Help with creating an economics reading list

Economics Economics Questions
1

I think I’ve gotten enough books to put together a reading list for economics.

the basic categories i want to cover are:

overall econ (stuff like murphy’s lessons for the young economist)

basic intro to austrian econ

money

austrian business cycle theory

socialism and refutations of socialism

keynesianism and refutations of keynesianism

banking

economic history

classics (smith,turgot,say,etc.)

capital and interest

inflation/deflation

Basically what I’m asking is what order would you learn those topics in.

Also…

1.Are there any subjects I’m missing and should add?

2.How early on should one read Man Economy and State? What about Human Action?

2

Have you checked what John James has done to help people with similar questions?

Here you go: The Ultimate Beginner meta-thread

3

Maybe I wasn’t clear. I’ve already got the books, I’m just wondering what order I should read them in.

Sorry for the confusion.

4

What books do you have?

5

The Anti Capitalistic Mentality

That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen

Lessons for the Young Economist

An Introduction to Austrian Economics

Economics for Real People

Economic Science and the Austrian Method

The Free Market Reader

Man,Economy and State w/Power and Market

What is Money?

The Origins of Money

What has Government Done to Our Money?

The Case for A 100 % Gold Dollar

Gold,Peace, and Prosperity

The Case for Gold

The Ethics of Money Production

Will Dollars Save the World?

Fiat Money Inflation in France

What You Should Know About Inflation

Against IP

Economics and Ethics of Private Property

Capital and Interest (Bastiat)

Economic Sophisms

Harmonies of Political Economy

Case Against the Fed

A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism

The Failure of the New Economics

America’s Great Depression

History of Money and Banking

The Panic of 1819

Making Economic Sense

An Austrian Perspective

The Privatization of Roads and Highways

The Case for Discrimination

Requiem for Marx

Marxism Unmasked

Money,Bank Credit,and Economic Cycles

Economic Calculation

Planned Chaos

Socialism

Human Action

A Tiger by the Tail

Where Keynes Went Wrong

Fiat Money Inflation in France

Principles of Economics

New Deal in Old Rome

A Rehabilitation of Say’s Law

The Tragedy of the Euro

Prices and Production and Other Works

The Quotable Mises

The Critics of Keynesian Economics

Literature and the Economy

A Free Market Monetary System/The Pretense of Knowledge

The Economics of Illusion

Deflation and Liberty

The Positive Theory of Capital

The Conquest of Poverty

Man vs. The Welfare State

The Causes of the Economic Crisis

The Great Austrian Economists

The Austrian School of Economics

Capital and Interest (Böhm-Bawerk)

Control or Economic Law

The Socialist Tradition

Economic Controversies

The Mystery of Banking

Time Will Run Back

The Theory of Money and Credit

The Wealth of Nations

Recent Literature on Interest

Karl Marx and the Close of His System

Deep Freeze:Iceland’s Economic Collapse

The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays

The Turgot Collection

An Essay on Economic Theory

The G.T. of Employment, Interest, and Money

Wage Labor and Capital

Capital

A Treatise on Political Economy (Tracy)

A Treatise on Political Economy (Say)

Antitrust: The Case for Repeal

6

Start with Mises Theory of Money and Credit. It is short and direct. Understanding what money is, is a good start.

Read Adam Smith’s “Theory of Moral Sentiment” before you read “Wealth of Nations”.

Mises “Human Action” is a must read early on.

Mises “Socialism” is a mid-point read.

I would not recommend reading Keynes until later.

7

Damn… Do you intend to read all of that?

8

Eventually, yes.

9

But I assume you’ve already read a considerable amount of them.

10

In that list, no.

But I have read…

Economics in One Lesson

Meltdown

How An Economy Grows and Why It Crashes

End the Fed

How Capitalism Saved America

Hamilton’s Curse

11

You can trim that down to less than 20 books pretty easy.

