Economic books for university

haha nobody's perfect.

Excellent book. But what about decent macroeconomic theory textbooks with a similar slant?

Excellent book. But what about decent macroeconomic theory textbooks with a similar slant?

But he's neo-Keynesian

Actually he's a New Keynesian (along with DeLong, Krugman, Stiglitz). Neo-Keynesian = Solow + Samuelson. There are differences.

But you know they are all Keynesians... But then again, aren't we all Keynesians now?

Actually he's a New Keynesian (along with DeLong, Krugman, Stiglitz). Neo-Keynesian = Solow + Samuelson. There are differences.

But you know they are all Keynesians... But then again, aren't we all Keynesians now?

- Richard Nixon and/or Milton Friedman, lol.

Friedman coined the phrase, Nixon just repeated it (falsely)

Interesting fact->
Milton Friedman:
"Sir, You quote me as saying: "We are all Keynesians now." The quotation is correct, but taken out of context. As best I can recall it, the context was: "In one sense, we are all Keynesians now; in another, nobody is any longer a Keynesian." The second half is at least as important as the first."

The Microeconomics book by Perloff mentioned earlier, is rather heavy on the maths, so I wouldn't really use it as an intro.

As you know you're going to Warwick in October, you may as well start with the pre-set texts.

These are:
Macroeconomics by Mankiw
Microeconomics by Perloff

Where would be the best place to buy these books? I had a quick look on Amazon but there's loads of different varieties, which ones are the ones we are after?

Also, seeing as the books are quite a bit to purchase will they be quite useful for new undergraduates just about to start studying Economics?

[or would it be best just to borrow them from the university library when we get there?]

Thank you

Amazon is good and the different varieties are generally earlier editions. With economics, most of the theories that you will learn on an undergraduate course are long standing ones which mean that earlier editions are just as good as later ones, in fact you might find some of your tutors reckon that earlier editions were better because some of the later ones are "dumbed down" with content taken out rather than new content put in.

However where more recent versions are useful, is when they talk about stuff which is in context today, ie with macroeconomics its useful to have up to date books which will talk a bit about the latest global recession. The other thing is a lot of these books are american and so they talk in terms of dollars and about american events, but if you get Mankiw's International Edition for instance, then he will talk in euros or pounds and about things like the euro, so its easier to learn, but on the other hand the american textbooks do help you to pick things up about the US economy.

Personally I would say if there is a core textbook for your course, buy the latest edition because the page references and exercises will have to correspond with what your tutor is telling you to read. But for the none cores, get older versions if you can get them cheap. You might be able to get copies out of the library when you are at uni but it depends on how good your library is and how much the other students care.

I wouldn't stress TOO much about pre-reading before going into first year, especially don't go spending a lot of money buying books before you get there. Look at stuff like economics blogs online, familiarise yourself with economic speak, Faisal Islam and Stephanie Flanders blogs are good ones to be regular followers of.