Economics in One Lesson

I'll add Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. It provides an introduction to economics from an Austrian point of view, and dispells many common economic fallacies. A big takeaway for me is that the consequences of policies, such as providing loans to certain groups of farmers, have consequences that we cannot forsee. https://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Underst... (https://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Understand/dp/0517548232)

I have really enjoyed simple economics texts. I highly recommend Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. It is a very approachable book that can be read in one sitting. It illustrates the seen and unseen effects of action from Frédéric Bastiat.

Get some conflicting ideas. Two great, short books are The Mystery of Banking by Rothbard (available for free here: https://mises.org/library/mystery-banking) and Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt (free here: https://fee.org/resources/economics-in-one-lesson/). They both conflict quite substantially with the mainstream and might open up a whole new line of inquiry for you.

Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt. It's old but many of the lessons he teaches are still relevant today. It opened my eyes to the danger of only thinking about the things that are easily observable, and ignoring the "unseen" things. > The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.

Economics in one lesson by Henry Hazlitt changed my life. If you want to read one book only, read this one. It's sort, easy to understand and ruthlessly logical.

EIOL is a representation of one school of economic thought up to a certain time. It includes many of the principles taught to high school and 101-level college students, but it may mislead readers who are unaware that there are other models, and other conclusions, that more recent research have uncovered. In other words, it's much like recommending a book that includes the Aristotelian and Galilean theories of gravity: yes, it's useful to know, but only in an historical context.

"Economics in one lesson" is a classic worth reading and thinking about. While you don't necessary have to follow the libertarian way of thinking it guides you to, it still shapes your critical thinking about economic policies a lot.

I think it is Economics in one lesson you should begin with. Its available for free here: http://mises.org/books/economics_in_one_lesson_hazlitt.pdf It's a classic and easy to read.

Indeed, that's the single best book to start with. E.g. the very first chapter, the "One Lesson" (on the Broken window fallacy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_window_fallacy) will right off explain to you why "Cash For Clunkers" was such a clunker. (Ignoring the solid principle that accelerating future economic activity fails when the future inevitably arrives, something we're seeing right now in US residential real estate.)

General and fallacy debunking: 'Economics In One Lesson' by Henry Hazlitt http://jim.com/econ Land and rent analysis (missing in almost all textbooks): 'The New Road to Serfdom: An Illustrated Guide to the Coming Real Estate Collapse' by Dr. Michael Hudson http://michael-hudson.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/RoadToS... (http://michael-hudson.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/RoadToSerfdom.pdf) 'The Chaos Makers: The Dreamers & The Deceived' by Fred Harrison http://renegadeeconomist.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/the-... (http://renegadeeconomist.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/the-chaos-makers.pdf)

Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt: http://jim.com/econ/, http://www.fee.org/pdf/books/Economics_in_one_lesson.pdf Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell Applied Economics by Thomas Sowell Free to Choose by Milton Friedman (video series, too) Use of Knowledge in Society by Hayek (short, non-technical paper which is full of brilliant insights): http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/hykKnw1.html Not a book, but the Econtalk podcast is fantastic: http://www.econtalk.org/

To grok the subject, it will take a while. Search for a good undergraduate economics course and follow that. I second Hazlitt "Economics in One Lesson". But if you truly want to understand this, you will need to start with one book and then note all the books and theories which come before, going back a long way 200 years or more. Read or read summaries of those as well. In that way, you will get a firm foundation and understand how some "new" stuff is just old stuff with a new name.

My favorite book is "Economics in One Lesson". It's available free online and in print from major book sellers (see the top search results on the Google). This book does not represent mainstream economic thought, but that's a good thing given the track record of mainstream economists in the current crisis.

I second "Economics in One Lesson" recommendation. Economics explained in an understandable way for non-economists.

The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt. The Baroque Cycle, by Neal Stephenson.

The book that got me started was Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt (http://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Understa... (http://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Understand/dp/0517548232)). Published in 1946, and still considered a classic.

I would start with this one: http://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Understa... (http://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Understand/dp/0517548232), or free online at http://jim.com/econ/contents.html.

It's pretty tragic how little most people understand about basic economics. Not just with respect to how societies function, but basic concepts like incentives and the law of supply and demand. Oh, and of course No Free Lunch. So in that spirit, here are a couple of economics books that I quite seriously believe everyone should be forced to read. Economics in One Lesson, by Hazlitt Free to Choose: A Personal Statement, by Milton and Rose Friedman Freakonomics, by Levitt and Dubner (this book is just so damn fun to read) and for the hackers: The God of the Machine, by Paterson (Think engineering principles as applied to economics, history and politics. Probably one of the most interesting books I've read in my entire life, even if I don't entirely agree with the thesis.)