I'm relatively new to researching economics, so I guess you could say I'm a beginner in my understanding of economics. I've been a libertarian for a couple of years, but I'm only in high school, so my knowledge is somewhat limited. So far I've read The Revolution by Ron Paul, Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlit, Meltdown by Thomas Woods, and I'm almost done with The Law by Frederic Bastiat.
I have recently purchased Man Economy and State with Power and Market, Human Action, The Denationalization of Money, The Road to Serfdom, The Case Against the Fed, Liberty Defined, End the Fed, America's Great Depression, and the Theory of Money and Credit.
I was wondering, for a beginner, which of the above books would you reccomend reading first in order to gain a more general understanding of Austrian economics and/or libertarian political theory? All imput is greatly apreciated.
Welcome to the forum! Great to have you. You're off to a great start.
First, I highly recommend checking out The Ultimate Beginner meta-thread. That's the one-stop place to start. (Be sure to check out the welcome.) You'll probably want to bookmark it, as it's a major collection of links for things you might want to look into in the future and refer back to.
As for the books, you're definitely on the right path. You've covered a good number of the most common first recommendations. So now it really depends on what you're most interested in and what you'd like to investigate next. More basic economics? Do you feel like you need a bit more to get a good grasp on the overall concepts and fundamentals? Or are you ready to venture into deeper subjects like money and credit? Or are you interested in venturing more into political theory for a while?
Think about where you might like to explore next and I'm sure you'll get some good recommendations based on your current taste.
Thanks! With regards to the books, I most likely need more help on the fundamentals before I am ready to explore more specific topics. Thanks for your assistance.
Oh well in that case...I highly recommend:
How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes
Lessons for the Young Economist (available for free download)
Economics for Real People (available for free download)
Others I you can check out would be:
Economic Facts and Fallacies
Applied Economics
Basic Economics
I would definitely go down through that top list until you feel like you're ready to jump to another area for a while. (You might decide you find it easier to absorb one book by making your next one be about a different topic).
If you ever want a nice short read ~100 pages or so, see the list here.
For your next political/liberty reading, I think Anatomy of the State would be a good short one, and Liberty Defined for longer book size.
I also recommend Peter Boettk's recent book, Living Economics. It may not be exactly in the structure you're looking for, but it's an easy-to-read discussion on what different economists have posited over the years, including both Austrian and public-choice theorists.
Also, I think Rothbard's MES would be a good idea to read, as well (I haven't, but I substitute it with Human Action for the time being). You might not understand it all, but when you continue reading after it you'll, over time, see connections, and when you re-visit MES you'll be rewarded. I read Huerta de Soto's Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles as one of my first non-textbook books in economics. I didn't get a lot of it as much as I thought I did, but it served as a crash-course that made subsequent reading much easier. Besides, these types of books have to be read and re-read, so you might as well start now!
I understand where Jonathan's coming from, and it's true that you'll get a lot more out of something like MES and HA the second and third time you read it, but I'm also not so sure you want to go diving into 1000-page tomes as a beginner in high school. It may prove too frustrating and discourage you from going on.
If you're a really avid reader and are used to that sort of thing, then perhaps...but for most people, they need to work up to those things. I definitely recommend that top list first. You'll get a lot more out of everything else you read from that point on if you get through those.
John James: Oh well in that case...I highly recommend: How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes Lessons for the Young Economist (available for free download) Economics for Real People (available for free download)
Economics for Real People is awesome, other than the chapter on the ABCT, which is a bit confusing. However, unfortunately the LvMI is no longer selling it. I don't know if this is a temporary thing because of lack of stock or permanent because it wasn't selling well or perhaps because of Callahan's ugly defection.
That would be really interesting if they stopped carrying it just so they wouldn't end up generating revenue for, and having to pay, Callahan. I guess it works out okay anyway, since they can still offer it free of charge in electronic form
Wow. That's amazing!
