philecon Posted December 26, 2008 Share Posted December 26, 2008 I'm given to understand that this is a famous book. For some reason though, when I started it, I found it so boring that I couldn't get past the first or second chapters. That was a couple of years ago, however, so maybe I was just unfair to it. Some say New Ideas from Dead Economists is a good alternative to Heilbroner. I found both entertaining to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesparky Posted December 26, 2008 Share Posted December 26, 2008 Some say New Ideas from Dead Economists is a good alternative to Heilbroner. I found both entertaining to read. Funnily enough, exact same response as to Heilbroner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texcards Posted December 26, 2008 Author Share Posted December 26, 2008 Thanks for all the suggestions! I did engineering as an undergrad so I haven't had a whole lot of exposure to economics. I wanted to get an idea of some good or important books to read before I start grad school. Some of these look good and I'll be picking up a couple of them to read over the next few weeks. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obsi Posted December 26, 2008 Share Posted December 26, 2008 I assumed you read it but seeing you did engineering as undergrad, you may not have read Wealth of Nations. I'd recommend reading it first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treblekicker Posted December 26, 2008 Share Posted December 26, 2008 I know we all want to get prepared for Grad School and get in that Economist state of mind, but I am taking this next semester to relax -- outside of some research. Personally, I'll be doing what I love most, feeding my unhealthy addiction to music blogs and rateyourmusic.com. That's reading, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeeves0923 Posted December 26, 2008 Share Posted December 26, 2008 I know we all want to get prepared for Grad School and get in that Economist state of mind, but I am taking this next semester to relax -- outside of some research. Personally, I'll be doing what I love most, feeding my unhealthy addiction to music blogs and rateyourmusic.com. That's reading, right? +1. In a perfect world, schools will notify me in a geographically convenient order so I can road trip to visit places... I'll throw in some disc golf and hiking, and my regular reading of The New Yorker and The Economist :) And for the OP, definitely Thinking Strategically by Dixit and Nalebuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Streetmage Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 I honestly just love picking up issues of the "Journal of Economic Perspectives" and reading them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ugdevelop22 Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 Posted twice. Please go down. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ugdevelop22 Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 I believe that some knowledge of HET is quite important. Thus, I recommend The Worldly Philolophers by Robert Heilbroner. But I also believe that reading some classics is quite important too. Of course that the choice of which classics to read will heavily depend on your interests but I`m amazed how few economists have read Marx (Capital, esp. volume I - for understanding his theory of value and the ideas of explotaion - and III - for understanding some of his thinking on the role of financial for capitalism) and even Keynes (The General Theory of Money, Capital, and Interest). I also recommend Schumpeter`s Theory of Economic Development (though the first 60-70 pages are quite difficult, at least IMO) and Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. IMO, these authors have got some things right and some things wrong (here my knowledge about Keynes is higher than my knowledge about Marx and Schumpeter) but they are worth reading as they still influence our profession (Marx less, I think...) and also influence the political debate (Schumpeter less, I think...). Finally, some recommendations on my field (development). Read Rosenstein-Rodan paper "Problems in Industrialization in Southern Europe" and Hirschman`s book "The Strategy of Economic Development". Regards 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThorsteinVeblen Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 I say, read the blogs! Of course, I also hear Thorstein Veblen's 'Theory of the Leisure Class' is good read... Certainly, the DeLong Blog is good, Becker-Posner, Mark Thoma, Calculated Risk, Krugman, the new Growth Commission blog, Marginal Revolution and the mankiw blog are all worth reading, plus lesser-known blogs like 'the ambrosini critique', Angry Bear, and, naturally, Thorstein Veblen's personal favorite, Economists for Firing Larry Summers. Economists for Firing Larry Summers It really is the Golden Age of Econ Blogging. I'm sure there's probably a thread on this somewhere I haven't seen, but there's just way more blog material out there now than there was even 6 months ago. The econ world has gotten smaller! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThorsteinVeblen Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 double post... w/ apologies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakz Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Thorstein, that's a great set of econ blogs. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
economicus Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 I really liked "Economics in one Lesson" by Hazzlit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.