| Title | : | 50 Economics Classics: Your shortcut to the most important ideas on capitalism, finance, and the global economy |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1857886739 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781857886733 |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 386 |
| Publication | : | First published May 30, 2017 |
WINNER - SILVER MEDAL, AXIOM BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2018
Economics drives the modern world and shapes our lives, but few of us feel we have time to engage with the breadth of ideas in the subject. 50 Economics Classics is the smart person's guide to two centuries of discussion of finance, capitalism and the global economy. From Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations to Thomas Piketty's bestseller Capital in the Twenty-First Century, here are the great reads, seminal ideas and famous texts clarified and illuminated for all.
50 Economics Classics: Your shortcut to the most important ideas on capitalism, finance, and the global economy Reviews
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List of the 50 books covered:
1. Liaquat Ahamed - Lords of Finance (2009)
Fixed ideas in economics can have disastrous results
2. William Baumol - The Microtheory of Innovative Entrepreneurship (2010)
Entrepreneurs are the engines of growth and must be valued
3. Gary Becker - Human Capital (1964)
The most important investment we ever make is in ourselves
4. John Bogle - The Little Book of Common Sense Investing (2007)
The most successful investing strategy is also the easiest
5. Eric Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee - The Second Machine Age (2014)
Technological revolutions must allow for the advance of everyone
6. Ha-Joon Chang - 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism (2012)
Many nations succeeded by bucking the rules of orthodox economics
7. Diane Coyle - GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History (2014)
How we measure economic output has consequences for people and nations
8. Ronald Coase - The Firm, The Market and The Law (1990)
Why firms exist; the role of transaction costs in economic life
9. Peter Drucker - Innovation and Entrepreneurship (1985)
Success comes from taking management and ideas seriously
10. Niall Ferguson - The Ascent of Money (2008)
Finance is not evil, it built the modern world
11. Milton Friedman - Capitalism and Freedom (1962)
Free markets, not government, protect the individual and ensure quality
12. JK Galbraith - The Great Crash, 1929 (1954)
It’s government’s job to stop speculative frenzies ruining the real economy
13. Henry George - Progress and Poverty (1879)
The best and fairest way to ensure opportunity is a tax on land
14. Robert J Gordon - The Rise and Fall of American Growth (2016)
Living standards keep rising, but the greatest gains have already happened
15. Benjamin Graham - The Intelligent Investor (1949)
We grow in wealth through long-term investing, not speculating
16. Friedrich Hayek - The Use of Knowledge in Society (1945)
Societies prosper when they give up planning and control, and allow decentralization of knowledge
17. Albert O Hirschman - Exit, Voice and Loyalty (1970)
Consumers have many options to get what they want
18. Jane Jacobs - The Economy of Cities (1968)
Cities have always been, and always will be, the drivers of wealth
19. John Maynard Keynes - The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936)
To achieve social goals like full employment, governments must actively manage the economy
20. Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine (2008)
‘Neoliberal’ economic programs have proved a disaster for many developing countries
21. Paul Krugman - The Conscience of a Liberal (2007)
The postwar consensus on how to grow an economy has been hijacked by ideology
22. Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner - Freakonomics (2006)
Economics is not a moral science, more an observation of how incentives work
23. Michael Lewis - The Big Short (2011)
Modern finance was meant to minimize risk, but it has only increased dangers
24. Deirdre McCloskey - Bourgeois Equality (2016)
The world became wealthy thanks to an idea: entrepreneurs and merchants are not so bad after all
25. Thomas Malthus - An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798)
The world’s finite resources can’t cope with an increasing population
26. Alfred Marshall - Principles of Economics (1890)
To understand people, watch their habits of earning, saving and investing
27. Karl Marx - Capital (1867)
The interests of labor and capital are perennially in conflict
28. Hyman Minsky - Stabilizing An Unstable Economy (1986)
Rather than creating equilibrium, capitalism is inherently unstable
29. Ludwig Von Mises - Human Action (1940)
Economics has laws which no person, society or government can escape
30. Dambisa Moyo - Dead Aid (2010)
Countries grow and get rich by creating industries, not by addiction to aid
31. Elinor Ostrom - Governing the Commons (1990)
To stay healthy, common resources like air, water and forests need to be managed in novel ways.
