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Economics Books (for Economics Applicants)

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I wanted to ask whether books Keynes: Return of the Master and Game Theory and Economic modeling are popular economics books or more much deeper than books like Freakonomics?

Return of the Master is not a technical book, you don't need to have studied economics before to understand it, but he talks a lot about economic history and explains Keynes' theories as well as other economic theorists. So it's well worth reading as a good intro and overview to economic theory, rather than going straight into the original texts like some sixth formers try (and fail).

Reply 401

Laalalala

I read Capitalism Unleashed by Andrew Glyn in the summer after year 12 and it was a fantastic read. The book looks back at the past 50 years and uses statistical evidence to show where mistakes had been made. It gave me plenty to talk about in my PS with the breadth of countries that it covered. Really do recommend it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Capitalism-Unleashed-Finance-Globalization-Welfare/dp/0199291993

Reply 402

lucas13

Original post by 3v3ts

Hey guys,
What books yould you recommend to someone who hasn't studied economics yet, but wants to get basic basic knowledge f.ex. for an PS or an interview?

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

the undercover economist or freakomics is what most people read. try reading a broadsheet newspaper also such as the telegraph or the times.

Reply 403

monstercable

I've just read 'Fair trade for all: How can trade promote development' by J. Stiglitz and A. Charlton. The book basically touches on how developing countries can promote trade and the ideal economic model to open up markets which favours everyone.

Reply 404

Oliverfk93916

I'm probably going to read all of them eventually but for someone with basic knowledge of economics, by that i mean i have done a unit of it in business studies A-Level, which ones would i start with? I read somewhere that economics for dummies was a good place to start. I'm taking a year out before going to uni next year and want a large range of knowledge rather than just enough to scrape by. Any help is appreciated.

Reply 405

lp386

Original post by Oliverfk93916

If you're looking for a good basis in economic theory, that or an AS Level textbook/study guide would probably be a good place to start. I wouldn't recommend them as personal statement fodder though...

That said, if you teach yourself the material from AS/A Level Economics during your year out (or before then, even) - and there's not a huge amount of it - then you'll be in a pretty good position.

Reply 406

MagicNMedicine

Original post by Oliverfk93916

What You Need To Know About Economics by Buckley and Desai or 50 Economics Ideas You Really Need To Know by Conway are good starters.

Reply 407

Oliverfk93916

Thanks I bought economics for dummies and freakonomics before seeing the replies :wink:

think I will get the A-level books cause it seems like a good idea, if you or anyone else did economics A-level could you please tell me which ones to get? Also if they were good or not? Thanks :smile:

Reply 408

soempty

Can anyone tell me if The Black Swan is recognised as a solid book to read or just an easy read like freakonomics?

Reply 409

tooambitious

Original post by soempty

Can anyone tell me if The Black Swan is recognised as a solid book to read or just an easy read like freakonomics?

I think it's quite solid - a friend of mine said it was a good read

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 410

Oliverfk93916

is black swan to do with economics?

Reply 411

aalex

Hello, I'm kind of running out of time here with my application, can anyone recommend me a good book about communism or Eastern Europe I can mention in my PS?

Reply 412

Incorrect.

A few books I've read recently:

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations - D.Landes
Crisis Economics - Roubini
Freefall - Stiglitz
The Price of Inequality - Stiglitz
Thinking, Fast and Slow - Kahneman (Moreover psychology - good for behavioural economics though)
The Worldly Philosophers - R.Heilbroner
Irrational Exuberance - Schiller

Original post by Oliverfk93916

is black swan to do with economics?

It can be applied but it's not explicitly about economics.

Reply 413

Oliverfk93916

Original post by Incorrect.

It can be applied but it's not explicitly about economics.

I can understand were the application comes from but whether the time spent reading it for the small section of econimics would be at a readers discretion.

Reply 414

tinny134

I realise all these books are quite old, but for less than £1 can anyone tell me if any of them will be useful to prepare for an economics degree?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0860038815/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A2OAJ7377F756P
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0077091094/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&smid=A2OAJ7377F756P
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/014022677X/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&smid=A2OAJ7377F756P

Reply 415

multiplicity

Any advice or suggestions (in general too) for a year 11 student wanting to study Economics at Cambridge? I'll be taking economics, maths, further maths and german for A-level. Any help would be great!

I want to start as early as I can, so I've picked up 'Economics: A User's Guide' by Ha-Joon Chang as an introduction.
Sadly, the economics department at my school is notoriously poor. I'm not so much looking to educate myself, but how to stand out and increase my chances by planning ahead.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 416

multiplicity

I've also put together a new list of titles after reading this thread (all of the books that appealed to me are mentioned).