Something I like to do in addition to reading is watching youtube videos, which I think is quite enjoyable.
I think a few good channels include:
http://www.youtube.com/user/libertyinourtime?feature=results_main
http://www.youtube.com/user/learnliberty?feature=results_main
http://www.youtube.com/user/tomwoodstv?feature=results_main
http://www.youtube.com/user/feeseminars
Great!! Thanks for all your help!
Austrian economics? I suggest "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money", it's quite a thorough exposition of AE and the theories of Ludwig Von Mises.
chuckduck764:Great!! Thanks for all your help!
That is just one of the many links in the Ultimate Beginner meta-thread. I'm tellin ya, you're gonna want that cow bell to check that out.
By the way, if you want to read The Theory Of Money & Credit, buy the study guide by Bob Murphy. It makes the entire thing so much more readable. Mises assumes a lot of prior knowledge and uses terminology that you won't find today, so it's quite useful to have the main points briefly spelled out in plain English, a glossary at the end of each chapter, etc.
...also might try Mises on Money first. But I think it would be a while before he gets to this point.
ChuckDuck, along with the other books recommended, I recommend What Has Government Done to Our Money? It was the first book I ever read about Austrian-school economics, and it convinced me.
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Actually, I have been uploading notes to the book for the past two months or so. I had to stop for a little while because of higher priorities, but I'm hoping to finish the book by the end of the next week. Here's chapter three, for example.
"If we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is not sufficient justification for the use of coercion."
To help the beginner decide about the usefullness of Esuric's books to him, I'll quote a line or two from each.
From 3, a book by Hayek:
Once we assume that, even at a single point, the pricing process fails to equilibrate supply and demand, so that over a more or less long period demand may be satisfied at prices at which the available supply is inadequate to meet total demand, then the march of economic events loses its determinateness and a range of indeterminateness appears, within which movements can originate leading away from equilibrium.
From 2, a book by Hayek:
To over-emphasize the distinction between fixed and circulating capital,which is, at best, merely one of degree,and not by any means of fundamental importance, is a common trait of English economic theory and has probably contributed more than any other cause to the unsatisfactory state of the English theory of capital at the present time.
From 1, by Mises:
The English "Currency School" has already tried to explain the boom by the extension of credit resulting from the issue of bank notes without metallic backing. Nevertheless, this school did not see that bank accounts which could be drawn upon at any time by means of checks, that is to say, current accounts, play exactly the same role in the extension of credit as bank notes. Consequently the expansion of credit can result not only from the excessive issue of bank notes but also from the opening of excessive current accounts. It is because it misunderstood this truth that the Currency School believed that it would suffice, in order to prevent the recurrence of economic crises, to enact legislation restricting the issue of bank notes without metallic backing, while leaving the expansion of credit by means of current accounts unregulated. Peel's Bank Act of 1844, and similar laws in other countries, did not accomplish their intended effect. From this it was wrongly concluded that the English School's attempt to explain the trade cycle in monetary terms had been refuted by the facts.
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...sound like beginner books to me.
The first one is, more-or-less, but all three of them deal with a very exclusive topic: business cycle theory. It would make more sense to read Man, Economy, and State.
I'm still curious as to why anyone would recommend titles like this over the first three I listed.
It may not be a bad idea to read the most obvious "beginner" book - an introductory microeconomics textbook. I especially liked this one: http://www.amazon.com/Microeconomics-The-Mcgraw-Hill-Series-Economics/dp/0077247167/ref=pd_sim_b_1.
You can skip the section on macroeconomics if you wish.
The first one is, more-or-less, but all three of them deal with a very exclusive topic: business cycle theory
Austrian trade cycle theory is merely the logical extension of its capital and monetary theory, which are the only elements that are exclusively "Austrian" (Austrian capital/monetary theory are usually dealt with in such books). Basic knowledge of elementary economics is obviously required before tackling such subjects. If you're entirely ignorant, then you should start with introductory economics textbooks, which you can find at any school store or online.
