Austrian Economics Reading List

Miscellaneous Newbies
1

I have been interested in politics and economics since I was 15 (currenly I am 20). I have read hundreds of articles on Mises.org and LRC about all sorts of topics, but have never made it through a book like Human Action or Man, Economy, and State. I have read some books by Milton Friedman, John Stossel, etc.

I would say I have a pretty good understanding of economics, but would now like to commit myself to learning more. I have read Economics in One Lesson, Essentials of Economics (Ballve), and am currently reading Introduction to Austrian Economics (Taylor). However, I haven’t really learned anything from these works that I didn’t already know.

I compiled a list of books I want to read (in the order I will read them). I want to maximize the use of my time in this endeavor, and read them in an order that will enable me to get the most utility from each book. I also drive 40 min each way to work, and am thinking about listening to some additional material on the way, I was thinking Joseph Salerno’s10 lecture series " As far as my list goes, I don’t want to dive into anything too complicated early one, hence why I am going to read about the ABCT after I read the main works. I wasn’t sure if I should read Hayek’s Prices and Production (I read that he discusses ABCT) with the other ABCT stuff or with HA and MES. I also assume reading books on banking would be beneficial for ABCT. Here is the list, I’ve already read the first 3:

Austrian Economics Reading List

Intro

Economics In One Lesson (Hazlitt)

Essentials of Economics (Ballve)

Introduction to Austrian Economics (Taylor)

Austrian Economics

Principles of Economics (Menger)

Value, Cost, and Marginal Utility (Bohm-Bawerk)

Human Action (with Study Guide) (Mises)

Man, Economy, and State (with Study Guide) (Rothbard)

Austrian Analysis

Socialism (Mises)

Austrian Business Cycle Theory

Mystery of Banking (Rothbard)

Capital and Interest (Bohm-Bawerk)

Theory of Money and Credit (Mises)

Prices and Production (Hayek)

Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle (Hayek)

Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure (Rothbard)

Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles (De Soto)

Time and Money (Garrison)

2

I don’t think that there’s necessarily a right way or a wrong way to teach yourself economics, but you should definatlely read Human Action and Man, Economy, and State as early on as possible. I’ve found that those books have greatly improved my ability to understand more technical economic treatise (The Theory of Money and Credit, Prices and Production). They’re probably the best bedrock on which you can build the rest of your studies.

3

Human Action would be a good starting point. I figured Mises was building on the ideas of Menger and Bohm-Bawerk, and so I should start with them, but they might be a little harder to understand.

Principles of Economics (Menger)

Value, Cost, and Marginal Utility (Bohm-Bawerk)

Should I skip those 2 for now and read them when I get around to ABCT, or just not worry about them at all.

4

Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure (Rothbard)

This book (to be more precise, a handbook) can be read for an hour or two. It is really short but still gives a brief idea of ATBC.

To tell the truth, the same problem (planning a reading list) occupies me too. Except Rothbard’s “Depressions” I have read no purely economic work on Austrian economics (Hayek’s “Road to serfdom”, “Private money” are not counted). I was thinking about taking a chronological approach, and I have actually started reading Menger’s “Principles” (in order to understand a theory of low and high orders of goods ) but have not finished it yet).

Looking through the forum I read suggestions to start with “Man, Economy, and State”. But the reason why I have not done it yet is its volume. So, as I understand, this book is iappropriate as a basis for a further styding?

5

I started Principles too. I have a feeling that HA and MES will end up summarizing the idea of Marginal Utility anyways, so it might not be necessary to read Principles.

And from what I gather, Bohm-Bawerk’s treatise “Capital and Interest” is an exceedingly long and technical read, so I don’t know if the time spent on it would be worth it.

I also think HA is more scientifically devoted to economics, while MES throws in the libertarian viewpoint explicitly.

6

Anton,

Man, Economy, and State is an excellent basis for further study. Murray Rothbard takes you from the very foundations of praxeology (methodological individualism) and takes you as far as business cycle theory and a very in-depth look at the theory of the firm. In essence, you’ll be taught how to walk and then run in economics.

