Here's my list of top ten list of economics texts for "beginners".
By "beginner", I'm referring to books that would be accessible to first year students in economics at a university. My goal is to give the beginner an understanding of the economic way of thinking, and broad understanding of the problems that economists try to solve.
My list is dominated by those with a libertarian bent (as I think the Marxists / Keynesians get plenty of airtime already). However, I tried to select texts that meet the following criteria:
1. grapple fairly with critics and alternative schools of economics
2. don't fear "biting bullets" and taking ideas to their logical conclusion
3. are written well
4. don't duplicate much material covered by other books on the list
5. are relatively recent
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1. Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell
2. Open Borders by Bryan Caplan
3. Why Not Capitalism? by Jason Brennan
4. Machinery of Freedom by David Friedman
5. Choice: Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action by Robert P. Murphy, Donald J. Boudreaux
6. The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey by Michael Huemer
7. Elinor Ostrom: An Intellectual Biography by Vlad Tarko.
8. Leave Me Alone and I'll Make You Rich: How the Bourgeois Deal Enriched the World by Deirdre McCloskey and Art Carden.
9. Modern Principles of Microeconomics by Tyler Cowan and Alex Tabarrok
10. Modern Principles: Macroeconomics by Tyler Cowan and Alex Tabarrok
Critique is welcome, but if you choose to criticize one or more of my picks, please suggest an equal number of books you think are better.
By "beginner", I'm referring to books that would be accessible to first year students in economics at a university. My goal is to give the beginner an understanding of the economic way of thinking, and broad understanding of the problems that economists try to solve.
My list is dominated by those with a libertarian bent (as I think the Marxists / Keynesians get plenty of airtime already). However, I tried to select texts that meet the following criteria:
1. grapple fairly with critics and alternative schools of economics
2. don't fear "biting bullets" and taking ideas to their logical conclusion
3. are written well
4. don't duplicate much material covered by other books on the list
5. are relatively recent
-----
1. Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell
2. Open Borders by Bryan Caplan
3. Why Not Capitalism? by Jason Brennan
4. Machinery of Freedom by David Friedman
5. Choice: Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action by Robert P. Murphy, Donald J. Boudreaux
6. The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey by Michael Huemer
7. Elinor Ostrom: An Intellectual Biography by Vlad Tarko.
8. Leave Me Alone and I'll Make You Rich: How the Bourgeois Deal Enriched the World by Deirdre McCloskey and Art Carden.
9. Modern Principles of Microeconomics by Tyler Cowan and Alex Tabarrok
10. Modern Principles: Macroeconomics by Tyler Cowan and Alex Tabarrok
Critique is welcome, but if you choose to criticize one or more of my picks, please suggest an equal number of books you think are better.