Marx is pretty much dead as far as econmic theory is conserned. There are a couple of relics, but most of his discilpes have moved on to Keynes or even Modern Monetary Theory. There are still people who chapion is social ideas, but the economic theory is all but dead. Pick one on Marx and don’t worry about the others.

Mises Human Action and Money and Credit are both good ones to start with.

Classical Liberalism and the Austrian School

Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy

The Clash of Economic Ideas: The Great Policy Debates and Experiments of the Last Hundred Years

The Theory of Moral Sentiments - Read before Wealth of Nations.

Keynes “General Theory” is not one I would jump into until you are about half way through.

12

What 20 books would you reccommend out of that list? And in what order would you read them?

13

I’m not really concerned with what books I have, or whether I need other books, or whether I should or should not read so and so. Basically what I’m asking is in what order should I study various subjects.

e.g.

money

banking

abct

econ history

classics

keynesian plus refutations

socialism plus refutations

etc.

Also, when is the best time to read MES? Early on? Or later? What about Human Action?

14

Several on that list are actually text books, and really not readers. They were written to be a resource for a lecture.

Start with:

  1. Mises “Human Action”. Mises’s work is built on top of the works of Menger, Bohm-Bawerk, and Say.

  2. Mises “Theory of Money & Credit” is also built on the works of Bohm-Bawerk so no reason to read Bohm-Bawerk’s “Capital & Interest” or “Positive Theory of Capital”.

  3. Ethics of Money Production

  4. History of Money and Banking in the United States.

  5. Theory of Moral Sentiments and then Wealth of Nations (both by Adam Smith)

  6. Austrian Perspective

  7. Any of the Failures of Marx books. If you just want to punish yourself then read Capital.

  8. General Theory of Employment, Interest & Money

  9. Mises “Socialism” also covers the concepts he lays out in his essay “Economic Calculations” so no reason to ready.

  10. Austrian Theory of Trade Cycle (probably should be higher on my list)

I have not read most of your list so I can’t recommend most of them. But you do have several redundant texts on the list. Mises is a good starting point because he took the works of several people on your list and refined them/combined them into his own work. That is why Human Action is such a good place to start. His theory of Money and Credit is also nice and short, but direct. Money is obviously key to several of the other books on your list including the gold oriented books.

Several of the books on your I would have to look over as I am not familiar with them.

You have a couple of specific historical books. It really does not matter when you read those. I would recommend “Myth of the Robber Barons” and “Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation. Economic History of the Civil War”.

15

MES is a good read. It ecompasses all of those ideas into 1 tome.

I had the same dillema as you about HA vs MES, and i went with MES.

Its an easier read and a good primer before reading HA.

Making of modern economics by Mark Skousen is a great read. If anything, read that first, you ought to get a broad view of economics first, and then delve into AE, it will give you a better perspective.

16

What about Man,Economy,and State?

@winder

17

I appreciate the list, but I’ve already decided what books I’m going to read. I’m just wondering what order I should study the subjects in. That’s all.

18

Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought covers Rothbards ideas. You have both on your list. I would go with Austrian Perspective. I probably don’t read as much Rothbard as most people on this forum.

19

Oh, well if you’re talking about order of subjects:

Austrian Economics. This implies an understanding of ABCT, money, capital and interest, and inflation and deflation.

Banking

Keynesianism

Economic history

Socialism

Inevitably Human Action and MES are two of the most important, all-encompassing Austrian works ever written. They cover so much information so well that it’s truly amazing, and ultimately one cannot be educated on Austrian Economics without reading at least one.

So I’d read them towards the end of your first topic. That’ll give you enough background to deal with them as much as can be expected before actually reading the books. Read Human Action first, and then treat MES as a clarification and expansion of the actual economics within HA, making HA much more about methodology, philosophy, and a general although expansive outline of Austrian positions.

20

OK, that sounds good.

Two more questions

1.What order should I read the Austrian stuff in?

2.When should I read the classics,e.g. Smith,Say,Turgot?