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Good economics books to read?

I am currently studying economics at A-level and want to do it at Uni. Does anyone know any good books to read? I don't want the Sloman textbooks etc. I'm talking about real books :smile:

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Reply 1

Firaila

I know UCL has a reading list in it's prospectus...

I quite liked "Reinventing the Bazaar", it's about the history of markets

Reply 2

dude55

Firaila

I know UCL has a reading list in it's prospectus...

I quite liked "Reinventing the Bazaar", it's about the history of markets

I might give that a go. Is it easy enough to read for an AS student?

Reply 3

Bax-man

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt, or What is Seen and What is Not Seen, an essay by French economist Frederic Bastiat.

Reply 4

blatchcorn

Freakonomics is ok for a summer read.

Reply 5

easyindeed

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters - gripping read and will give you a lot to talk about on your PS when you write it!

Reply 6

paul_blakeman

Can't believe nobody has reccommended The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford! Fantastic book and easily accessible, will not really help you with your studies but it should grip you and make you want to learn more! I would also suggest Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo, something that should help you with your studies. Also Economics for Dummies will help to consolidate ideas that you should have already learnt, and is quite interesting :smile:

Also Freakonomics is worth reading :smile:

Hope this helps,

Paul

Reply 7

.ACS.

The Armchair Economist by Landsburg is also an ever popular pop economics book, and probably one of the better ones out there. Otherwise, Capitalism and Freedom by Friedman is always a good read.

Reply 8

Laura-alice26

hey
ive just finished the undercover economist - it was great, such a good read!
i was wondering if anyone has read globalization and its discontents by joseph stiglitz?? is i any good and is it worth putting it on a PS??
taa

Reply 9

turn and fall

Trouble with Markets - Roger Bootle

Better than the dreaded freakonomics

Reply 10

kevinbarry

Hop over to www.keweipress.com and download the short (9 pages) free article "An introduction to economics in 5000 words and a bit".

If you like that brief intro, you could then get the free book "An introduction to economics" also by Kevin Bucknall from the same site.

Reply 11

bijesh12

Undercover Economist and Too Big To Fail !

Reply 12

giveandtake

Original post by easyindeed

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters - gripping read and will give you a lot to talk about on your PS when you write it!

Bit of a time lag, but what is the connection between the subject and this book? I looked on amazon and it's about lesbians apparently... Have I got the wrong one there?

Cheers :smile:

Reply 13

MagicNMedicine

Original post by giveandtake

Bit of a time lag, but what is the connection between the subject and this book? I looked on amazon and it's about lesbians apparently... Have I got the wrong one there?

Cheers :smile:

Yes it was a joke on this forum.

There were people on here close to the UCAS deadline asking stuff like "what economics books should I say I've read on my personal statement" when they had blatantly not read them so people were saying Tipping The Velvet to make some unsuspecting student write it on their PS

Reply 14

.ACS.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Applied-Intermediate-Macroeconomics-Kevin-Hoover/dp/0521763886/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336494029&sr=8-1

A text I stumbled upon the other day. It takes a very applied approach to macroeconomics, which I think is perfect in bridging the gap between A-Level and university level.

At A-Level, everything was so applied. At university everything is so theoretical (or at least from my three years so far) and you don't see how it applies in the real world; you simply learn models for the exam and don't truly appreciate them unless you apply them in your dissertation.

This book, however, doesn't seem to require anything beyond A-Level Economics, and provides a very gentle introduction to applied macroeconomics with specific real-life examples used.

Another classic text is http://www.amazon.co.uk/Applied-Economics-Mr-Alan-Griffiths/dp/0273736906/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336494188&sr=1-1 which I feel is underused. Again you won't need anything beyond A-Level Economics.

Reply 15

giveandtake

Original post by MagicNMedicine

I won't lie to you, the thought of that made me laugh

Reply 16

Chriswuk

You can also get a trial subscription for the economist which costs like a pound for 12 issues.

Reply 17

MormonMonster

Original post by paul_blakeman

Also Freakonomics is worth reading :smile:

Hope this helps,

Paul

I couldn't agree more. It gives you all the info you want but presents it in a readable way! :biggrin:

Reply 18

Curzon

While not exactly an academic book perhaps, "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism" is good and quite eye opening if you are new to economics. The title makes it sound like it's anti-capitalist which isn't the case. It just addresses some myths that are thrown around about capitalism which you should really know about.

Reply 19

dan94adibi

Original post by dude55

I am currently studying economics at A-level and want to do it at Uni. Does anyone know any good books to read? I don't want the Sloman textbooks etc. I'm talking about real books :smile:

If you want something for an AS student, I would defiantly recommend you 'Poor Economics'. It would give you an insight into how the economy works. E.g Even though wages might increase for poor but they prefer to spend most of their wages on luxury instead of necessities. For example poor people in Africa (if their wages increases) they would prefer to buy a TV rather than having an extra meal and have the energy to work harder and increase productivity and thereby increasing their income and ect...

A really good book. Not only you will learn how the system works but you can definitely use it in the exam for your evaluation both for unit 1 and unit 2. You can tell the examiner how what you have learned is just theory and in the real world the government policies may not result into what they expect.