I’m looking for good books to read about Austrian School thinking. Something ‘for starters’ or ‘idiots guide to austrian school economics’
I guess some information of my education level is in order…in which case I’m a high school senior. I took AP Macroeconomics sophomore year, and AP microeconomics my senior year. I earned a b in my macro class and an a in my micro class, but as far as I understand all that is equivalent to is an Economics 101 class, so my knowledge is still very basic.
However, I am very interested in economics. I hope to attend Purdue U and major in economics, however, I may not have the funds to pay for it, in which case I plan on entering the navy and using the GI bill benefits to pay for college about 5 years down the road.
So to put it simple, I have a very basic understanding of economics, but I really want to learn. I’m interested in the austrian school of thought, and I was wondering if there are any books about that school of thought that are fit for my education level.
I apoligize if other topics go over this subject, I checked over a few boards and such but I couldn’t check every single topic title. Thanks in advance!
Chances are that you didn’t learn anything in those classes. I took an economics class a month ago (I’m currently attending a High School in California) and I have to say that it was utterly useless. All the teacher did was to confuse the class.
I’m a fan of Say when it comes to money, and Böhm-Bawerk when it comes to valuation of goods and services and Mises when it comes to Price as any Austrian is. Contrary to Say, teachers seem to treat money as something magic thing that isn’t a good. Contrary to Böhm-Bawerk they seem to see value as something inherent in a product, as opposed to it having a subjective value. Contrary to Mises they seem to view Price as something that changes by itself, as a cause, when in fact it is a representation of values to individuals at a certain point in time.
I’m interested though, what did you learn in those classes?
Supply, demand, calculating gdp, how the federal reserve works, production possibilities curves, etc. Very basic stuff it seems. Used this book during my classes. http://www.mhhe.com/economics/mcconnell16/
Callahan’s Economics for Real People, Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson, Menger’s Principles of Economics (with study guide), Rothbard’s Man, Economy and State, Hoppe’s A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism, Huerta de Soto’s Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles and Mises’ Socialism and finally Hoppe’s Democracy: The God that Failed.
That’ll give you a feairly in depth understanding of the Austrian school.
Found this at my local library - thanks tax dollars! - and had my paradigms shattered left and right. It’s interesting to read each of the forwards for every decade it has been in print. This book helped me understand that the economy is the people and to control an economy is to control the people. There’s a lot of great history in it too, as far as understanding how our words have changed over the years (liberal vs. conservative) and their true meanings.
Of course mises.org and lewrockwell.com are great resources for endless amounts of information to add to your knowledge base.
Order finally shipped today. Reading Economics for Real People. I’m really diggin’ it so far. I like reading it to the point that it made me put down Capone, which is one of my favorite books…