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Quality Books to read for Economics at Cambridge

Hi there, I was planning on applying for economics in cambridge (still haven't fully decided which college) and I was wondering whether any of you guys have any suggested books to read. I heard Globalization and Its Discontents by Stiglitz is really good and I've already ordered it. Do you have any other suggested books? I was looking in particular for some textbooks for beginners. I did Biology , Chemistry, Double Maths and Economics for AS, and am planning on dropping Biology for A2. (Predicted AAAA) I have a decent grasp of economics (so far) but I've heard it's totally different/a lot more mathematical at Uni. If you have some decent readingbooks as well, I'd value ur opinions...
Cheers.
Thanks in advance,
igga

Reply 1

Cexy

http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/prospect/ba/list.html

Reply 2

iggawitattitude

OP

Do you have any other books by any chance? Just wondering, thanks in advance...

Reply 3

The West Wing

18

iggawitattitude

Do you have any other books by any chance? Just wondering, thanks in advance...

Have you read all of those?

Reply 4

tenjon

8

I'd really recommend 'The Truth About Markets' by John Kay. Readable yet rigorous.

Reply 5

toto8462

9

tom391

I'd really recommend 'The Truth About Markets' by John Kay. Readable yet rigorous.

Thats funny, i was about to suggest that very book. I also liked 'Everlasting Lightbulbs' (also by John Kay)

Thinking Strategically is quite good

If you like popular economics, try reading 'Free Lunch' by David Smith

If you get through the university suggested reading list and all of the above - its probably about time you hit 'The Wealth of Nations' head on...

Reply 6

iggawitattitude

OP

Do you guys have any good textbooks which you could recommend which would be good for an AS Level economist progressing to A2? I heard that Sloman is very good, but I'm not certain. If there are any Cambridge economists here, could you please recommend some text books which would be good reading for an entrant?

Thanks in advance.

Reply 7

--

3

iggawitattitude

Do you guys have any good textbooks which you could recommend which would be good for an AS Level economist progressing to A2? I heard that Sloman is very good, but I'm not certain. If there are any Cambridge economists here, could you please recommend some text books which would be good reading for an entrant?

Thanks in advance.

Erm, that website is designed specifically for pre-entrant reading. It has specific books that Cambridge economics fellows are recommending you read as a good basis for entrance. Did you not look at it? Textbooks are barely used at university in most subjects, its not like A Level in that aspect, you need to learn to read proper books - like those cited on the website.

Reply 8

Camford

12

I recommand the Mythical Manmonth. Not exactly a book for econs though. But worth the read. My only regret is that:

1. it's too expensive to buy.
2. it cannot be found in most libraries.
3. I had my hand on it once, but failed to read all of it.

Reply 9

toto8462

9

Camford

I recommand the Mythical Manmonth. Not exactly a book for econs though. But worth the read. My only regret is that:

1. it's too expensive to buy.
2. it cannot be found in most libraries.
3. I had my hand on it once, but failed to read all of it.

You dont mean this?

The Mythical Man-month

How is £16 too expensive to buy?

On the text book. I was recommended 'Economics' by Begg (7th Ed or later)

Reply 10

Camford

12

looks like the price has gone down a bit. Last time I checked... which was 3 years ago, it cost twice that much.

Reply 11

crafty bison

14

Stiglitz is always a good idea.

Reply 12

wazzup

agree with stiglitz. very gd idea and easy to read. the truth about the markets is quite difficult for an alevel student. you ll get the sense of it in ur first year of uni.otherwise dont bother. i read it for my cambridge interview, but understood only half of it.

Reply 13

XIII

Im applying to cam too, just finished Stiglitz - personally i was dissapointed by it, he may make a good economist but he seems to me a poor policy maker.... seemed to be lacking much objectivity at times, often the structure of the book was incoherent and i felt myself repeatedly doubting his claims. It was almost as if he expected the reader to take what he was saying as fact rather than apply proper statistics - I remember being particularly frustrated by some of his comments regarding the situation on global poverty and whether the situation is worsening or not...

If you're looking for a far more thorough examination, with ample relevance to a wide-source of statistics and well-considered arguements i personally reccomend Martin Wolf.... a far tougher read and unless your familiar with some of the concepts he talks about (they wont be covered at A-level), you'll need to do some research along the way to fully understand it, but in my view far better - although if you're particularly interested in criticisms of the Washington Consensus then Stiglitz is probably the way to go

Anyway, that's just my opinion :smile:

and i've put Stiglitz on my PS. It was still an enjoyable book and there seems to be plenty of people out there who think its great.

