True freedom

"Freedom means that in some measure we entrust our fate to forces we do not control; and this seems intolerable to those positivist / rationalist who believe that men can master his fate; as if civilization and reason itself were the fate of his making"
F.A. Hayek

Monday, January 20, 2014

List of some great Economics-Political Economy-Philosophy-Methodology books that a good 'Economist' (in the broadest sense) should read

Inspired by the last posts of a couple of friends around the web about the best 100 books in economics I decided to write a very fast list of the books that I think (and remember) are the best books in the spectrum of economics-political economy broadly speaking. This is not however an extensive list, deep, full list and it obviously possess a heavy Classical Liberal bias, it also possess a heavy lack of knowledge in modern economic theory (micro and macro) since I am not a fully trained economist in the modern sense of the term; fields that I might have left off the list are: Behavioral econ, Game theory, Econometrics, Mathematical Econ, Economic statistics, International Econ, however I tried to add some eclectic things to my list to make it more 'democratic' and I add books that are relevant within the context of their time, if you believe there is some books that I missed or some that needs to be out, please comment!

(The order of the books is totally random and correspond to the outcome of my thought process and quick research)

List of some great Economics-Political Economy-Philosophy-Methodology books

11.       Adam Smith, The wealth of Nations
22.       Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
33.       J.B. Say, A Treatise on Political Economy
44.       J.S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy
55.       J.S. Mill, On Liberty
66.       J.A. Schumpeter, Capitalism Socialism and Democracy
77.       J.A. Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development
88.       J.A. Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis
99.       J.M. Keynes, General Theory
110.   J.M. Keynes, A Treatise on Probability
111.   J.M. Keynes, A Treatise on Money
112.   F.A. Hayek, Individualism and Economic Order
113.   F.A. Hayek, Collectivist Economic Planning
114.   F.A. Hayek, Prices and Production
115.   F.A. Hayek, Law Legislation and Liberty Vol1.
116.   Gary Becker, The Economic Approach to Human Behavior
117.   R.H. Coase, The Firm the Market and the Law
118.   Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic
119.   Max Weber, Economy and Society
220.   Friedman & Schwartz, A monetary history of the US
221.   Mises, Human Action
222.   Mises, Theory of Money and Credit
223.   Don Patikin, Money Interest and Prices
224.   Gary Becker, Economic Theory
225.   Buchanan, Tullock, The Calculus of Consent
226.   Knut Wicksell, Lectures on Political Economy
227.   Walter Bagehot, Lombard Street
228.   Armen Alchian, Collected Works
229.   Lionel Robbins, An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science
330.   Kindleberger, Manias Panics and Crashes
331.   Hicks, Critical Essays in Monetary Thoery
332.   Hicks, Value and Capital
333.   GLS Shackle, Uncertainty in Economics
334.   GLS Shackle, Epistemic and Economics
335.   Frank Knight, Risk Uncertainty and Profit
337.   Friedman, The Optimum Quantity of Money and other essays
338.   David Hume, Collected Essays, Liberty Fund
339.   Kirzner,  Competition and Entrepreneurship
440.   Lachman, Capital and its Structure
441.   Marx, Capital, Vol 1
442.   Fisher Irving, Money Illusion 
443.   Leijonhufvud, Information and Coordination
444.   Leijonhufvud , On Keynsian Economics and the Economics of Keynes
445.   Alfred Marshall, Principle of Economics
446.   Kenneth Arrow, The Limits of organization
447.   Paul Samuelson, Economics
448.   Sen, Development as Freedom
449.   Carl Menger, Principle of Economics
550.   Douglas North, Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance
551.   Stiglitz, Selected Works of Joseph E. Stiglitz: Volume I: Information and Economic Analysis
552.   Elinor Ostrom, Understanding Institutional Diversity
553.   Buchannan, Collected Essays Vol 1
554.   Mark Blaug, The Methodology of Economics
555.   Deidre McCloskey, The Rhetoric of Economics
556.   Vincent Ostrom, The Meaning of Democracy and the Vulnerabilities of Democracies
557.   Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge
558.   Abba Lerner, The Economics of Control
559.   Morgenstern and von Neuman, Theory of Games and Economic Behavior
660.   Samuelson, Foundations of Economic Analysis
662.   Amartya Sen, Collective Choice and Social Welfare
663.   Alfred Pigou, The Economics of Welfare
664.   Black Swan, Nassim Taleb
665.   Selgin George, The Theory of Free Banking
666.   Robert Lucas, Studies in Business-Cycle Theory
667.   Robert Solow, Growth Theory: An exposition
668.   George Stigler, Theory of Price
669.   Henry Thornton, An Inquiry Into the Nature And Effects Of the paper Credit of Great Britain
770.   Leland Yeager, The Fluttering Veil
771.   Clark Warburton, Depression, Inflation and Monetary Theiry
772.   Allan Meltzer, A History of the Federal Reserve
773.   Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Turgot Collection
74. Henry Hazlitt, The Foundations of Morality
75. Berger, Peter and Luckman Thomas, The Social Construction of Reality
76. Yeager, Leland, Ethics as social science: The Moral Philosophy of social cooperation  
77. Schutz, Walsh and Lehnert, Phenomenology of the social world 
78. Fama, Merton, The Theory of Finance
79. Fama, Foundations of Finance: Portfolio Decisions and Securities Prices 
80. Borjas George, Labor Economics
81. Mankiw, Greg, Macroeconomics   
82. R.G. Hawtrey, Good and Bad Trade: An Inquiry Into The Causes of Trade Fluctuations 
83. Davis, Hands, Maki, The Handbook of Economic Methodology
84. Menger Carl, Investigations into the Method of the Social Sciences with Special Reference to Economics 
85. Clark Gregory, A Farewell to Alms
86. Kunt, Lautzenheisser, History of Economic Thought: A Critical Perspective
87. Mirowski Philip, The Effortless Economy of Science? 
88. Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups 
89. Mancur Olson, The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation, and Social Rigidities
90. Morgan Mary, The World in the Model: How Economists Work and Think
91. Karl Popper, Conjecture and Refutations
92. Karl Popper, The Open Society and its Enemies
93. Paul Feyerabend, Farewell to Reason
94. Paul Feyerabend, Against Method
95. Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolution 
96. Mankiw and Romer, New Keynesian Economics Vol 1 &2
97. Shiller Robert, Irrational Exuberance   
98. R.G. Hawtrey, The Art of Central Banking
99. David Ricardo, On the Principled of Political Economy and Taxation