A loyal MR reader writes:
I teach Advanced Placement economics in high school. I would appreciate if you could suggest a short list of articles, essays, or books that you would consider essential for students to read as they begin their study of economics.
Your ideas?
The first book I read that helped me to understand economics is the Basic/
Applied Economics series by Thomas Sowell. There was also a series of
medium length essays written by two Cal Berkeley economists which discusses
the unintended consequences of policies such as the war on drugs and
abortion restrictions. The name escapes me at the moment, but it is
designed as a classroom aid. I will attempt to track down its title.
Russ Roberts, ‘The Choice’.
Friedman’s “Free to Choose” probably first got me interested in the subject. I would agree with the recommendations for Sowell, and I’d also recommend Landsburg’s “Fair Play.” Russell Roberts’ “The Invisible Heart” is a little cheesy at times, but it’s a fun read and it’ll teach some stuff about economics.
I heartily second Andrew’s recommendation above. ‘Basic Economics’ is absolutely first rate and very readable. His comments about focusing upon the *incentives* a particular policy would produce rather than its stated objectives were bang on in particular.
Sorry, bad link!
3. Proteccionism: Petition of candlestickmakers
The Worldly Philosophers by Robert Heilbroner.
The invisible heart by Russ Roberts and Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan are both extremely readable, interesting and informative. If more high school students read these books there would be a lot more college students taking intro econ courses. Ken Schoolland’s Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey would also be great for high school students.
Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt
The Armchair Economist by Landsburg
Economic Sophisms by Bastiat
Trade-Offs is an excellent introduction to the heart of decision making in Economics. Naked Economics is good as is Thomas Sowell.
http://www.progress.org/archive/fold144.htm
Economics in 6 minutes
Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson is very easy to read and should be at the top of any list
Prisoner of war economics:
R. A. Radford, “The Economic Organisation of a POW camp,” Economica 12 (December 1945): 190–210.
I understood it. Also brings up the economist’s bubaboo, the issue of just prices.
OK, so it’s an advanced placement course. But most likely, few if any of the students will end up as economists. So the question is what readings to recommend bright young people who are willing to read a little bit about economics, but probably no more.
Nothing wrong with Hayek, Galbraith, Adam Smith, Heilbroner etc. But will the students really read them? Galbraith in particular is a strong sedative. Will browsing a few chapters of Adam Smith really change the way a budding non-economist looks at the world? The economist in me likes to think so, but the pragmatist in me doubts it. I say give them Freakonomics (Levitt)and The Undercover Economist (Harford) and make sure they read both. They will have fun reading, and gain knowledge that will actually help them live more meaningful lives.
For really motivated students, offer Hayek’s short article “The Use of Knowledge in Society”. Although Harford gets the same message across in his book.
I agree with Johan about assigning Freakonomics. I think the free market stuff is good, but a lot of what is so great about economics is in the economic imperialism literature. I would think to non-majors, you would want to expose them to that economic way of thinking.
The one phrase answer: a good textbook.
Economics has made enough progress, and there is enough consensus in the field, that at the high school level (even AP high school), text books are more appropriate than articles.
A beginning physics student should understand all the material in his introductory physics textbook before being asked to tackle articles, and assigning light/fun essays would waste time and distract.
Likewise, I suspect, in economics.
What you really want to give them is…
The first nine essays in the second volume of Hume’s “Essays” (very easy reading, interesting to think about connections between what Hume writes and what they are learning)
Krugman’s “Pop Internationalism” (if I am remembering the right book… it’s about, on one level, the real consequences of economic theory, and on another level, about the relationship between claims that public figures make and the truth)
And as a compare-and-contrast game, use the section from Smith on different types of societies (herding, agricultural, commercial) and either Rousseau’s “Second Discourse” or Marx’s chapters on “Primitive Accumulation.”
Not that these will get them 5′s on their AP exam (that simply requires that neither the teacher nor the students are imbeciles), but it might get them thinking.