However, I found the book to be very dry at times, almost like I was reading a textbook at certain points. But if you can carry yourself through the more boring parts of the book, it’s certainly well worth the investment and the hours you’ll spend reading it.

7

Decided. I finish up Menger’s “Principles” (sometimes it was very interesting to read, so I think it is worth finishing) and then Rothboard. And after him comes Mises (HA, Theory of Money and Banking - don’t know which will be first) and, finally, Hayek’s “Prices and Proction”, “Capital…”. By the way, in which of his books Hayek writes about “production triangle”?

Thank you, Rcder.

Will,

I started Principles too. I have a feeling that HA and MES will end up summarizing the idea of Marginal Utility anyways, so it might not be necessary to read Principles.

Probably you are right…

8

I could almost swear its Prices and Production that he elaborates on ABCT and the triangular structure of production.

Garrison also has a lecture/powerpoint on the misesmedia youtube that goes over the ABCT in depth.

9

Garrison also has a lecture/powerpoint on the misesmedia youtube that goes over the ABCT in depth.

Don’t know about video but I watched the powerpoint lecture http://www.auburn.edu/~garriro/ppsus.htm, which I found really informative and well made.

10

@Will,

Since you’ve already read a few intros, I recommend you go straight for HA or MES. Stick to short books on ABCT until you’ve read one of these two. I read MES first, and while I would now say I prefer HA, I still think its better to read MES first because Rothbard is a better teacher.

No, they are both value-free, i.e. viewpoint-free. MES is almost solely economics, whereas HA is mostly economics but delves into epistemology and philosophy in parts (especially the opening chapters).

11

@Trulib

Thanks a lot. I’m going to read MES (with the study guide) after I finish Intro. to Austrian Economics. I’m also listening to Rothbard’s lecture series Economics 101 on my way to work.

As far as ABCT goes, what should I be reading?

12

@Will

look at this… this killer explaination on ABCT. Reading Robert Murphy’s Mises Daily articles on ABCT really helped me out alot too because it also shows criticisms against the ABCT made by other economists and how Austrians respond to their criticisms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0

13

Reading Robert Murphy’s Mises Daily articles on ABCT really helped me out alot

One of my favourite articles by Robert P. Murphy: http://mises.org/daily/3155/The-Importance-of-Capital-Theory

Will,

I’m going to read MES (with the study guide)

Where this quide can be downloaded?

14

I personaly feel that understanding of praxeology is important. I read like… over 600 pages of Man, Economy and State at the time but had doubts for praxeology in my mind all the time(I stopped reading because lack of time and paper version). Later I read Hoppes Austrian Method and it opened my mind hugely. So I would recommed that book for beginners if they are feeling suspicious for the foundations of Austrian school. I felt that I understood whole Austrian economic theory better just by understanding its methods.

15

http://mises.org/resources/3318/Study-Guide-of-Man-Economy-and-State

Here is the study guide to MES.

16

Anton,

Below is the link to the study guide.

http://mises.org/books/messtudy.pd

17

Rcder, fbc91, thanks a lot.

Chyd3nius, you mean this book http://mises.org/resources/4950/Economic-Science-and-the-Austrian-Method?

18

That’s a great list. You did a nice job with the formatting too. I would suggest throwing in America’s Great Depression (Rothbard).

And as for ABCT, be sure to check out:

Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials

19

Yes, I didn’t remember full name and were too lazy to check it.

20

I don’t think Garrison’s Time and Money is good reading on business cycle theory. What Garrison’s book is dedicated to is creating a common model between what he calls “capital based” (Austrian) and “labor based” (Keynesian) macroeconomics, and he goes on to model the Keynesian school, and several arms of the monetarists (Patinkin, Friedman, real expectations, et cetera). The discussion on Austrian theory, in my opinion, is actually quite poor.

Maybe you could replace it with Ludwig Lachmann’s Capital and Its Structure, which is also a decent compliment to Hayek’s The Pure Theory of Capital (well, at least Hayek said that Lachmann’s book says everything he wanted to say).