Stats for nerds
1recommend
2mentions
2people
2009–2022years
50% recommend50% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- If you're really serious about learning the science, the best way is to use a textbook. Back in my days, the most recommended one was "Economics" by Paul Samuelson and William Nordhaus, I believe. In fact, it's been in print since 1948, so that it's probably the most successful economic textbooks of all time.
However, it seems to have lost some traction in recent years. My impression is that "Principles of Economics" by N. Gregory Mankiw took its place. If Mankiw's "Principles" is written as clearly as his Macroeconomics textbook, it's certainly worth to start with it.
Of course, both are quite expensive and -- depending on your math education -- demanding. So, as a test whether textbooks are something you could like, you may like to start with the free textbook by R. Preston McAfee's "Introduction to Economic Analysis". It's available here:
As an alternative, you may like to look for smaller textbooks that mix formal and applied economics. They may be demanding but also somewhat practical. The later part may make it easier to get the former part. As a disadvantage, they don't provide much overview. Among those I've read and can recommend, are:
* "Managerial Economics" by Ian Dobbs, and
* "Games for Business and Economics" by Roy Gardner.
Of course, if you're interested in something more entertaining and less formal, there are quite a few books that have been published after the success of "Freakonomics" by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.
Unfortunately, none of them are really introductions to the field. They all try to make the point that economics, in general, is interesting by presenting random collections of interesting ideas or stories. Most of them also concentrate on the author's own research which is hardly a good start.
That said, they are still entertaining to read. So, you may like to look at the following ones:
* "The Undercover Economist" by Tim Harford
* "Naked Economics" by Charles Wheelan
I've read the first one and he covers a rather broad selection of topics. I didn't read the second one but the reviews at Amazon made me put it on my wish-list.
So, Henry Hazlitt's book is still unique and worth reading, since it covers one of the more basic idea of economics without using any formal means. Just beware that it's outdated (since it's been written much research has gone into the problem of market failure), and that it's somewhat opinionated.
Of course, the later is a general problem in economics: researchers usually assume a rather simple utility function of public decision makers, namely to maximize public welfare. This is hardly the only possible one, just the only one people can agree upon.
- Actually, most of them tend to have exactly that phrase in their title. Count me in the group who wishes far too late that he had held onto his copy instead of selling it at a discount to another student.
I think any introductory textbook on Managerial Economics would cover the same material. It's just that Engineering Economics books tend to use industrial plants and machinery for most of their examples.
