In a comment to a recent post “Book Titles” a reader wanted recommendations on books that explain the principles, philosophy and policy prescriptions of economics. In this post you will find a few titles for a start and I will update this post as I think of more books to add.
For a basic primer, I recommend Per Bylund’s book, “How to Think about the Economy – A Primer.” Simple, short and well-written. I like re-reading the fundamentals of any subject. By clearly understanding the fundamentals of any subject, one can work out the rest without much trouble.
Click on the book cover for downloading a free pdf copy of the book. Here’s a bit from the preface of the book:
This little book was written to accomplish something big: economic literacy. It is intentionally kept very short to be inviting rather than intimidating, as economics books typically are. If I managed to meet this bar, you, the reader, will gain life-changing understanding of how the economy works in practically no time. This is lots of value at a very low cost.
If I have managed to exceed expectations, this book will also make you excited about what economics has to offer. Because economic literacy is mind-opening. Sound economic reasoning is an enormously powerful tool for understanding both the economy and society. It uncovers what is going on under the surface and why things are the way they are. In fact, economic literacy is necessary to properly understand the world.
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I am a card-carrying liberal. One time, one of my doctoral advisors, Prof Irma Adelman described me as “an old-World liberal.” Later I realized how accurately that fits me. I am a classical liberal to the core of my being. Thus when I first came across Robert Nozick’s book Anarchy, State and Utopia I was mesmerized. The wiki (the previous link) says:
Anarchy, State, and Utopia is a 1974 book by the American political philosopher Robert Nozick. … It has been translated into 11 languages, and was named one of the “100 most influential books since the war” (1945–1995) by the UK Times Literary Supplement.
Fortunately, you can download a free copy from archive.org: click on the cover image above. A great introduction to Nozick’s philosophy is the article on it at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Quote:
Nozick argued that respect for individual rights is the key standard for assessing state action and, hence, that the only legitimate state is a minimal state that restricts its activities to the protection of the rights of life, liberty, property, and contract. Despite his highly acclaimed work in many other fields of philosophy, Nozick remained best known for the libertarian doctrine advanced in Anarchy, State, and Utopia.
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I believe that the most — and only — successful economic system for organizing society is capitalism. The word is often used by many as a pejorative but that is just ignorance of what the concept is. I recommend David Friedman’s The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism to understand the basics.
Click on the image above to go to David’s webpage where you can download a free PDF version of the book.
Another book of his I recommend is Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life. I don’t have a free source for the book but it is a valuable book. (I am happy to lend you my copy upon request.) Here’s what James Buchanan, 1986 Economics Nobel Laureate, said about the book:
“Hidden Order helps us look at everyday experience from the perspective of basic economics. Readers will be surprised to learn how much economics explains about their own behavior as well as about that of others …”
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That’s about it for now. Thank you, good night, and may your god go with you.
Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw 
Thank you so much for enlightening us. You are a kind man Atanu. Take Care please 🙂
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I am gratified to be of some use. Thanks.
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When looking to start learning or know about an entirely new field I find this series of books on Amazon Kindle called “A Very Short Introduction” to be very useful. You can go to amazon.com and search for that phrase and you will get a list of books.
For example, this book by Avinash Dixit called MICROECONOMICS VSI (Very Short Introductions) – https://www.amazon.in/Microeconomics-Very-Short-Introduction-Introductions/dp/0199689377 is a very concise and good introduction to the subject.
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Avinash is a brilliant economist. During my grad studies, I learned the Dixit-Stiglitz model. I have not read that micro book by Avinash but I am sure that it must be very good. In the post I referred to Bylund’s book. Worth every word. Dixit’s book will surely be in the neoclassical tradition but Bylund’s will have an Austrian bent. I am partial to the Austrian school.
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Another book series that is useful like the “Very Short Introduction” series is the “Why It Matters” series, see this link – https://www.amazon.in/dp/B08BF9MK61
As most people know, the Indian education system is horribly broken. Most kids are encouraged to pick up a few math/quant skills which help them crack a few exams and get a job. Because of this, we have many people who are literate but not really educated. There is a severe neglect of liberal arts education in India, and people might feel the brunt of this neglect later in life( speaking from personal experience).
Books like “Why It Matters”( two books, “Linguistics: Why It Matters” and “Philosophy: Why It Matters” have caught my attention) can really fill this gap left by ‘formal education.’ Also, subjects like Philosophy are very adjacent to Economics.
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