Looking for recomendations on a book

Economics on a national and international level are some of my weakest subjects. I was wondering if any of you could recommend a book that doesn't favor any kind of economic system and instead takes into consideration the pros and cons of economic systems in the modern world. Of course this should be non-fiction and should include references to sources that can confirm and expand the writers interpretation of economic policies.

 

I recommend www.econtalk.org

Russ Roberts is an Austrian and Libertarian, and is open about it. He interviews many different economists (weekly pod casts since mid 2006), even those with different political and economic views.

You can search the podcasts by date, guest, and subject. Subjects range from the top 1%, the Great Depression, the current recession, the politics of power, Hayek, Keynes, all the way to Russ interviewing a woman that runs her own hair salon.

What I like about these interviews is they are in simple English, where even remotely obscure terms are defined.

 

Start with any text that studies international political economy. Then burrow down into specific economic schools of thought, focusing in particular on the labour market and the differences in orthodox and heterodox conclusions.

Don't be reliant on one text and for god's sake avoid the herding material (such as the guff promoted by fake libertarians, georgists and assorted internet crackpot schools)

 

Or Marxist.

 

Its not possible to have a good grasp of capitalism without reference to Marxism. Even orthodox economics accepts that as it 'borrows' Marxist concepts to understand empirical phenomena

 

go to any library or book store...there are many good econ books to choose from.....add to that there are books written by peter schiff, harry dent and james rickards.......they have different prospectives on the economy and thats good as it shows you things from a different angle!

PS lots of good stuff on youtube too!

 

But pick the wrong one and get a distorted view that hampers your understanding. Picking an Austrian school offering, for example, would be a very bad idea.

Only if you want to listen to the Urban Voodoo Machine, otherwise one will only derive a shallow understanding that its easily popped!

 

I dissagree.....I think its good to get different perspectives as this widens your knowledge....that dont mean you have to agree with everything you read right?

 

If one's aim is to acquire knowledge (and one is starting from a position of relative innocence) then reading first a skewed opinion piece from one of the marginal schools is a very bad idea. Rather than enlighten, it can corrupt. We see plenty of that on here through people completely reliant on mises.org and assorted podcasts

 

If one's aim is to acquire knowledge, why let anyone else tell them what to think?

Read the a range of schools, see for yourself which provide simplistic answers, and which appreciate the complexity that is economics.

 

Balance is evrrything. One doesn't get balance by starting from something like the austrian school. I referred to starting with international political economy which, by definition, will encompass a compare and contrast of different schools of thought

 

Have some links?

 

Eh? The exact book isn't imporant. Its the general area which is useful, enabling an introduction of some quite incompatable economic approaches that help with the eventual aim: to compare and contrast, the treat economics as the pluralist discipline that it represents

 

It is is you are posting in answer to the OP.

 

I've referred to topic areas, providing a means to gain knowledge. Perhaps you're upset that it means acquiring the knowledge capable of dismissing some of the marginal schools?

 

The OP isn't going to find the book you are referring to based on your description. As normal, you haven't provided enough detail to be useful.

 

Plug in international political economy and voila! One doesn't need to be reliant on podcast drone

 

I'm interested in International Political Economy (5th Edition) it seems very down to earth in it's terminology using simple real world actions to explain complicated practices and theories, any objections? But yes I would rather avoid reading material which favors certain economic policies over others as I'm not interested in being caught up in their market fanaticism whatever it may be. I'm interested in the current world's markets not theoretical practices at least not for now anyway.

 

Whatever you do, WHAT EVER YOU DO, DON't study Austrian Economics. That stuff is bad, BAD! It'll rot your brain right out. Stay away from it! The very idea that human nature has anything to do with economics, or that a-priori reasoning will help you understand anything is just laughable. HA! Every respectable economist know that. Besides everyone knows that Carl Menger, Eugen Bohm-Bawerk, Ludwig von Mises, Frederick Hayek and Murray Rothbard never existed. It's all just the product of the imaginations of fake internet Libertarians. Marx is where it's at, man. You can read a little Keynes too, if you want, I guess. Just make sure you keep in mind that what Marx says must, by necessity, be objectively true.

 

The Austrians don't have any understanding of human behaviour, nor do they have any understanding of the labour market or the firm. Understanding will assuredly ensure that these marginal schools are a side show

 

If your understanding of the economy is as good as you would have us believe, you can predict if Europe will, in the next 3 years, enter recovery, recession, or depression.

 

Seriously, though. It sounds, to me, like what you're looking for is an objective assessment of economic systems. I can't imagine how there could be such a thing. It would have to be written by someone with no perspective. But everyone has some kind of paradigm by which he views the world, and no one has a god's eye view of it, and, since God has never written a book on economics, no such book exists.

 

I'll leave that to the economist. For me I only need to aid the SME and that of course will ensure that the likes of the Austrian school are typically ignored. Theory of the firm guarantees that

 

"Eat The Rich" by P.J. O'Rourke. A funny but very insightful look at what various economic systems and policies have produced.

 

My recommendation?

Whatever book Reiver hates - Buy it.