m going to the library shortly so I am trying to build a list of books to look for.

[Philistone]

“The Wealth of Nations” - Adam Smith
“Capital” - Karl Marx
“The Road to Serfdom” - F.A. Hayek
“The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money” - John Maynard Keynes
“Free to Choose” - Milton Friedman
“Monetary History of the United States 1867-1960”- Friedman and Anna Schwartz

For a good, easy to read historical overview of economics, “The Worldly Philosophers” by Robert Heilbroner is a good start.

Good luck and have fun!

[Cruising Speed]

I recommend "A New Radical's Guide to Economic Reality" by Angus Black (Holt, 1970) and "How to Turn 80 Million Workers into Capitalists on Borrowed Money" by Kelso & Hetter (Random House, 1968).

BTW, does anyone know who "Angus Black" really is--Thomas Sowell by chance??

[org.whodat]

Thomas Sowell's "Basic Economics" was the first economics book I ever read.

A whole bunch of people around here need to spend sometime with that book.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

My favorite is Milton Friedman’s “Free To Choose.” A little dated I guess, but very readable.

[mjp]

Capitalim by George Reisman

[aberaussie]

I used Thomas Sowell’s Basic Economics to teach a class of homeschooled high school students. We all enjoyed it immensely.

[Bear_Slayer]

Thanks!

Well, I think that's a good start so I'm off to the library.

[John Valentine]

After you have digested Sowell's Basic Economics, try his Applied Economics, a companion text.

And, if you are really as analytic as you say, then I warmly invite you to a truly mind and life altering experience: the reading and digesting of Tom Sowell's "Knowledge and Decisions".

This book is a dense, white hot star of truth and insight. There are people who are willing to testify that this book changed their lives forever. I am one of these.

[dakine]

Another one to consider:

General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money
by John Maynard Keynes

Why some folks think the way they do...

[pineybill]

Economics in One Lesson,written in 1946, by Henry Hazlitt. Brief and to the point. Look it up online - I believe there may be some free downloads.

[newguy357]

Yes, read a basic economics book as others have suggested. I would hold off on Wealth of Nations until later, however. It's a daunting read, mainly because so much of what's in there isn't necessarily required to make the arguments. I highly recommend Milton Friedman's Free to Choose, especially to understand how economics fits with politics.

[Wuli]

You have had many suggestions to read books by Thomas Sowell; all very good suggestions.

No only is Mr. Sowell great on economics, he’s a great thinker in many other ways and a very good writer.

When you read his books, don’t skip his “The Economics of Politics and Race”. http://www.tsowell.com/eco_poli.htm

[Ramius]

I would add that Keynes should come later, and used more as an example of what ~not~ to think about economics.

Not that Keynes wasn’t brilliant. He was. Or that he was always wrong... he wasn’t. But he was wrong enough to screw up a whole lot of people.

[LadyNavyVet]

Another vote for Sowell here. My 8th grade homeschooler will read Basic Economics and Applied Economics this year. Sowell is great. I took Econ in undergraduate and graduate school, and none of the somber, wordy texts I studied can hold a candle to Sowell in readability and making the complex understandable.

[Bear_Slayer]

Thanks for the suggestions. I picked up Basic Economics at the library. I’ll start with it and then consider moving onto others.

[Bear_Slayer]

I picked up Basic Economics. I’ll file card the others for future reading.

[LibFreeOrDie]

Many colleges are posting course materials online for free.

MIT’s list of Economics courses:

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm#Economics

MIT’s Intro to Macroeconomics:

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Economics/14-02Fall-2004/CourseHome/index.htm

Carnegie Mellon’s free online course:

http://www.cmu.edu/oli/courses/enter_economics.html

A free online textbook about introductory Economics:

http://www.ingrimayne.com/econ/TOC.html