Intermediate microeconomics

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1. barry-cotterMay 2022
   > As far as economics, that's more like theological studies than math and physics, so the true / false determination probably just amounts to looking up the relevant passage in the appropriate holy text.

   If your math is adequate to the task (basic calculus) I suggest you check out an intermediate microeconomics textbook like Varian’s or McCloskey’s[1]. Macroeconomics is less firmly anchored but it too is very far from theology.

   [1] Full text of The Applied Theory of Price

   http://deirdremccloskey.org/docs/price.pdf

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2. barry-cotterJul 2018
   You’d be wrong. I’m not all that impressed with macroeconomics and it’s far from a mud moat. Microeconomics is making more progress and is on much sounder footing, hardly surprising given how many more empirical observations there are.

   If you’re only going to read one microeconomics textbook read Varian’s Intermediate Microeconomics if you can do calculus. If you can’t Cowen and Tabarrok’s Principles is pretty good and has a load of wonderful accompanying videos.

   Comparative Advantage

   https://www.mruniversity.com/courses/development-economics/c...

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3. barry-cotterNov 2016
   "Lowering income taxes causes people to work more and in the end generates more revenue for the state".

   Reducing taxes does cause people to work more. Whether it results in more revenue for the state depends on how much income tax was before and after the change. Elasticity of labour supply is not constant over all tax rates.

   I know people like to crap on the Laffer curve but they crap on it because it's trivial if you have the barest knowledge of economics, not because it's false.

   Macroeconomics is closer to the morass you describe but it still accumulates truth, if possibly depressingly slowly and with thirty year periods of regress. Microeconomics is on much firmer ground, in large part because they have more data and it's easier to accumulate it.

   If you want a very readable introduction to price theory, which is a large part of microeconomics check out "Hidden Order" by David D. Friedman. It's based on his Price Theory textbook but rewritten for interest and readability. If you want something a bit more mathematically sophisticated, (basic calculus) look at Intermediate Microeconomics, Hal Varian.

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4. Mahj0ngSep 2016
   I would argue that the answer depends on your reasons for learning. If you want to study microeconomics for the sake of 'knowing'/studying microeconomics in the academic sense, take one the standard textbooks (i.e. Intermediate Microeconomics by Hal Varian) and work it from cover to cover. Afterwards, dive into the topics that you found most interesting. Also, a fairly strong background in calculus helps with the more advanced concepts.

   If you are interested in microeconomics for the sake of understanding something more about the (economic) world, ignore the math/simplistic models at first and try to grasp the theoretical concepts and, more importantly, the ideological/epistemological concepts behind microeconomics as a sub-discipline. Understanding the assumptions behind microeconomics (i.e. the idea of a fully rational human being) will probably give you something to think about.

   Besides the sources already mentioned (especially Khan Academy), I can recommend Jodi Beggs (http://www.economistsdoitwithmodels.com) video series.

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5. yomritoyjSep 2016
   Since you are already in a quantitative field I think it would be good to quickly get to the heart of what economists actually do. I would suggest

   Varian, 'Intermediate Microeconomics' Luenberger, 'Investment Science' Wooldridge, 'Introductory Econometrics'

   for the undergraduate background and then at the graduate level Jehle and Renyi for microeconomics, Duffie for asset pricing theory, Tirole for corporate finance and Campbell, Lo and Macinlay for econometrics.

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6. oli5679Sep 2016
   I'd recommend textbooks or corsera rather than pop econ books.

   Mostly Harmless Econometrics - Angrist and Krueger

   Principles of microeconomics - Mankiw (beginner)

   Intermediate microeconomics - Varian (intermediate)

   You also want to cover finance and time series - I don't know what would be good there.

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