Help wanted - Beginners guide to economics
A reader writes:
Can you recommend a good beginners guide to economics?
The more I try to keep track of the world the more I realise that the subject dominates and apart from being able to draw the price:supply and demand graph (sometimes even getting it right) I am a bit of a novice on the topic.
Although I have something of the right about me politically I'd prefer any book that explained the principles clearly enough for an engineer rather than a polemic.
Any suggestions would be welcomed by him, me and I'm sure a lot of others.
Comments
Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics - a Citizen's Guide to the Economy is the one. It's written for an American readership but this is only a minor distraction from what is a very clear and accessible text.
Posted by: Bishop Hill | September 8, 2005 12:21 PM
P.J O' Rourke's "Eat The Rich - A Treatise On Economics" is informative and also very funny.
Posted by: Laban | September 8, 2005 12:58 PM
Concur with both of the above recs. David Friedman's Hidden Order, the Economics of Everyday things is also good - http://www.mises.org/misesreview_detail.asp?control=36&sortorder=issue
Posted by: Dirty Dingus![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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September 8, 2005 1:33 PM
Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt is outstanding and easy to read.
Posted by: Val Curry | September 8, 2005 3:35 PM
Read Sex, Drugs & Economics by Diane Coyle (amazon uk). Besides being hilariously funny, it is an extremely well-written and informative.
Posted by: William of Ockham | September 8, 2005 9:32 PM
Thanks guys,
I think I know where I'll be spending my bonus this christmas.
Thanks for putting the request up, Tim
RM
Posted by: Remittance Man | September 9, 2005 8:22 AM
Eat the Rich, definitely.
Posted by: Tim Worstall | September 9, 2005 9:55 AM
Postive Economics - Richard Livsey
Posted by: Mr Free Market | September 9, 2005 12:07 PM
"Economics for Real People: An Introduction to the Austrian School" by Gene Callahan
Posted by: liberranter | September 9, 2005 2:29 PM
Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations"
Posted by: Ken Frost | September 9, 2005 5:13 PM
All joking aside...
it's quite hard to find a good book that isn't either a bit glib or a bit too much like a textbook....
Stephen Landsburg's The Armchair Economist is pretty good, as is the David Friedman book.
Steer clear of Coyle, Sowell and anything Austrian of course.
Lipsey's textbook is good, but Mankiw is a good alternative.
Posted by: Gavin Cameron | September 15, 2005 7:59 PM