Ron Paul introduced me to Austrian Economics in his book The Revolution: A Manifesto. I downloaded and listened to a few great lectures from Mises guest speakers and became interested.
I’ll be honest, I started reading Human Action and its a bit beyond me, though I hope to work into it. Lets put it this way, the man is a noteworthy word smith.
Anyway, if someone could suggest to me some introductory books on economics, I would be most grateful.
Thank You,
dan
Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt
The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays by Richard Ebeling
Where Keynes Went Wrong by Hunter Lewis
The Case Against the Fed by Rothbard
Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth by Mises
You might want to start on Theory & History before Human Action.
Awesome, thank you Bert.
In addition to the above (especially Hazlitt):
An Introduction to Economic Reasoning by David Gordon
Lecture Series: Introduction to Austrian Economic Analysis by Joseph Salerno
Definitely check here…these in particular:
Really, Bert? Economic Calculation by Mises to a guy who is starting out reading Austrian economics? That would have scared me off.
I recommend http://mises.org/books/econforrealpeople.pdf Economics for Real People by Gene Callahan
And first and foremost, How An Economy Grows and Why It Crashes by Peter Schiff. http://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X
Really, Bert? Economic Calculation by Mises to a guy who is starting out reading Austrian economics? That would have scared me off.
Actually, I thought it would spark an interest. Maybe it’s just me, but when I was getting into this stuff that was some of the first things I was jumping into.
Almost done with Economics in One Lesson, Wow, henry Hazlitt is amazing
really cool lists, thank you.
I would suggest “For a New Liberty” (pdf available on this site) for general libertarian theory, that book literally changed my life.
Economics in One Lesson is a good place to start for economics.
I feel a problem with Austrian Economics is that it has pretty simple texts (Economics for real people, how to think like an economist) and then the advanced works (HA, MES, prices and production) but then nothing really in between besides economics in one lesson.
Just a question for my own benefit…Why is MES regarded as “advanced” by most here? Simply because it is very long? Or are the concepts themselves considered as advanced?
Not trying to be disagreeable, I am merely curious why no one recommends what was my introductory text, I suppose. To me, Rothbard is very, very clear in explaining everything and uses nice simple language suitable for the beginner. Only my 2 cents.
It’s very long and it’s very difficult to understand the full significance of his work by simply reading the book it takes reflection and re-reading both because the book is both very substantive and very complex. This is not helped by the fact that many of the sections that refute alternative theories will most likely confuse people who are not familiar with the theories being refuted. For instance when he talked about the consumer’s loan market and how it does not play a role in the determination of the rate of interest my response was “lol wut?” and a total misunderstanding on my part of what he was saying.
If you fully read MES then you’re more or less set, Mises sets out praxeology more clearly in Human Action and reading his work clarifies some stuff, and of course there’s always more to work, but MES was the most thorough and important Austrian Synthesis ever made. I feel as though Rothbard’s major folly was (understandably) in considering the system too adaptive at all levels, but for the most part Rothbard is really indisputable.
Well, I got 500 pages in, and then I restarted because I realized I wanted to take notes. >_> Good for my own reference.
Very wise. It’s a lot to remember without notes. Just FYI I felt that chapters 6 and 11 were by far the most difficult chapters although both of them are certainly the most important. If you can really understand the relation between capital formation and the time structure then the next three chapters become incredibly easy to understand and Austrian Business Cycle theory makes perfect sense. As for 11 I think that if you’re really going to read through all of it you should do some real and honest research into the Keynesian concepts which are being described, because without an understanding of them then most of the chapter is nonsense. If you’re not willing to understand the theories themselves then just skip the critique aspects which take up much of the chapter.
Sounds good. Chapter 6, if I remember right, was the one about interest rates. If I recall, it can be summarized that the interest rate is determined by the time preference rates of various individuals in the market?
On another note, any thoughts for research I should do on these Keynesian theories? I would really like to understand these mysterious theories indeed.
That is an important aspect of the chapter, but it is not the most important one. The most important aspect of the chapter is the essential link between capital goods and the interest rate and the fact that a lower interest rate leads to an increase in the capital stock.The interest rate is in a very real way the most important part of the economy because it decides the entirety of how the structure of production is arranged. Another fairly important thing to be gleaned is the difference between explicit time preference and plain saving, something that is never fully fleshed out by Rothbard but it’s important to understand that saved money that is not invested doesn’t play a direct role in the determination of time preference or even the production structure as such.
I would do some google searches. Possibly have a discussion with a Keynesian about basic reading materials. Most of the principles are fairly easy to understand once explained by an advocate, much of Keynesianism is common sense. One should always understand a theory before simply disregarding it. Keynesianism has more validity than I think many Austrians give it credit for in terms of our world in which prices and wages aren’t very flexible.
Hmm…I do not know any Keynesians. Looks like I will have to use the google method.
And thanks for the information on chapter 6. I shall certainly pay attention to that.