Economics Reading List
Textbooks:
1. Economics; 5th Edition – A. Anderton (provided by the school)
2. Anforme Guides: International Trade; Understanding the European Union; Labour Markets; Economic
Development (good support to specific units)
Magazines:
1. The Economist – often quite heavy but many current issues are relevant
2. The Week – review of key events / issues
3. Daily Newspapers – keep up to date on current economic affairs
Websites:
1. tutor2u.net – online questions with answers, revision notes on each part of the syllabus
2. sacmeq.org/statplanet – interactive map maker – includes lots of development data
3. gapminder.org – international statistics and other info
4. cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook – heaps of data on every country
Lighter Reading:
1. The Undercover Economist – T. Harford (economic issues in plain entertaining English)
2. Freakonomics – S. Levitt & S. Dubner (a fresh and quirky outlook on economics)
3. Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science – B. Malkiel & C. Wheelan (economic issues in plain
English – particularly relevant to Units 2 & 5)
4. Economics: The User’s Guide – HJ Chang (an easily accessible overview of the main aspects of the subject)
5. The Logic of Life – T. Harford: Uncovering the New Economics of Everything (the sequel to The
Undercover Economist – a very entertaining writer)
6. Economics: A Very Short Introduction (a quick overview of the history and main concepts of the subject)
7. Free Lunch: Easily digestible Economics – David Smith (a quick overview of AS topics)
Heavier Going (But Thoroughly Enthralling!)
1. Happiness: Lessons From a New Science – R. Leyard (an analysis of whether the current drive toward
greater wealth is in fact making us happier people)
2. Thinking Fast and Slow – D. Kahneman (a look into how do our minds work and how we make decisions)
3. The Big Questions – SE Landsburg (tackling the problems of Philosophy with ideas from Mathematics,
Economics & Physics)
4. The Big Short – M. Lewis (story of how those who saw it coming actually benefited from the financial crisis
in 2008)
5. Boomerang – M. Lewis (country by country assessment of the Eurozone crisis and how it all came to be)
6. Too Big to Fail – Andrew Sorkin (an analysis of how Wall Street fought to save the financial system and
themselves)
7. The Age of Turbulance: Adventure in a New World – A. Greenspan (an autobiography of one of the most
influential economists of the last 20 years)
8. Milton Friedman: A Biography – A. Ebenstein (a look into the personal circumstances leading to this great
economist’s theories)
9. John Maynard Keynes: Economist, Philosopher, Statesman (a sympathetic account of the life and
influences of a passionate visionary whose ideas remain even today at the centre of political and
economic discussion)
10. The Affluent Society – J.K. Galbraith (the economics of abundance - challenges why we worship work and
productivity when so much of what we produce is superfluous)
11. The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest have Done So Much Ill and So Little
Good – W. Easterly (a critique of aid from the richest to the poorest countries)
12. Development as Freedom – A. Sen (an examination of why this era of enormous opulence and prosperity
sees so many still living without freedom)
13. The Bottom Billion: Why the poorest countries are failing – P Collier
14. Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet – J. Sachs (an analysis of sustainability for the 21st
century)
15. Poor Story: An Insider Uncovers How Globalisation and Good Intentions Have Failed the World’s Poor – G.
Bolton
16. Globalisation and its Discontents – J. Stiglitz (discussion of the IMF’s role in perpetuating difficulty for the
developing world)
17. Thinking Stategically – Dixit & Nalebuff (the application of Game Theory to getting ahead in life)
18. Predictably Irrational: Hidden forces that shape our decisions – D Ariely (an introduction to behavioural
Economics)
Tutor2u’s Reading List
1. Animal Spirits (Akerlof and Shiller) ISBN: 978-0-691-14233-3
2. Art of Strategy (Dixit and Nalebuff) ISBN: 978-0-393-06243-4
3. Development as Freedom: (Amartya Sen): ISBN: 0192893300
4. Drunkard’s Walk (Leonard Mlodinow) ISBN: 0713999225
5. Economics – Short Introduction: (Partha Dasgupta): ISBN: 0192853457
6. How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities (John Cassidy) ISBN: 1846143004
7. How we Decide: (Jonah Lehrer) ISBN 978-0-618-62011-1
8. Keynes – the Return of the Master (Skidelsky) ISBN: 184614258X
10. Meltdown – the end of the age of greed (Paul Mason) ISBN: 1844673960
11. New Ideas from Dead Economists (Todd Buchholz) ISBN: 0452288444
12. Origins of Virtue (Matt Ridley) ISBN: 0140244042
14. Prophet of Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and Creative Destruction (TK McCraw) ISBN: 0674025237
15. Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 (Krugman) ISBN: 1846142393
16. The Ascent of Money (Niall Ferguson) ISBN: 014103548X
17. The Big Questions: Tackling the Problems of Philosophy with Ideas from Mathematics, Economics and
Physics (Stephen Landsburg) ISBN: 143914821X
19. Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies: Other Pricing Puzzles (McKenzie) ISBN: 0387769994
20. Worldly Philosophers (Robert Heilbroner) ISBN: 0140290060
Revision:
1. Student Unit Guides: Units 3&4 – Philip Allan Updates (can’t recommend these enough)
2. Anforme: The Year in Review and Revision Guide (a great summary of the year’s economic news as it
relates to the syllabus)