32. Thomas Piketty - Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2014)
The scales of wealth are tipping towards capital; if inequality widens there will be social upheaval
33. Karl Polanyi - The Great Transformation (1944)
Markets must serve society, not the other way around
34. Michael E Porter - The Competitive Advantage of Nations (1990)
Competition and industry clusters make a rich nation
35. Ayn Rand - Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966)
Capitalism is the most moral form of political economy
36. David Ricardo - Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817)
A free-trading world will see each nation fulfil its potential
37. Dani Rodrik - The Globalization Paradox (2011)
Globalization agendas are often floored by national politics
38. Paul Samuelson - Economics (1948)
A combination of classical and Keynesian ideas creates the best-performing economies
39. EF Schumacher - Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered (1973)
A new economics must arise which takes more account of people than output
40. Joseph Schumpeter - Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1942)
No form of political economy matches the dynamism of capitalism and its process of ‘creative destruction’
41. Thomas Schelling - Micromotives and Macrobehavior (1978)
Small behaviors and choices of individuals ultimately produce ‘tipping points’ with major effects
42. Amartya Sen - Poverty and Famines (1981)
People starve not because there isn’t enough food, but because economics circumstances suddenly change
43. Robert Shiller - Irrational Exuberance (2000)
Psychology, not fundamental values, drives markets
44. Julian Simon - The Ultimate Resource 2 (1997)
The world will never run out of resources, because it is the human mind that drives advance, not capital or materials
45. Adam Smith - The Wealth of Nations (1778)
The wealth of a nation is that of its people, not its government
46. Hernando de Soto - The Mystery of Capital (2003)
Clear property rights are the basis of stability and prosperity
47. Joseph Stiglitz - The Euro (2016)
Europe’s failed currency and its ideological underpinnings
48. Richard Thaler - Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics (2015)
How psychology has transformed the economics discipline
49. Thorstein Veblen - Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)
The great goal of capitalist life is not to have to work - or to take on the appearance of not needing to
50. Max Weber - The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904)
Culture and religion are the most overlooked ingredients of economic success -
The book does what it promises. Although there are no real "shortcuts" to a proper understanding of economics, this book contains some pretty decent summaries of 50 important economic thinkers. They will get you a long way to understanding what the key issues and debates are in the field.
The one big problem I have with the text is that it suffers from a pretty blatant free market and right wing bias. This is evident in the selection of the authors, with much more space given to pro-market authors than anti-market authors. This bias also clouds the neutrality of the text. Half of the anti-market chapters are written in a way to predispose the reader to think that the anti-market theories have been debunked by subsequent theory and evidence. None of the pro-market chapters contain such heavy-handed editorial commentary. Well, I would have preferred a more balanced approach. -
A few years ago, I read Sylvia Nasar's book "Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius" and enjoyed it immensely. When I saw this book as a Goodreads giveaway, I couldn't help but enter. Economics is an endlessly fascinating topic once you begin to dive a little deeper. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it is a great way to "read" all those economics texts that you never seem to have time to dive into. The selection of texts was excellent and included my favorite - Hayek!
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ملخصات لا تتعدى الصفحات الخمس لاهم خمسين كتابا في الاقتصاد
الكتاب جيد جدا لمن اراد التعرف على هذه الكتب لكنه بالطبع لا يغني ابدا عن قراءتها ولكن للمعلومية معظم هذه الكتب لم تترجم الى العربية فلا باس من اخذ فكرة عنها من خلال هذا الكتاب لمن لا يجيد اللغة الإنجليزية -
It summarizes the book and tells you how they relate to each other. That is the whole point of "how to talk about books that you haven't read" by Pierre Bayard.
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This is such a great compilation, it is visible that a lot of care and research were combined to produce it. Very much enjoyable. Will check out the rest of the series for sure.
N.B. it is already going to a very happy and excited friend, for a read! -
Un excelente "cross-check list" para ampliar o profundizar en cualquier biblioteca. A mis casi 49 años, comprendí el origen de muchos conceptos que conozco (ya que soy economista). No es pérdida de tiempo, en absoluto. Quizás añadiría que el autor no puede ocultar un ligero sesgo de pensamiento.