Also, and this is more of a response to Dave's post, both Hayek and Mises go to great lengths defining terms and explaining them, and this is especially true for Hayek's Monetary Theory and The Trade Cycle, which was meant to be an introduction to his trade cycle theory (a beginners guide, so to speak). He puts forth a more advanced analysis in Prices and Production and an even more advanced analysis in The Pure Theory of Capital.
So yes, all 3 books are for beginners (in AE, not economics in general). Contra-Keynes and Cambridge is just a great read, and it clearly highlights most of the major differences between "Austrian" economics and Anglo-American economics.
Esuric:Basic knowledge of elementary economics is obviously required before tackling such subjects. If you're entirely ignorant, then you should start with introductory economics textbooks, which you can find at any school store or online.
Um.
chuckduck764:I'm relatively new to researching economics, so I guess you could say I'm a beginner in my understanding of economics
It was the first sentence of this entire thread.
Esuric: Austrian trade cycle theory is merely the logical extension of its capital and monetary theory, which are the only elements that are exclusively "Austrian" [...] So yes, all 3 books are for beginners (in AE, not economics in general).
Austrian trade cycle theory is merely the logical extension of its capital and monetary theory, which are the only elements that are exclusively "Austrian" [...]
So yes, all 3 books are for beginners (in AE, not economics in general).
Organic chemistry is merely the logical extension of chemistry focusing on carbon-based compounds, which are the only elements that are exclusively "organic". [...]
So yes, books on organic chemistry are for beginners (in the study of living organisms, not chemistry in general).
If you're entirely ignorant, then you should start with introductory economics textbooks, which you can find at any school store or online.
I'm wondering about this. Is it not possible to learn economics enough to understand the world around us and current events, starting with AE from scratch, skipping altogether other works? I of course don't mean on the level of being able to critique an econometric paper filled with differential equations, because that's witch doctory anyway.
After all, will not the mainstream works be full of stuff that has to be unlearned anyway?
I think MES has the standard economics stuff in there somewhere.
Smiling Dave: Is it not possible to learn economics enough to understand the world around us and current events, starting with AE from scratch, skipping altogether other works? I of course don't mean on the level of being able to critique an econometric paper filled with differential equations, because that's witch doctory anyway. After all, will not the mainstream works be full of stuff that has to be unlearned anyway?
Is it not possible to learn economics enough to understand the world around us and current events, starting with AE from scratch, skipping altogether other works? I of course don't mean on the level of being able to critique an econometric paper filled with differential equations, because that's witch doctory anyway.
Of course we've discussed this before (here, and I'm sure other places).
I think one would do just fine (great, actually) by simply working through the typical beginner texts up through the advanced of say, the contents of the Mises Store.
But I would say there would be value to be had (that would largely be missed) in an introductory microeconomics textbook. Lessons for the Young Economist does a great job of giving a comprehensive overview of the whole of economic science (for the beginner, anyway), and of course includes some of this information. But I think the details included in a typical micro textbook would be largely helpful.
There are of course classics in the Austrian tradition that will cover this (e.g. Principles of Economics, MES...in fact there's even a course by Rothbard "Introduction to Microeconomics" and a paper "An Austrian Foundation for Microeconomic Principles" [PDF]), but I get the feeling the format and arrangement of a typical modern day textbook would be useful.
That being said, there is actually a course in the Mises Academy coming up...Austrian Microeconomics. I'd be interested to see the syllabus.
At the very least, learn basic college Macro and Micro 101 first before going into any heterodox opinion.
There is simply no reason to start with Austrian Econ as step 1.
Of the books you listed:
End the Fed and Road to Serfdom are not econ books
Theory of Money and Credit, Great Depression, etc are but you can not start there.
Human Action or Man Economy State (of the two I would suggest HA) would be the definitive starting point.. You may want to warm up with Gene Callahan's Economics for Real People first though.
