It has hundreds of free economy books on Austrian economics.
TBH read different baised views and draw your own conclusions. Truly sterile text-books that are not biased in any fashion and try to appease everyone are so watered down you won't get anything of real value.
This isn't really that you will learn at a university. Never the less this is real economics.
Since when was austrian economics "real" economics? -_-???
austrian economics is a religion
That's not true. Keynesian is a religion. Austrian is, in function, the rejection of Keynesian.
Austrian economics is more like.... evolutionary economics. The strong survive. It's actually very simplistic and true, it just tends to ignore social implications that may hold weight over a people beyond the mere accumulation of wealth.
It has hundreds of free economy books on Austrian economics.
TBH read different baised views and draw your own conclusions. Truly sterile text-books that are not biased in any fashion and try to appease everyone are so watered down you won't get anything of real value.
This isn't really that you will learn at a university. Never the less this is real economics.
I don't necessarily want something that will be taught to me at university, I just want something that will give me an excellent understanding and comprehension of the topics at hand.
The 'problem' is that there are distinct groups in economics that have very different ideas. You will spend a lot of time and energy learning about the differences between Neo-Classical, Austrian, and Keynesian economics if you really want a strong understanding and comprehension. If you just want a basic understanding of Ecomics like you would get in an econ 101 class, just get any basic college textbook.
The goal would be to learn all of them (Neo-Classical, Austrain, Keynesian, etc.) I'm the kind of person who can just read something once, and then it's in my head for good.
Also, to the above poster, I've already read the Communist Manifesto, and the Prince, years ago. I guess I should have probably clarified, I'm not ignorant to any of the subjects I want to study, and that my desire to study them in depth comes from my interest in them, despite (or perhaps because of) my limited understanding of them.
Kropotkin - Mutual Aid Proudhon - What Is Property?: or, An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government
Basic works about Anarchism (not stupid anarcho-capitalism), and the philosophy behind it.
*Preface* Of these recommendations, many are going to be coming from a 'left' perspective.
Foreign Policy William Blum - Killing Hope Noam Chomsky - Interventions Noam Chomsky - Making the Future: The Unipolar Imperial Moment
Political Science/Philosophy John Rawls - A Theory of Justice Robert Nozick - Anarchy, State, Utopia Michael Sandel - Justice Guy Debord - The Society of the Spectacle ***Read Rawls and Nozick together.
Political Economy Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine Noam Chomsky - Profit Over People (Chomsky has 50+ years of great political writing) James K Galbraith - The Predator State Joseph Stiglitz - Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy David Harvey - The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism Joseph Schumpter - Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy
Economics John Maynard Keynes - The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money Adam Smith - Wealth of Nations (this book is very misread, despite it's huge popularity)
There are so many more I can't help but miss a lot.
Make sure you keep up with some of the history of economics, it is a very important study to go along with the rest.
Stay away from the Austrians.
That's all I have for now, hope you look at some of the books!
Okay, I can only talk about Economics since this is the field of my study. I do not know how advanced you economics/ math knowledge is and how far you want to dig into it. Since you are interested in multiple disciplines I think you only want to get the basics, right? In that case, grab Mankiw's principles of economics. I am by no means a big fan of this book but I feel that it gives the best overall insight into the topic. If you want to dig deeper into it go for either Perloff or Varian for Microeconomics and Blanchard for Macroeconomics. A first introduction to trade theory and International Economics is done in Feenstra and Taylor, quite easy and good to read. I would neglect the field of Public Economics for now (though it might be suited for the interdisciplinary approach you take). Same goes for Finance. Introduction to Growth is well covered by Jones. Up from this point, you need some better knowledge in math and statistics to cover the serious stuff. Tell me if you need more information.
I don't understand a lot regarding those topics, but this lecture by Peter Joseph made a lot of sense to me:
It bypasses the artificial structures of economy as it is teached at universities, but rather focuses on pragmatic/real economy, as in efficiency and intelligent management of ressources. Since you don't wanna study for a college but your own interrest and I agree with AcuWill
TBH read different baised views and draw your own conclusions.
, I thought I throw it in here because it's defnitly something different^^.
On August 18 2011 06:20 ICA wrote: Okay, I can only talk about Economics since this is the field of my study. I do not know how advanced you economics/ math knowledge is and how far you want to dig into it. Since you are interested in multiple disciplines I think you only want to get the basics, right? In that case, grab Mankiw's principles of economics. I am by no means a big fan of this book but I feel that it gives the best overall insight into the topic. If you want to dig deeper into it go for either Perloff or Varian for Microeconomics and Blanchard for Macroeconomics. A first introduction to trade theory and International Economics is done in Feenstra and Taylor, quite easy and good to read. I would neglect the field of Public Economics for now (though it might be suited for the interdisciplinary approach you take). Same goes for Finance. Introduction to Growth is well covered by Jones. Up from this point, you need some better knowledge in math and statistics to cover the serious stuff. Tell me if you need more information.
