Economics Questions

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

hayekianxyz — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:17:57 GMT

BlackSheep:
Also, what is a good primer in econometrics?

Jeff Woolridge's Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach is brilliantly. Personally I'm a big fan of econometrics.

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

Jonathan M. F. Catalán — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:16:05 GMT

krazy kaju:

...any other suggestions?

Vedder & Gallaway's Out of Work. They talk about Austrian school of thought, but they have a Neoclassical perspective generally. They just share Austrian views on labor, and their opinion on econometrics.

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

Felipe — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:10:30 GMT

For neo-classical economics I would recommend "Economics" by Samuelson and Nordhaus, excellent textbook.

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

BlackSheep — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:51:38 GMT

Niccolò:

For Game Theory,

Game Theory: A Critical Introduction by Shaun P. Hargreaves-Heap and Yanis Varoufakis

I'm almost through Solid Choke's reading list -- btw thx for the fine compilation -- and thought about giving this one a try.

Glancing the book, I paid especially attention to its chapter on evolutionary processes, made me wonder if this really is a book you'd be assigned in college, and whether it is worthy of scarce time. It seems like its games contain fundamental flaws: eg the example for spontaneously provided public goods is health care. The reason why it works? Because only if you participate, you'll get it when you need it. But if it was excludable all along, how can it be considered an example of a public good?

I appreciate the philosophical content, and I don't hold against the authors the statist stance, but a lot of language seems downright undecipherable. And I mean sociology book undecipherable. For a critical text, I find it funny how they poke Dawkins' Selfish Gene for talking as if genes are conscious actors with intentions, when Dawkins makes it very clear, from the 1st chapter and many times on, that it is only meant as a metaphorical device -- but on the other hand they uncritically describe how some Schumpeter's disciple argued that the tendency to monopoly in capitalism is the cause of the economic hoes. Or how it finishes the evolution chapter with Marxist thoughts like how the capitalist allocation process requires war to adjust, and how we need a newborn Spartacus to show us our condition of slavery and the path to rebellion. I guess the point of the authors is to show how people's blind endorsement of present day institutions can distort the outcome of their interactions, and there are underlying lessons to all the other summaries, but I'd hope the examples would enjoy more economic literacy, and substance from psychological experiments.

If you guys could hint me to another book, I'd appreaciate it. I'm no stranger to math; in fact, I'm looking for neo-classical works as is the topic of this thread. I understand behavioral economics has gained important inroads into neoclassical territory, and for good reason, if you read some of their fascinating lab and field work, butright now I especially want to delve into pure rationality.

Also, what is a good primer in econometrics?

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

Jon Irenicus — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:29:33 GMT

Yeah, I agree... still, I stand by what I said.

-Jon

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

Niccolò — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:26:42 GMT

I'm going to reiterate.

Good economics is good economics; bad economics is bad economics.

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

Jon Irenicus — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:38:16 GMT

They do exchange ideas as it is. I think, though, an understanding of neoclassical econ will benefit you, and allow you to be better able to make sense of Austrian attitudes towards it, so good luck with it.

-Jon

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

krazy kaju — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:28:17 GMT

LOL I will Jon. I'm still in the process of reading Mises's Human Action and Socialism. I just want to learn more about the neoclassical school because I have a feeling that both the Austrian and the neoclassical schools could benefit from exchanging ideas... kind of a "neomarginalist school" if you will. Then again, it's only an intuition so I want to learn a bit more the neoclassical school to see if I agree with any of their views or not.

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

Jon Irenicus — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:18:03 GMT

Just make sure to keep up with the Austrian works too. Especially the more difficult stuff as your understanding advances.

-Jon

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

krazy kaju — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:02:12 GMT

I'm a senior right now, but yeah, I'll be going to college for economics for sure. I plan on taking the AP micro and macro exams also. Again, thanks for all the suggestions guys.

Now I somehow have to narrow it down to which ones I'll get...

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

Niccolò — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:54:16 GMT

Also, I think it is most important that you start reading up on DSGE. Without an understanding of it, it's possible that macroeconomics will simply pass you by and the macro you're reading now will be completely out of tune with the macro everyone else is talking about (my main problem with the "Austrians").

Then again, I'm not an economics major, I'm a Business student who has taken economic courses as requirements (and as a hobby).

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

Student — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:25:49 GMT

Well, there are essentially two popular macroeconomic camps in mainstream universities: new keynesian macro and real business cycle macro. Both of them could be legitamatley be considered "neoclassical" in nature because theorists in each of these schools of thought build their models based on assumptions of utiliy maximing individuals and profit maximizing firms. The schools differ in how much weight they place on frictions that may divert the economy as a whole from a certain growth path (or "from full employment" to put in old fashioned terms). But there isn't a "neoclassical" school of macro though per se.

At least that is if you're strictly interested in business cycle theory. In terms of economic development, theorests following Solow's research program tend to be classified as "neoclassical" (in contrast to folks like Romer or Lucas who developed "endogenous" growth theories).

I would recommend starting off with microeconomics before you move onto macro. Once you get the basics down there, you will be able to better understand macro models in all the mainstream schools.

If you just can't wait, I would recommend Krugman's "Return to Depression Economics" for a very basic (but very insightful) introduction or Robert Barro's Macroeconomics textbook for a more intermediate approach.

If you don't want to spend money, Mike McElroy's Macroeconomics textbook is free and online. It's very good.

http://legacy.ncsu.edu/classes/ec348001/TextLinks.htm

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

Niccolò — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:15:11 GMT

krazy kaju:

Wow, thanks everyone for the great help. This thread turned out better than I thought. Don't worry, I'm not asking about economics book to become a crack "economist." I'm a firm believer in "don't call yourself an economist unless you have a PhD."

Anyways, the book suggestions are great and I'll look them over in more detail tonight. But aren't Greg Mankiw and Paul Krugman both new Keynesians? I was thinking about buying Mankiw's book anyways, but wouldn't their POV on some issues and economic models be rather different from the views of neoclassical economists?

Again, it depends upon what you mean by "neoclassical."

Most would say that all economists that aren't Marxians belong to the neoclassical school and it doesn't matter what college you go to, most will take an eclectic perspective from the Chicago school, Keynesian school, and perhaps even unwittingly from the "Austrian" school.

Also, are you going to college for economics?

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

krazy kaju — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:01:48 GMT

Wow, thanks everyone for the great help. This thread turned out better than I thought. Don't worry, I'm not asking about economics book to become a crack "economist." I'm a firm believer in "don't call yourself an economist unless you have a PhD."

Anyways, the book suggestions are great and I'll look them over in more detail tonight. But aren't Greg Mankiw and Paul Krugman both new Keynesians? I was thinking about buying Mankiw's book anyways, but wouldn't their POV on some issues and economic models be rather different from the views of neoclassical economists?

Re: Good books about neoclassical economics?

Solid_Choke — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:44:04 GMT

krazy kaju:

Are there any good books about neoclassical economics for laypeople? I want to learn more about other schools of thought besides the Austrian school so I've been looking around for some good info, but I can't find anything good. I was thinking about getting Milton Friedman on Economics: Selected Papers and Monetary History of the United States: 1867-1960 by Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz. I thought that maybe these two books will help me learn a little about neoclassical and monetarist economics, any other suggestions?

For a good foundation in microeconomics I would recommend the follwing:

1. Basic Economics - Thomas Sowell

2. Price Theory - David Friedman

3. Microeconomic Theory - Walter Nicholson

(If you are weak on Calculus you might think about working your way through "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus" by W. Michael Kelley, but calculus is not needed for the first text, and is optional for the second. You need to know calculus to understand the third one).

For a good foundation in macroeconomics I would recommend:

1. Concise Guide to Macroeconomics - David Moss

2. Macroeconomics - Gregory Mankiw

*Please note that you will need to know more than this to be an economist, but if you really study these and understand them you will know more economics than the average undergraduate econ student.