Catch-22? Lord of the Flies? Books abouut groups of people in weird equilibria.
EC:
Actually, I would recommend Feynman’s QED over a textbook.
The Illustrated Guide to the American Economy by Murray Foss, Herbert Stein. This book is somewhat out of date, but maybe someone has published someting similar using current information.
Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt and Sowell’s Basic Economics. The world would be a much better place if high school kids all read them.
Hidden Order (David Friedman) is my favorite. I would suggest some archived articles from Slate.com (by Steven Landsburg or the occasional article by Tyler), since they are geared toward a general audience. Harford’s book has been mentioned frequently, but his Financial Times columns (and Dear Economist letters) are entertaining and insightful. Finally, Robin Hanson collected links to a wonderful assortment of economics-related articles (http://hanson.gmu.edu/altinst-sources.html). Many would be difficult for high school students, but there are many accessible gems as well.
I, Pencil
I, Pencil link:
http://www.econlib.org/LIBRARY/Essays/rdPncl1.html
Seek and ye shall find: here is a link to the Radford article: http://www.ecoteacher.asn.au/pow.doc
Tim Harford’s new book, “The Undercover Economist” does a splendid job of explaining economics, as well as making its readers think about areas in which they might want to learn more about the discipline. Indeed, it may be one of the few instances in which Say’s Law actually holds.
I can’t think of a better place to start than: Tim Hartford “Why Poor Countries Are Poor”.
http://www.reason.com/news/show/33258.html
“You can’t understand economics without working on problem sets”
This is just plain wrong. (And for the record, I’ve solved plenty of problem sets.)
Because there’s plenty of people who understand quite a bit of economics and have never solved a problem set.
I am going to answer this question a little differently.
I think many of the suggestions are great. I like the idea of reading part of the “Wealth of Nations”, watching some of the Friedman’s “Free to Choose”, “Freakanomics”, “The Armchair Economist”, “New Ideas from Dead Economists”, “Economics in One Lesson”, etc… They are all great ideas.
That said, a basic intro book and some white papers should work well, too.
David Loeper wrote a simple paper on “Do Markets Trend?”. It is short, makes you think, and gets to a point.
Fama and French have some really nice articles on the stock market and creating good data.
How about some studies on taxes. Even something as simple as pulling out a 1040A and going line by line.
How about reading a mutual fund prospectus? …Comparing one to an exchange traded fund.
One of the books I give to parents is “The First National Bank of Dad” by David Owen.
Seconding these from above
* Bastiat, The Law, Seen & Unseen, Candlestickmaker’s petition (online) – all classics, all brilliant and accessible
* PJ, Eat the Rich, a series of comparisons
* Wealth of Nations, pick and choose chapters (online) – intelligent discussions of division of labor, money, etc.
These might be accessible?
* Marshall, Principles, pick and choose (online) – ah, that’s how supply and demand work.
* Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto (online) – mercifully short, didn’t get much right, but sure provoked a lot of thoughtful replies, desperate attempts to resuscitate, revolutions, counter-revolutions, etc. Better to get it from a level-headed teacher who can explain these than from some wild-eyed revolutionary at the local food Co-Op who is convinced it holds the key to utopia, man.
One more: David Friedman, Machinery of Freedom. It *is* a series of highly accessible essays. I haven’t read Hidden Order; I enjoyed Law’s Order, but think it may be above high schoolers.
I am surprised no one mentioned Hernando de Soto. So illuminating.
The book that taught me economics (I had a BA in that field by then) is Knowledge and Decisions by Thomas Sowell. Arguably harder to read than Basic Economics but very deep and riveting.
Like some posters above, I am sure that students would enjoy Making of Modern Economics (Mark Skousen) and New Ideas from Dead Economists.
I’dd add Guns, Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond.
Anyone aware of articles about the limitations of trade statistics, especially the so-called state-or-origin data the Census Bureau publishes each month. I don’t understand why the data show that Texas outranks a state with a much larger economy like California.
thank you very much
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