Math has always been my strong point, and ideally, I would learn the ins and outs of all of the economic disciplines (or as many as is reasonable.)
It's not possible to find unbiased books on these subjects. Their very nature ensures that proposing any stance will be biased.
I would say just get a little mix of left/right/anarchist theory and see which ones appeal most strongly to you. Some of my favorites:
Basic Economics - Thomas Sowell (anything by Sowell is great) The Ego and It's Own - Max Stirner (very difficult to read, but has a very interesting anarchist ideology) For A New Liberty - Murray Rothbard
And do a lot of browsing on wikipedia... it has tons of information giving a brief overview of all of the different ideas and branches in these subjects.
On August 18 2011 06:24 jdseemoreglass wrote: It's not possible to find unbiased books on these subjects. Their very nature ensures that proposing any stance will be biased.
I would say just get a little mix of left/right/anarchist theory and see which ones appeal most strongly to you. Some of my favorites:
Basic Economics - Thomas Sowell (anything by Sowell is great) The Ego and It's Own - Max Stirner (very difficult to read, but has a very interesting anarchist ideology) For A New Liberty - Murray Rothbard
And do a lot of browsing on wikipedia... it has tons of information giving a brief overview of all of the different ideas and branches in these subjects.
Pretty much all of my current knowledge of the above subjects comes from reading various news/blog sites, and wikipedia hehe.
Wow, this is really weird OP. I'm actually taking Physics/Computer Science in school right now, but am interested in learning about other things. I was actually going to make a thread asking about some good textbooks/websites to learn about economics, but I guess you beat me to it. I'll be following this thread closely.
It has hundreds of free economy books on Austrian economics.
TBH read different baised views and draw your own conclusions. Truly sterile text-books that are not biased in any fashion and try to appease everyone are so watered down you won't get anything of real value.
Agreed. Mises.org is the only way to go. It has basically refuted all the modern political science and economics. It is the largest economics site on the web and the intellectual giant of our age.
Quote: "Applying our theory to parents and children, this means that a parent does not have the right to aggress against his children, but also that the parent should not have a legal obligation to feed, clothe, or educate his children, since such obligations would entail positive acts coerced upon the parent and depriving the parent of his rights. The parent therefore may not murder or mutilate his child, and the law properly outlaws a parent from doing so. But the parent should have the legal right not to feed the child, i.e., to allow it to die."
Are you looking for interesting books or the kinds of hardcore academic books you'd get from college? Many of MeLlamoSatan's are good, although I'd leave out the Chomsky until you've read other things.
I'll give a shoutout to J K Galbraith, the somewhat maverick liberal economist, just because he's about the wittiest political economist around. My politics aren't quite the same as his, but I do enjoy his writing.
He's the guy who came up with the joke "Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.", the phrase "the conventional wisdom", and you can always find subtle witticisms and jibes sprinkled throughout the text of many of his books.
These were all pretty fun to read, and contained interesting ideas, though some are perhaps more commonplace now than when the books were written: Affluent Society Great Crash, 1929 The New Industrial State The Culture of Contentment
Chomsky does...come on a little strong. Depends on the writing of course (he has so many), but if you are fresh to the subject, I wouldn't go for him first -- Jibba is right.
EDIT: That said, the man is a fucking encyclopedia.
On August 18 2011 06:20 ICA wrote: Okay, I can only talk about Economics since this is the field of my study. I do not know how advanced you economics/ math knowledge is and how far you want to dig into it. Since you are interested in multiple disciplines I think you only want to get the basics, right? In that case, grab Mankiw's principles of economics. I am by no means a big fan of this book but I feel that it gives the best overall insight into the topic. If you want to dig deeper into it go for either Perloff or Varian for Microeconomics and Blanchard for Macroeconomics. A first introduction to trade theory and International Economics is done in Feenstra and Taylor, quite easy and good to read. I would neglect the field of Public Economics for now (though it might be suited for the interdisciplinary approach you take). Same goes for Finance. Introduction to Growth is well covered by Jones. Up from this point, you need some better knowledge in math and statistics to cover the serious stuff. Tell me if you need more information.
Math has always been my strong point, and ideally, I would learn the ins and outs of all of the economic disciplines (or as many as is reasonable.)
Okay, so just let me know when you need some in depth advise on economics
On August 18 2011 06:35 Jibba wrote: Are you looking for interesting books or the kinds of hardcore academic books you'd get from college? Many of MeLlamoSatan's are good, although I'd leave out the Chomsky until you've read other things.
Both, but ideally, I'd start with academic so I have a better understanding of the subject before I get into the "interesting" stuff. But to be honest, I'm probably going to end up getting a stack of books and reading them simultaneously, because that's just how I do things.
Also, thank you, everyone, I wasn't expecting so many responses.