This is my first post and I was hoping to engage by asking some questions that I've been tirelessly trying to find answers to. I'm structuring an Economics Study plan for the summer between semesters. I have already read "The Law," "The Ethics of Liberty," "Economics in One Lesson," "The Case against the Fed," "What Has Government Done to Money," "How Capitalism Saved America" every Ron Paul book, and many articles on mises.org
Now, I'm pretty well prepared, I think, for the big ones: "Man, Economy and State with Power & Market," and "Human Action." I'm going to read MES first because I'm very familiar with Rothbard and I like his style. I also have the scholars’ edition with Murphy's study guide. Then I plan on tackling "Human Action."
Here’s my study plan with questions.
1) I've read that these two books define the Austrian school and are the two Magnum Opus'. Is this true? Do these two books cover basically everything you need to know about all Economic schools and the Austrian perspective on them?
2) Next I'm going to slightly delve into the Chicago School and read two Friedman books: “Free to Choose” and “A Monetary History of the U.S.”
3) I want to then read two Keynesian books. I am having a difficult time finding the Magnum Opus of the Keynesian school. I want to read the best of the best so that I can understand their side and better critique their arguments. I'm looking for two books that would compare [in regards to what their schools put on the peddle stool] to MES and HA. Does anyone have any recommendations? Please only choose the top two you'd rank because I don't have much time and am looking to complete these studies over the summer. I have "The General Theory."
I figure this will give me the top 2 from the Austrian school, the top 2 from the Chicago school and then the mystery top 2 from the Keynesian school.
gibbons6817:I'm going to read MES first because I'm very familiar with Rothbard and I like his style. I also have the scholars’ edition with Murphy's study guide.
Welcome!
In that case this would be perfect timing for you: http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24202.aspx
Those two books do cover it for the most part. I've read MES and I'm working on HA right now, but MES is a textbook version of HA. Keep in mind that for things like the business cycle you would be much better off looking at works like Time and Money by Roger Garrison since it's more current. Overall if you want a good overview then yeah I would recommend those.
You can also check out David Friedmans Price Theory which you can get for free online: http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Academic/Price_Theory/PThy_ToC.html
Or you can check Mankiws intro to micro or essentials of econ books which are good. After a while you will start seeing similarties/differences between austrian and neoclassical thought.
Keynes General Theory is probably what you're looking for if want to read into Keynesian, but keep in mind that they've had a restructing since about the 70/80s and New Keynesian is now among the mainstream school of thoughts, primarily in the macro realm. I don't know about any treatises on that but I'm sure any intro macro textbook would do.
Obviously when you use the terms "magnum opus" and "Keyesianism", most people are going to think of The General Theory. However, as the above poster pointed out, there is a difference between two...
And it has been argued that Keynes' views changed over the years, and he died a full decade after publishing his opus. Samuelson's Economics: An Introductory Analysis was first published two years after Keynes' General Theory and was the second American textbook to explain the principles of Keynesian economics and how to think about economics...and since became the largest selling econ textbook of all time. So that may be another you could look into...although it is a textbook. I'm not sure how interested you are in having to wade through that kind of thing. And it's possible something like Mankiw would be a better text for getting a grasp on the mainstream econ of toady.
But if you're going to embark on The General Theory, be prepared...Have a listen to what Samuelson had to say about it.