Beginners Economics

I want to learn more about economics, the problem is, I have no idea where to start really. Are there any beginners books you'd recommend as an introduction? I really don't want to start with anything to complicated.

http://www.amazon.com...

I suggest this one. It was one of the first books I read on economics.

Wait for a sale from the Great Courses on Economics 3rd edition; that should prove to be a nice basic concept starting ground.

Sales happen every month.

Thank ya guys.

Mises.org (can get FREE books on economics)
Heritage.org (research briefs are informative)
Cato.org (good stuff on welfare, taxes, etc)

There are the 3

At 6/8/2012 10:02:46 PM, 16kadams wrote:
Mises.org (can get FREE books on economics)
Heritage.org (research briefs are informative)
Cato.org (good stuff on welfare, taxes, etc)

There are the 3

thanks

At 6/8/2012 10:08:25 PM, THEBOMB wrote:

At 6/8/2012 10:02:46 PM, 16kadams wrote:
Mises.org (can get FREE books on economics)
Heritage.org (research briefs are informative)
Cato.org (good stuff on welfare, taxes, etc)

There are the 3

thanks

Your not interested...
I can sense it

At 6/8/2012 10:17:22 PM, 16kadams wrote:

At 6/8/2012 10:08:25 PM, THEBOMB wrote:

At 6/8/2012 10:02:46 PM, 16kadams wrote:
Mises.org (can get FREE books on economics)
Heritage.org (research briefs are informative)
Cato.org (good stuff on welfare, taxes, etc)

There are the 3

thanks

Your not interested...
I can sense it

If you say so 16k...

At 6/8/2012 10:17:22 PM, 16kadams wrote:

At 6/8/2012 10:08:25 PM, THEBOMB wrote:

At 6/8/2012 10:02:46 PM, 16kadams wrote:
Mises.org (can get FREE books on economics)
Heritage.org (research briefs are informative)
Cato.org (good stuff on welfare, taxes, etc)

There are the 3

thanks

Your not interested...
I can sense it

also, right now it's 11 at night, my interest level in about everything drops :P

As far as books go, Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt is great for beginners. http://econlib.org... This site is also pretty baller and free.

'Lessons for the Young Economist.' It starts off very basic but it gives you a deep understanding. You can read it online for free: [http://mises.org...]

Just to let you know, most of the books people are proposing thus far are pushing a minority school within economics called Austrian economics. If you're interested in learning economics from the ground up, you'll want a balanced approach. There's no substitute for a good textbook (see: http://www.amazon.com...) but there's 50 Economics Ideas http://www.amazon.com... and the undercover economist (http://www.amazon.com...) and if you want to balance out some of the Austrian stuff people are proposing, you could read anything by Paul Krugman (who is controversial but in actual fact preaches mostly standard economic theory), or 23 things they don't tell you about capitalism (http://www.amazon.com...)

Or *ahem*, there are some great audio courses on economics from The Teaching Company which may or may not be floating around on the internet just ready for some deviant to illegally download.

At 6/10/2012 3:23:39 AM, MouthWash wrote:
'Lessons for the Young Economist.' It starts off very basic but it gives you a deep understanding. You can read it online for free: [http://mises.org...]

If you've already read about six or seven books on economics, then yes, this is good, but only by that stage. It's an educatory book that tries to condition you more than provide the knowledge. Just go to the socialism section: even with little formal knowledge of the nuances of economic socialism, I've spotted a problem or two, mostly because the author goes on a rant without adequately protecting the argument against socialism. Oh, and that's all it is, by the way. A rant against socialism for two chapters. I literally laughed out loud when I saw the chapter entitled "The death toll of socialism", simply because i remembered "The death Toll of Atheism" and all equivalents.

As somebody else said Lessons for the Young Economist http://mises.org... is a decent starting book. It covers the fundamentals of economics quite nicely. However, there's strong bias in the book, so while it's quite interesting take it with a grain of salt so to speak.

As Kinesis mentions, most things mentioned so far are quite pro-Austrian economics and somewhat biased to say the least. I doubt they'll cover something like negative externalities for instance.

Personally I'd suggest trying to borrow your school's economics textbook, depending on it's quality. At my school the economics textbook is very good, unlike the business studies textbook (an abomination...) . When I say 'very' I don't refer to it supporting my views (although the 2 books covering the HSC course did influence my thinking quite a bit) , I mean that the layout, the structure and the fact that it doesn't pander to audiences with useless graphics and the like (it has relevant graphs and such of course) make it very good.

School economics textbook is a good idea: get more than one though. I got my politics book for politics, then the EU version of it, then another one for another course to teach me most of politics in the UK. But don't get a book like the one from mises.org because it is so extremely propagandised in favour of neoclassical economics that it stops making arguments and starts making itself as fact. It's bordering an indoctrination book regarding the theory. I would get a school textbook with a pinch of salt as well though (though nowhere near as much) because they usually don't like going into depth on criticisms much, as courses usually are just explain this and that, rather than argue in favour or against this or that in economics (at least, in my course, you have to appeal to state, mixed, neoclassical, keynesian etc. markets on what to do).

Long story short, get an economics textbook from school, then one by a post-keynesian and a neoclassical. I'd also reccomend Debunking Economics, due to the fact that Steve Keen, the author, slaughters the general argumentation of neoclassicalism, whilst ignoring keynesian thoughts for most of the book entirely.

At 6/10/2012 5:07:16 AM, Stephen_Hawkins wrote:

At 6/10/2012 3:23:39 AM, MouthWash wrote:
'Lessons for the Young Economist.' It starts off very basic but it gives you a deep understanding. You can read it online for free: [http://mises.org...]

If you've already read about six or seven books on economics, then yes, this is good, but only by that stage. It's an educatory book that tries to condition you more than provide the knowledge. Just go to the socialism section: even with little formal knowledge of the nuances of economic socialism, I've spotted a problem or two, mostly because the author goes on a rant without adequately protecting the argument against socialism. Oh, and that's all it is, by the way. A rant against socialism for two chapters. I literally laughed out loud when I saw the chapter entitled "The death toll of socialism", simply because i remembered "The death Toll of Atheism" and all equivalents.

It made a very fine argument against socialism using the social-calculation problem. It wasn't a rant more than it was accurate description. I don't necessarily agree with Austrian economics, but their arguments against socialism are well thought-out.

In fact, I'd say the book even goes lightly on socialism. They don't even go into the public choice theory problems that socialism has.

At 6/10/2012 10:14:50 AM, Stephen_Hawkins wrote:
School economics textbook is a good idea: get more than one though. I got my politics book for politics, then the EU version of it, then another one for another course to teach me most of politics in the UK. But don't get a book like the one from mises.org because it is so extremely propagandised in favour of neoclassical economics that it stops making arguments and starts making itself as fact. It's bordering an indoctrination book regarding the theory. I would get a school textbook with a pinch of salt as well though (though nowhere near as much) because they usually don't like going into depth on criticisms much, as courses usually are just explain this and that, rather than argue in favour or against this or that in economics (at least, in my course, you have to appeal to state, mixed, neoclassical, keynesian etc. markets on what to do).

Aaaaaaaaaaaaagggghhhhh, how dare you?!?!!? To say the Austrians defend neoclassical economics, you might as well say Hayek and Friedman got along fine and dandy.