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A great introduction to some classics. Really liked the synopsis at the end of each summary. Since they are short the reader can simultaneously keep the central point from multiple books in their mind to compare and contrast. Or they can find books to look more into. I would recommend Dead Aid, The Ascent of Money and The Wealth of Nations
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What a wonderful book, especially for any business majors. "50 Economics Classics: Your shortcut to the most important ideas on capitalism, finance, and the global economy" by Tom Butler-Bowdon picks 50 of some of the most definitive classic books on economics divided into five major categories: The Spirit of Capitalism, Growth and Development, Adventures in Money & Finance (booms, busts, and gradual growth), Government, Markets & the Economy, and Behavioral Economics. The book then provides a quick synopsis of each book including quotes, other books of a similar vein and even a short bio of the author. Great resource material for everyone interested in business and finance but who does not have the time to read each of these books. Provides the reader with enough basic information to appear knowledgeable and well-read without requiring months of dedicated reading time. Cliff notes for economics!
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super helpful but very very dense - very hefty to read so definitely don't rush it. very many new topics discussed so make sure it is understood and properly read. not the book you can skim read but genuinely incredibly useful to someone who is relatively new to economics and choosing what aspects of it you enjoy more. furthermore, it makes wider reading easier as there is a wide selection of many different theories to read. perfect for an a level student.
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عند الاستثمار في الأسهم انظر إلى نفسك كمالك لجزء من شركة وليس مضاربا."
كتاب يعطيك نظرة في اشهر الكتب المختصة بعلم الاقتصاد ، شخصياً حبيت كم موضوع فيه والباقي مافهمته بالشكل الصحيح او يسرد الموضوع بطريقة مملة جداً وكأنه يجبرك تقرأ اكثر من ١٠ مرات علشان تفهم. -
Excellent synthesis of great thoughts on economics over the last 200 years. The assessment is fair and objective. The final comments are incisive. Fantastic read.
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This book really helpful in providing insights to readers regarding economics ideas and great minds that have been improving directly or indirectly our modern civilization. The dialectic that has been brought by the author really challenge our mind how these various ideas that shaped our economics.
In reading Marx's Capital, i absolutely hit by his arguments about how bad capitalism and the discrimination to the worker. At the same time, when it comes to von Mises's Human Action, it really convince me that the idea of free market is already rooted in human nature. If we want to reject it, we would reject human nature. Also on same camp such as Smith's The Wealth of Nation, Ayn Rand's Capitalism The Unknown Ideal, Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom.
However, the socialist or socialistic economist ideas quiet unrejectable, the writings such as Piketty's Capital is very compelling. He came with the idea of global tax to reduce the domination of capital over labor which he believed could stop "the endless inegalitarian spiral."
I, myself rather positioning myself in pragmatic economist. We could see how they are supporting Capitalism but being critical with it. Also, on the opposite camp, Socialism. I just want to quote what Keynes said about this matter, in a nutshell, the elegant models of how economies work often wrong. Markets are not self-correcting, but need constant intervention and management to ensure high consumer demand, investment and employment. This idea also being proposed by Krugman, Stiglitz, Ha-Joon Chang and many more. -
The author does an excellent job of summarizing the key points of each book, its legacy and criticism it has received, in a way which quite often made me want to read the full book myself: his enthusiasm for the subject is obvious. A broad spectrum of economic texts are covered, from Karl Marx to Ayn Rand, so you learn about a range of opinions and perspectives.
I don't normally read books which are so blatantly summarizing other books, but I wanted to know more about economics and this was an efficient way to go about it. I would read more summary books by the same author in his '50 Classics' series. -
At long last! I'm finished! It's a cool and concise collection of thoughts and economic concepts. My favourite books from this collection include;;
Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa (MOYO)
Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World (MCCLOSKEY)
The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else (DE SOTO)
The Euro: How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe (STIGLITZ)
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (AYN RAND)
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (SCHUMPETER) -
Superb introductory overview of the economic ideas of the world we live in. The book is for the beginners in economics and only briefly touches ideas without going in depth. Still a good path finding book to go and explore more topics in the field of economics. Would recommend if you want to improve your literacy in the field.
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Surprisingly good book for what sounds list a listicle!
The author summarises key thinkers, and he does a great job at it. He knows what he is talking about - I read many of the thinkers and their original books, so I can tell. -
Very useful book for those who want the essence of long and complicated texts in economics. I have read a number of the books the author summarises and they seem accurate representations of the sources.
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I tried to read this, but I just don't have the mind for it. I just couldn't read it. I did like the "In a Nutshell" parts of the book.
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Excellent summary of an array of issues in political economics.
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Piqued my interest, presented some interesting points but more so I like the fact it showed just how varied economists and their thought process can be.
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Loved the brief summaries and clear explanations, but would’ve enjoyed it much more if author’s subjective commentaries hadn’t been included.
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Great introduction to economics