"As in a kaleidoscope, the constellation of forces operating in the system as a whole is ever changing." - Ludwig Lachmann
"When A Man Dies A World Goes Out of Existence" - GLS Shackle
Not explicitly Austrian, but, I'd start anyone on "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell, where his goal in writing the book is to create a near-textbook level text without all the math or graphs or charts. The entire book has one chart, as I recall, and no graphs or math. And his goal is to put econ in perspective with its effects on the economy at large. Really a wonderful read, and he followed it up with "Advanced Economics" in the same style.
For an absolute beginner, I recommend "Why Government Doesn't Work" by Harry Browne. It was the first libertarian book I read. That was nine years ago.
Anenome:Not explicitly Austrian, but, I'd start anyone on "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell, where his goal in writing the book is to create a near-textbook level text without all the math or graphs or charts. The entire book has one chart, as I recall, and no graphs or math. And his goal is to put econ in perspective with its effects on the economy at large.
At 800 pages in the 4th edition, I'd hope he was able to do that.
Really a wonderful read, and he followed it up with "Advanced Economics" in the same style.
I believe you mean Applied Economics.
Yeah, Applied Economics, not 'Advanced'. Always seem to misremember that one. 5 seconds of googling :\
John James: Anenome:Not explicitly Austrian, but, I'd start anyone on "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell, where his goal in writing the book is to create a near-textbook level text without all the math or graphs or charts. The entire book has one chart, as I recall, and no graphs or math. And his goal is to put econ in perspective with its effects on the economy at large. At 800 pages in the 4th edition, I'd hope he was able to do that.
I show his 2nd edition of Basic at some 448 pages? And Applied hits 352.
Anenome:I show his 2nd edition of Basic at some 448 pages?
And?
chuckduck764:I'm relatively new to researching economics, so I guess you could say I'm a beginner in my understanding of economics It was the first sentence of this entire thread.
I guess the part I was directly responding to was:
I was wondering, for a beginner, which of the above books would you reccomend reading first in order to gain a more general understanding of Austrian economics.....
I don't know anything about organic chemistry so I can't directly respond to this, nor do I see how this is particularly relevant to what I'm discussing. I think you were trying to be clever here, and I'm not sure you succeeded. Either way, my only point was that once you understand Austrian capital and monetary theory (which, again, are the only things that are exclusively Austrian) then you can simply deduce the ramifications of a market rate of interest that deviates from the natural rate (which is what the Austrian theory of cycles is all about).
Esuric, I would certainly hold much of Austrian monetary and capital theory could be considered distinctively "Austrian", but would you not say the same is true of their approach to value and price theory? It seems to me there are most definitely distinct analytical differences in the approach to price theory taken by Menger and Bohm Bawerk( and later Mises and Rothbard), to the approach taken by the Walrasian school originated by Walras and Pareto. It seems to me much of the controversies and confusions in disputes between Neoclassicals and Austrians concerning issues of uncertainty and profit and loss, notions of equilibrium and economic calculation ultimately stem from deeper seated analytical differences in the distinct price (and value) theoretic approaches of the 2 schools. Capital theory and monetary theory, while being immensely important, I would therefore rank as less important than Price theory to introduce to a beginner, and allow them a gateway to see the distinctiveness of the Austrian approach before delving deeper into capital and monetary theory.
Unfortunately, I don't think there are any succinct, crystal clear expositions devoted to Austrian price theory alone. Rothbard comes closest in Man, Economy and State, but even his exposition of Bohm Bawerk's marginal pairs price theory is incomplete.
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For Alexander Zinoviev and the free market there is a shared delight:
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Books on Economics:
http://www.vforvoluntary.com/books/economics/
I've decided to recommend Principles of Economics (Menger) over MES or Human Action. You can now also read it online here: http://www.vforvoluntary.com/principles-of-economics/ .
Nielsio, what's your reason?