Reading list for students entering into their First Year
The programme at Level 1 does not rely on one particular text book for each module,
with the exception being Understanding Business and Financial Information (see below).
The lists below are hence indicative of the text books that will feed into the modules at
Level 1.
Module: Microeconomics
Sloman, J. (2009). Economics, London: Pearson.
Goodwin, N., Nelson, J., Ackerman, F. and Weisskopf, T., (2008). Microeconomics in
Context, New York: ME Sharpe.
Jacques, I. (2003). Mathematics for Economics and Business, London: Addison-Wesley.
Bradley, T. (2010) Essential Mathematics for Economics and Business, London: Wiley.
Morris, C. (1995). Essential Mathematics: A Refresher Course for Business and Social
Studies, London: Macmillan.
Soper, J. (1999). Mathematics for Economics and Business, Oxford: Blackwell
Module: Macroeconomics
Sloman, J. (2009). Economics, London: Financial Times-Prentice Hall.
Gartner, M. (2009). Macroeconomics, London: Financial Times-Prentice Hall.
Goodwin, N., Nelson, J. and Harris, J. (2008). Macroeconomics in Context, New York: ME
Sharpe.
Burda, M. and Wyplosz, C. (2009). Macroeconomics: A European Text, Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Begg, D., Fischer, S. and Dornbusch, S. (2011). Macroeconomics, New York: McGrawHill.
Bradley, T. (2010). Essential Mathematics for Economics and Business, London: Wiley.
Module: Statistics and Data Management
Bradley, T. (2010). Essential Statistics for Economics, Business and Management,
London: Wiley.
Bryman, A. and Bell, E. (2011). Business Research Methods, Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Barrow, M. (2001). Statistics for Economics, Accounting and Business Studies, London:
Pearson
Module: Developing Economic Thinking
Boumans, M. and Davis, J. (2010). Economic Methodology: Understanding Economics as
a Science, London: Palgrave.
Burns, T. and Sinfield, S. (2008). Essential study skills: the complete guide to success at
university, Sage
Hart, C. (1998) Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research
Imagination, London: Sage
Hall, P. (1989). The political power of economic ideas: Keynesianism across the nations,
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Harrison, M. (2005). Introduction to Business & Management Ethics, London: Palgrave.
Locke, L.F., Silverman, S.J. & Spirduso, W.W. (1998). Reading and Understanding
Research, London: Sage.
Whitley, R. (2000). The Intellectual and Social Organization of the Sciences, Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Module: Becoming a Practical Economist
Burns, T. Sinfield, S. (2008). Essential study skills: the complete guide to success at
university, Sage
Cottrell, S. (2008). The Study Skills Handbook - Palgrave Study Guides, London:
Palgrave Macmillan
Cottrell, S (2011). Critical Thinking Skills: Developing Effective Analysis and Argument Palgrave Study Skills, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cottrell, S (2010). Skills for Success: The Personal Development Planning Handbook Palgrave Study Skills, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Module: Understanding Business and Financial Information
RECOMMENDED TEXT IS McLaney, E. and Atrill, P. (2010): Accounting: An
Introduction (5th Edition). Prentice Hall.
Below is a list of other Books you might like to read over the summer break (read only
one or two at most!).
Daniel Kahneman
'Thinking, Fast and Slow' – Nobel Prize winner and behavioural economist.
George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller
'Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for
Global Capitalism' (New in Paper, 2010) Paperback selling at around £7 new on
Amazon. Relates to financial crisis and behavioral economics.
Dan Ariely
'Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions'
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
'The Black Swan', Penguin 2007. Talks about statistics and how models are incorrect in
assuming outliers are highly unlikely to occur. He book has important implications for
risk strategy and assessment.
Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
'Superfreakonomics' and/or 'Freakonomics',
Larry Elliot & Dan Atkinson:
Fantasy Island;
The Gods that Failed: how blind faith in markets has cost us our future.
Tim Harford
The Undercover Economist
The Logic of Life
Why success starts with failure
Joseph Stiglitz
Economics for a crowded planet
Making Globalisation Work
Diane Coyle
Sex, Drugs and Economics
The Soulful Economist
The Economics of Enough
Edmund Conway
50 Economic Ideas: You Really Need to Know
John Kay
The Truth about Markets
Paul Collier
The Bottom Billion
The Plundered Planet: How to reconcile Prosperity with Nature
Other reading
As an undergraduate of economics it is important that you keep up to date with
developments across the world – to this end please get in the habit of reading at least
one of the following national papers
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Financial Times,
Guardian,
Independent,
The Times,
The Telegraph,
Observer,
Independent on Sunday
The Sunday Times.
Both the Observer and the Sunday Times usually offer good in-depth analysis of
current events (e.g. the Sovereign Debt problems confronting Europe and food price
spikes).
Useful Websites
Most of the above national newspapers can be viewed online for free. Other
websites that economists should be familiar with include:
www.worldbank.org
www.imf.org
www.ons.gov.uk
www.ifs.org.uk
www.cep.lse.ac.uk
www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
www.economist.com
www.washingtonpost.com