8 ms·

Frankly, I am still waiting for a good introduction to general economic principles. I literally feel like an idiot when following economic discussions: it seems

Frankly, I am still waiting for a good introduction to general economic principles. I literally feel like an idiot when following economic discussions: it seems to me like it's all a long infinite chain of valid arguments and counter-arguments that are perfectly valid, true and completely opposite. Hope you get something online soon.

swalsh 13y ago
There's a lot of great free lectures provided by Yale. If you have the time, I highly recommend it.
JeffL 13y ago
Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt is an amazing book, and there's a free PDF available: http://mises.org/books/economics_in_one_lesson_hazlitt.pdf http://mises.org/books/economics_in_one_lesson_hazlitt.pdf
rollo_tommasi 13y ago
A considerable amount of macroeconomics is constructing airtight justifications for what you would like to be true, without any fear that your theories will ever be subjected to rigorous testing. Hence the situation you describe.
jwallaceparker 13y ago
"Economics in One Lesson" by Henry Hazlitt http://mises.org/books/economics_in_one_lesson_hazlitt.pdf http://mises.org/books/economics_in_one_lesson_hazlitt.pdf This book is an outstanding place to start. It addresses a myriad of economic concepts in simple language. It's available for free through the Mises Institute. "How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes" by Peter Schiff http://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X http://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/04705... This book gives a simple overview of macro issues and is an interesting and well-presented tale about how economies grow from the basic "man on an island" scenario to a complex market. It also covers Austrian business cycle theory which explains the boom-bust cycle in economies. Both of these books are from the "Austrian School" of economics, which is named for its Austrian founder, Carl Menger. I find these arguments compelling as they are firmly grounded in logic and are based on the principle that the human individual and her actions form the basis of all economic activity. The giants of the Austrian school are Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard (highly readable) if you want to seek out more advanced theory.
- cpursley 13y ago
  +1 on Mises Institute and Peter Schiff. Say what you want about Austrian / free market economic schools, but these people and groups predicted the financial crisis and housing bubble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfascZSTU4o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfascZSTU4o
  - snake_plissken 13y ago
    As did anyone else who was watching the Case-Shiller index when it's 2nd derivative turned negative late in 2006.
- Locke1689 13y ago
  Do not do this. The Austrian school of economics is neither scientific nor respected in the wider economic sphere. If you want a good introduction to economics that is 1) amenable to the perspective of an engineer (i.e., mathematical theory and significant amounts of modeling and game theory) and 2) close to how actual professional economists approach economic problems, the best free textbook is one originally authored by an economist at CalTech who is also Yahooo!'s head of an economic research team. http://www.mcafee.cc/Introecon/IEA.pdf http://www.mcafee.cc/Introecon/IEA.pdf
  - jwallaceparker 13y ago
    > The Austrian school of economics is neither scientific This is a somewhat vague statement but I'm assuming you're referring to the Austrians' "a priori" approach to economics. > nor respected in the wider economic sphere. Given the adversarial stance that the Austrians take toward government intervention in the economy it is no surprise that their ideas are not endorsed by academics. Individuals should make their own judgement about the persuasiveness of the Austrian arguments and not dismiss them because they are unpopular. If you have the time, I'd welcome a critique of any argument contained in that Hazlitt book quoted above.
    - wutbrodo 13y ago
epsylon 13y ago
That's because economic principles aren't scientific theories, they are political opinions (and weapons). That's why you have left-wing and right-wing economists, and a broad range of theories on how things work, but no agreement on the premises. There's also the fact that real-world economy is a much more complex beast than any existing models precisely because there are so many variables. Which is why most economical "predictions" are just post-hoc justifications.

swalsh 13y ago

There's a lot of great free lectures provided by Yale. If you have the time, I highly recommend it.

JeffL 13y ago

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt is an amazing book, and there's a free PDF available: http://mises.org/books/economics_in_one_lesson_hazlitt.pdf http://mises.org/books/economics_in_one_lesson_hazlitt.pdf

rollo_tommasi 13y ago

A considerable amount of macroeconomics is constructing airtight justifications for what you would like to be true, without any fear that your theories will ever be subjected to rigorous testing. Hence the situation you describe.

jwallaceparker 13y ago

"Economics in One Lesson" by Henry Hazlitt http://mises.org/books/economics_in_one_lesson_hazlitt.pdf http://mises.org/books/economics_in_one_lesson_hazlitt.pdf This book is an outstanding place to start. It addresses a myriad of economic concepts in simple language. It's available for free through the Mises Institute. "How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes" by Peter Schiff http://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X http://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/04705... This book gives a simple overview of macro issues and is an interesting and well-presented tale about how economies grow from the basic "man on an island" scenario to a complex market. It also covers Austrian business cycle theory which explains the boom-bust cycle in economies. Both of these books are from the "Austrian School" of economics, which is named for its Austrian founder, Carl Menger. I find these arguments compelling as they are firmly grounded in logic and are based on the principle that the human individual and her actions form the basis of all economic activity. The giants of the Austrian school are Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard (highly readable) if you want to seek out more advanced theory.

cpursley 13y ago
+1 on Mises Institute and Peter Schiff. Say what you want about Austrian / free market economic schools, but these people and groups predicted the financial crisis and housing bubble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfascZSTU4o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfascZSTU4o
- snake_plissken 13y ago
  As did anyone else who was watching the Case-Shiller index when it's 2nd derivative turned negative late in 2006.
Locke1689 13y ago
Do not do this. The Austrian school of economics is neither scientific nor respected in the wider economic sphere. If you want a good introduction to economics that is 1) amenable to the perspective of an engineer (i.e., mathematical theory and significant amounts of modeling and game theory) and 2) close to how actual professional economists approach economic problems, the best free textbook is one originally authored by an economist at CalTech who is also Yahooo!'s head of an economic research team. http://www.mcafee.cc/Introecon/IEA.pdf http://www.mcafee.cc/Introecon/IEA.pdf
- jwallaceparker 13y ago
  > The Austrian school of economics is neither scientific This is a somewhat vague statement but I'm assuming you're referring to the Austrians' "a priori" approach to economics. > nor respected in the wider economic sphere. Given the adversarial stance that the Austrians take toward government intervention in the economy it is no surprise that their ideas are not endorsed by academics. Individuals should make their own judgement about the persuasiveness of the Austrian arguments and not dismiss them because they are unpopular. If you have the time, I'd welcome a critique of any argument contained in that Hazlitt book quoted above.
  - wutbrodo 13y ago

epsylon 13y ago

That's because economic principles aren't scientific theories, they are political opinions (and weapons). That's why you have left-wing and right-wing economists, and a broad range of theories on how things work, but no agreement on the premises. There's also the fact that real-world economy is a much more complex beast than any existing models precisely because there are so many variables. Which is why most economical "predictions" are just post-hoc justifications.