On this blog, our main goal is to simplify economics to increase financial and economic literacy. Therefore I wanted to compile a mix of fun and serious economic reads to give you a starting point.
1. Freakonomics by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt
This book is well-known, yet any introductory economics list would be incomplete without it. This book shows how incentives affect decision-making and how economics explains the hidden side of many events, from sumo fighting to crime rates.
2. The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
This book is similar to Freakonomics in applying economic analysis to real life. It starts with a discussion of the price of coffee and ends with development economics, giving a light and fun introduction to the field.
3. Economics Rules by Dani Rodrik
Dani Rodrik provides an overview of economics in this book, with its methods, and offers some insight on economic models that even economists should re-read every once in a while, mentioning criticisms of economics and ending with commandments for both economists and non-economists.
4. Economics: The User's Guide by Ha-Joon Chang
In this book, Ha-Joon Chang provides the Why, What, and How of economics, providing information on the history of economics and the different schools, and also introduces different fields within economics through real-life examples.
5. Why Nations Fail? by Acemoglu and Robinson
Acemoglu and Robinson explain their institutional theory of long-run growth in this book, using historical events real-world examples, and data to demonstrate their points. This book is the first economics book I ever picked up myself, and I'd recommend it to everyone who wants to explore development economics and understand the inequality around the world a little better.
6. Good Economics for Hard Times by Duflo and Banerjee
In this book, Duflo and Banerjee, take many views against classical economic and political narratives, focusing on points like the 'pains' (instead of gains) from trade that are often overlooked by conventional economics.
7. Poor Economics by Duflo and Banerjee
Duflo and Banerjee once again go against the conventional narrative surrounding poverty and the policies to cure it in this book. Through their years of experience in field research, they provide a perspective on aspects of poverty often overlooked and argue we must first understand poverty well before trying to cure it. I believe this book will get you to ask many questions and it provides insight that I believe every (aspiring) policymaker, activist, and philanthropist should consider.
8. CORE Economics by Curriculum Open-access Resources in Economics
This is not a conventional textbook, it explains the introductory economics concepts with exercises, videos, and simple real-life examples. It is available for free online in many languages and is a great place to start learning economic theory. It also introduces many economic figures from the past, giving you an idea of how the field developed.
9. Principles of Economics by Gregory Mankiw
This is a more conventional textbook by Mankiw, yet still very well-written and simple, I'd say it's more theory-heavy than CORE economics. But Mankiw introduces many real-life examples and provides an introduction to economics in a very organized and clear way.
I hope these books will help in your exploration of economics, as they did with mine, and provide you with new perspectives about the problems of our world.
hocam cok sagol🙏