If you're curious as to why i'm not a great fan of Stiglitz many of my criticisms are nicely summed up here...

http://www.imf.org/external/np/vc/2002/070202.htm#P25_1685

P.S. I know it appears like it, but im not some neo-liberal ideological IMF supporter :biggrin:

i certainly believe there are criticisms of globalistion to be made, but Stiglitz, in my view, did a poor job of evaluating them.... anyway i've spent enough time yattering away here, only was going to write a line or two... still i reccomend you get it, good read, just don't get clouded by what he says. Try to play the devil's advocatae when reading it, or something like that :wink:

Reply 14

iggawitattitude

OP

Hmm, sounds cool, thanks for all the advice guys! I had a look on the site and it had that Economics by Begg textbook. I was just looking for the ISBN number on amazon but the reviews for the 7th Edition seem quite poor. Is it still worth the buy? And are there any resources from which I can learn more about Keynesian economics? Thanks again to everyone who's put input into this thread. I really appreciate it.

Reply 15

iggawitattitude

OP

Btw, the book I'm currently reading is The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford. Have any of you guys read it? And is it worth mentioning about in my Personal Statement? I've also read Freakonomics (obviously) and The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. If I mention a book on my personal statement, will the interviewers really test me during the interview to make sure that I understand every single bit of the book? I frequently read the Economist and the FT as well ( I subscribe to the Economist). Are they worth mentioning in the Personal Statement as well.

P.S I'm sorry I'm asking so many questions it's just that I'm really short of advice at my school.

Reply 16

toto8462

9

Well, on its own Begg isnt great - you wont get through Part 1 on it alone obviously. But for an introduction to the subject i thought it was pretty decent... Anyways, your call.

Reply 17

-mb-

6

iggawitattitude

Btw, the book I'm currently reading is The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford. Have any of you guys read it? And is it worth mentioning about in my Personal Statement? I've also read Freakonomics (obviously) and The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. If I mention a book on my personal statement, will the interviewers really test me during the interview to make sure that I understand every single bit of the book? I frequently read the Economist and the FT as well ( I subscribe to the Economist). Are they worth mentioning in the Personal Statement as well.

P.S I'm sorry I'm asking so many questions it's just that I'm really short of advice at my school.

I've heard the Tim Harford book is quite good and I'm sure it would be good to mention it. Just don't end up with your PS being a list of books; talk about a couple you found most interesting and why, ie. what you got out of reading them.

How likely they are to question you on a book you mention depends upon the interviewer and of course whether they are familiar with the book themselves! Academics aren't in the habit of reading too many "popular" books for general consumption, but it's likely that interviewers, especially younger ones, will be familiar with the ones that a lot of candidates will have read, such as Freakonomics. I wasn't asked about the books I mentioned.

I would say that if they do ask, it will just be a couple of nice questions to relax you but check you have actually read it! Once they've established that, they won't let you rabbit on about a topic you've prepared well for ages, they'll move on to something to challenge you. They won't ask you detailed questions about the exact content of the book I'm sure.

By all means mention the Economist and FT, particularly the Economist, they will expect you to at least be familiar with that, even if you haven't done other further reading. Again, they probably won't ask what was in last week's issue or anything, but it's something they'd probably expect to see on the PS, even if everyone says it.

Hope this helps

Reply 18

XIII

Tim Harford is good :smile:

i found it really enjoyable, nearly mentioned it on my PS but i decided in the end, due to the horrible line limit, not to...

I'm just wondering, how many books (if any, many people seem not to) did most of you guys mention on econ personal statements?

Reply 19

valeryblack

10

ok,according to the site, trinity has a preparatory study for the economics interview.Now,I've gt a few questions regarding this:
1.When do I receive the text?How much time before the interview?
2.Am I supposed to stay in a certain room or something while reading it?
3.What should I attempt do to with the text?I'll obviously read&understand
it, but I bet I'll have to do much more than justt recount it or prove that I
understood it.Should I define whatever terms I find there?Give examples?
Link it to topics that I find relevant?
4.*ashamed to ask,but...* what if I don't understand the text??
5.Is it more likely to be an excerpt from a book or from some newspaper/
magazine?

Thanks

Quality Books to read for Economics at Cambridge

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