1.Catching up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind
Abromovitz
2.The Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith
3.The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World
Alan Greenspan
4.Development as Freedom
Amartya Sen
5.A History of Modern Britain
Andrew Marr
6.Equality and Efficiency: The Big Tradeoff
Arthur M. Okun
7.Thinking Strategically
Avinash K. Dixit
8.A Random Walk Down Wall Street
Burton G. Malkiel
9.Dead Aid: Why aid is not working and how there is another way for Africa
Dambisa Moyo
10.The Misfortunes of Prosperity
Daniel Cohen
11.Game Theory and Economic Modelling
David M. Kreps
12.The Euro: The Battle for the New Global Currency
David Marsh
13.Free Lunch: Easily Digestible Economics
David Smith
14.Sex ,Drugs and Economics
Diane Coyle
15.Wikinomics
Don Tapscott
16.50 Economic Ideas You Really Need to Know
Edmund Conway
17.Road to Serfdom
Friedrich A Hayek
18.How to Solve it: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method
George Polya
19.23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism
Ha-Joon Chang
20.Bad Samaritans
Ha-Joon Chang
21.Economics in One Lesson
Henry Hazlitt
22.In Defense of Globalization: With a New Afterword
Jagdish Bhagwati
23.The End of Poverty: How We Can Make it Happen in Our Lifetime
Jeffrey Sachs
24.Everlasting Light Bulbs: How Economics Illuminates the World
John Kay
25.The Truth About Markets: Why Some Nations are Rich but Most Remain Poor
John Kay
26.1929: The Great Crash
John Kenneth Galbraith
27.The Affluent Society
John Kenneth Galbraith
28.The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money
John Maynard Keynes
29.Reinventing the Bazaar: A Natural History of Markets
John Mcmillan
30.Globalization and Its Discontents
Joseph Stiglitz
31.Making Globalization Work: The Next Steps to Global Justice
Joseph Stiglitz
32.The Price of Inequality
Joseph Stiglitz
33.The Roaring Nineties: Why We're Paying the Price for the Greediest Decade in History
Joseph Stiglitz
34.Das Kapital
Karl Marx
35.The Next Global Stage
Kenichi Ohmae
36.Freakonomics
Levitt and Dubner
37.The Mind of the Market
Michael Shermer
38.Keynes and After
Michael Stewart
39.Basic Mathematics for Economists
Mike Rosser
40.Capitalism and Freedom
Milton Friedman
41.Free to Choose
Milton Friedman
42.The Role of Monetary Policy
Milton Friedman
43.The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
44.Eat the Rich: A Treatise on Economics
P. J. O'Rourke
45.A Very Short Introduction to Economics
Partha Dasgupta
46.Economics: A Very Short Introduction
Partha Dasgupta
47.The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It
Paul Collier
48.End this Depression Now
Paul Krugman
49.Peddling Prosperity
Paul Krugman
50.Rethinking International Trade
Paul Krugman
51.The Accidental Theorist: And Other Dispatches from the Dismal Science
Paul Krugman
52.The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008
Paul Krugman
53.Butterfly Economics A New General Theory: A New General Theory of Social and Economic Behavior
Paul Ormerod
54.Why Most Things Fail
Paul Ormerod
55.A Very Short Introduction to Marx
Peter Singer
56.The Economic Naturalist: Why Economics Explains Almost Everything
Robert H Frank
57.The Worldly Philosophers
Robert L Heilbroner
58.Keynes: The Return of the Master
Robert Skidelsky
59.The Dragon and the Elephant
Robyn Meredith
60.A Penguin History of Economics
Roger E Backhouse
61.Lives of the Laureates: Twenty-Three Nobel Economists
Roger W. Spencer and David A. Macpherson
62.The Armchair Economist
Steven E. Landsburg
63.The World is Flat
Thomas L. Friedman
64.Logic of Life: Uncovering the New Economics of Everything
Tim Harford
65.The Undercover Economist
Tim Harford
66.New Ideas from Dead Economists
Todd G Buchholz
67.The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics
William Easterly
68.The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill And So Little Good
William Easterly
69.Prisoner's Dilemma
William Poundstone

Reply 417

NikolaT

Original post by jweath

Very good list, covers just about everything. 45 & 46 seem to be duplicates though.

Tutor2u also has its own list of books updated yearly, some of which aren't mentioned here, which you might want to add in.

http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/economics/comments/economics-at-university-suggested-reading-list

Reply 418

multiplicity