Most of my reading list consists of technical macro articles (I’ll post the new one when it is ready). But all students — even in Ph.d. macro — deserve a break. At least one of the readings should be literary and mostly fun, albeit stuffed with substance. Last year I used Paul Blustein’s And the Money Kept Rolling In, a study of Argentina.
I will use Blustein again but I might add another book. It should be readable, not too long, about something that matters, and of course have macroeconomic themes.
Please leave your suggestions in the comments.
Here is Brad DeLong’s book bleg; he wants to show his class that modern institutions are contingent rather than necessary. I want to inform them about current events or perhaps history.
Here are responses to Brad from CrookedTimber, none of which are very useful for a Ph.d. macro class. They are focused on economic anthropology.
Not sure if this is the kind of thing you’re after – but I suggest ‘Guns Germs & Steel’ by Jared Diamond.
You don’t get much more macro than that!
Nick, Marc — too funny. Both the Diamond and Landes books were assigned in the second semester of macro (the first semester taught by Tyler, the second not) for last year’s incoming GMU students.
How about ‘Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations’ to accompany the growth theory chapters?
Modern Macroeconomics by Snowden and Vane is neither literary nor mostly fun,
but it is an excellent wrap up of the history of macro. It’s a very nice
complement to arcane technical articles and verbose historical treatments,
such as the Landes book. Thanks Jason, I’d be lost without it!
I agree with Tim on both counts. My (undergraduate) Advanced International Macro class read that last semester, and it really helped me understand a lot of what was going on better than I otherwise would have.
Veblen’s “Theory of the Leisure Class”
If you are looking for “readable, not too long, about something that matters, and of course have macroeconomic themes”, then I second David Tufte’s nomination of Arjo Klamer’s book. Maybe the macro themes in it are getting dated, but otherwise it provides a good perspective on the making of economics.
I liked “The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics” by William Easterly as a critique of what doesn’t work in developing economies.
For something rather different, although these are books I have not read, would be one of the two books on the transportation industry published recently to relatively good reviews. History of the Box, or something like that.
On a related topic, but from an historical viewpoint would be “Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army. It is interesting to understand how logistics and troop movement defined much of military tactics relatively unchanged up to the Civil War in the US and the Franco-Prussian war in Europe, and try to understand how the same issues played significant roles in trade and the development of societies.
On a more personal note, assuming there is a book dealing with this, would be to look at the changes that have permitted the growth of foreign adoptions and the movement of so many children around the globe and the factors that can make it worthwhile for parents to take the chance their children will have the chance to be adopted abroad.
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