I'm looking for a goof primer on the study of economics. I'm hoping for something as objective as possible, not unduly colored by any one particular ideological agenda, and which will be very informative but not terribly dense. Am I asking too much? I hope not.

I found one a while back at y local library that I really liked, but it doesn't seem to be available there anymore, and I cannot recall who wrote it. I returned it unfinished because someone else had a hold on it and my time ran out.

Any suggestions?

Charles Wheelan, Naked Economics

Tim Harford, The Undercover Economist

Steven Landsburg, The Armchair Economist (Landsburg likes to be a little more controversial in some places, while still explaining a lot of standard economic concepts)

If you're a little more ambitious, and don't mind a longer, more serious read from relatively conservative/libertarian perspective: Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics

gesler0811 wrote:I'm looking for a goof primer on the study of economics. I'm hoping for something as objective as possible, not unduly colored by any one particular ideological agenda, and which will be very informative but not terribly dense. Am I asking too much? I hope not.

I found one a while back at y local library that I really liked, but it doesn't seem to be available there anymore, and I cannot recall who wrote it. I returned it unfinished because someone else had a hold on it and my time ran out.

Any suggestions?

Excellent, excellent, excellent:

http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/Cour ... px?cid=550

All courses from The Teaching Company go through sale cycles.
When this one goes on sale it can be purchased for around 50 bucks and is worth every cent.

I have this course. The professor is superb, as the reviews indicate.
And you can now stream courses from your smart phone

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to see if my library has any of the books that Dexter mentioned. And as for the Teaching Company course, I did go on their website, and it does look very in depth and interesting. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for that $50 special.

Especially with economics, you won't find an explanation that isn't based on a specific ideology. But that's okay! You'll be reading it through your own ideological lense anyways.

I'm assuming you're interested in learning about capitalist economics. In that case, I recommend Dabid Harvey's "Seventeen Contradictions", and if you're up for a difficult read, Marx's "Capital".

If you're interested in a balanced college textbook, Economics by Paul Samuelson is the most highly regarded. You might be able to save money by renting the text, buy used, or buy an older edition.

On the other end of the spectrum, there's Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. It is a breezy easy read, but has a hard right/libertarian/gold standard bias. You risk becoming a RandDroid after finishing that one.

You did not say if you were looking for a Macro Economics or Micro Economics book but I presume you are interested in Maro Economic Theory. If so, you should read The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money by John Maynard Keynes at least to learn the wrong theory.

For the other side of economic theory, check out A Monetary History of the United States by economist Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz