list of economics books

This is a list of important
publications in economics,
organized by field.
Some reasons why a particular
publication might be regarded as
important:
Topic creator – A
publication that created a new
topic
Breakthrough – A
publication that changed
scientific knowledge
significantly
Introduction – A publication
that is a good introduction or
survey of a topic
Influence – A publication
which has significantly
influenced the world
Latest and greatest – The
current most advanced result
in a topic
Macroeconomics
Among the most important list
of publication in economics are:
The Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith
An Inquiry into the Nature
and Causes of the Wealth of
Nations, 1776.
Online version
Description: The book is
usually considered to be the
beginning of modern
economics. It begins with a
discussion of the Industrial
Revolution. Later it critiques the
mercantilism and a synthesis of
the emerging economic thinking
of his time. It is mostly known
due to the idea of The Invisible
Hand which is an often quoted
phrase from the book. Its
meaning is that people will
unintentionally improve their
community through pursuit of
their own wants and needs. The
Butcher, the Baker, and the
Brewer provide goods and
services to each other out of self-
interest; the unplanned result of
this division of labor is a better
standard of living for all three.
Importance: Topic creator,
Breakthrough, Influence,
Introduction
Das Kapital
Karl Marx
Das Kapital, 1867
Capital, Volume I: The
Process of Production of
Capital
Capital, Volume II: The
Process of Circulation of
Capital
Capital, Volume III: The
Process of Capitalist
Production as a Whole
Capital, Volume IV: Theories
of Surplus-Value
Annotations, Explanations
and Clarifications to Capital
.
Description: Das Kapital is a
political-economic treatise by Karl
Marx. Marx wrote this critical
analysis of capitalism and of the
political economy from the
perspective of historical
materialism, the view that
history can be understood as a
sequence of modes of
production in which exploiting
classes extract an economic
surplus from exploited classes.
Importance: Breakthrough,
Influence
General Theory of
Employment, Interest and
Money
John Maynard Keynes,
General Theory of
Employment, Interest and
Money
, 1936
Description: In this book,
Keynes put forward a theory
based upon the notion of
aggregate demand to explain
variations in the overall level of
economic activity, such as were
observed in the Great
Depression. The total income in a
society is defined by the sum of
consumption and investment;
and in a state of unemployment
and unused production capacity,
one can only enhance
employment and total income
by first increasing expenditures
for either consumption or
investment.
Importance: Topic creator,
Breakthrough, Influence
Microeconomics
Value and Capital
John R. Hicks
Oxford, Clarendon Press,
1939, 2nd ed.
Description: See Importance.
Importance: The book built on
ordinal utility and mainstreamed
the now-standard distinction
between the substitution effect
and the income effect for an
individual in demand theory in
the 2-good case. It generalized
analysis to the case of one good
and all other goods, that is, the
composite good. It aggregated
individuals and businesses
through demand and supply
across the economy. It
anticipated the aggregation
problem, most acutely for the
stock of capital goods. It
introduced general equilibrium
theory to an English-speaking
audience, refined the theory, and
for the first time attempted a
rigorous statement of stability
conditions for general
equilibrium.
Theory of Games and
Economic Behavior
John Von Neumann and
Oskar Morgenstern
Princeton University Press,
1944
Description: The book by the
mathematician John von
Neumann and economist Oskar
Morgenstern. It contained a
mathematical theory of
economic and social
organization, based on a theory
of games of strategy.
This is now a classic work, upon
which modern-day game theory
is based. Game theory has since
been widely used to analyze real-
world phenomena from arms
races to optimal policy choices of
presidential candidates, from
vaccination policy to major
league baseball salary
negotiations. It is today
established, both throughout the
social sciences and in a wide
range of other sciences.
Importance: Topic creator,
Influence
Mathematical economics
Foundations of Economic
Analysis
Paul A. Samuelson
Harvard University Press
(1947, Enlarged ed. 1983)
The book showed how
operationally meaningful
theorems can be described with
a small number of analogous
methods, thus providing “a
general theory of economic
theories.” It moved mathematics
out the of appendices (as in John
R. Hicks’s Value and Capital)) and
helped change how standard
economic analysis across
subjects could be done with the
same mathematical methods.
Importance and Influence:
Accelerated change in standard
methods
Econometrics
A New Framework for
Testing Rationality and
Measuring Aggregate
Shocks Using Panel Data
Davies, A. and Lahiri, K.
Journal of Econometrics 68:
205-227, 1995.
Description:
Importance:
Cointegration and Error
Correction: Representation,
Estimation and Testing
Granger, Clive William James
and Engle, R. F.
Econometrica, 55(2), March,
pp. 251-276, 1987.
Description:
Importance:
Handbook of Econometrics
Griliches, Zvi and Intrigilator,
M. D. (eds.)
Handbook of Econometrics,
Five volumes (Amsterdam:
North-Holland), 1984.
Description:
Importance:
Analysis of Panel Data
Hsiao, C.
Econometric Society
Monograph, 1986.
Description:
Importance:
Distribution of the Estimators
for Autoregressive Time
Series with a Unit Root
Dickey, D. A. and Fuller, W. A
Journal of the American
Statistical Association 74:
427–431, 1979.
Description: Describes the
Dickey–Fuller test.
Importance:
The Standard Error of
Regressions
Deirdre McCloskey and
Stephen T. Ziliak[1]
Journal of Economic
Literature
34: 97-114, 1996.
Description: Emphasizes the
difference between statistical
significance and economic
significance, and shows that the
understanding is not clear in a
review of papers from The
American Economic Review.
Importance: Raised the caution
against “asterisk economics” in
econometrics to another level.
See McCloskey critique.
Policy Evaluation: A Critique
Lucas , Robert E. Junior
in Brunner, K. and Meltzer, A.
H. (eds.) The Phillips Curve
and Labour Markets, Journal
of Monetary Economics
(Supplement), 1(xx), xx, pp.
19-46, 1976.
Description:
Importance:
Behavioral economics
Advances in Behavioral
Economics
Camerer, C., Loewenstein, G.,
and M. Rabin.
Princeton (NJ), Princeton
University Press, 2003
Description: Definitive one-
volume resource on the field.
Importance: Introduction
Judgment Under Uncertainty:
Heuristics and Biases
Tversky , A., and D.
Kahneman.
Science 185: 1124-31, 1974
Description:
Importance:
Prospect Theory: An
Analysis of Decision Under
Risk
Kahneman, D., and A.
Tversky.
Econometrica 47: 263-91,
1979.
Description: In this article,
Prospect theory, a descriptive
theory of choices under
uncertainty, is introduced,
bringing together ideas from
psychology (framing and
probability weighting) and
economics (expected utility).
Importance: Topic creator,
Breakthrough
Experimental economics
Behavioral Game Theory
Camerer, C.F.
Princeton (NJ), Princeton
University Press, 2003.
Description: A new and
insightful handbook for
advanced experimental and
behavioral economics students.
Importance: Introduction
The Handbook of
Experimental Economics
Kagel, J. H. and Roth, A. E.
(eds.)
Princeton (NJ), Princeton
University Press, 1995.
Description: The most
influential experimental
economics handbook.
Importance: Introduction,
Influence
Finance
Portfolio Theory
Harry Markowitz
“Portfolio Selection”, Journal
of Finance, 7 (1),1952, 77-91.
Description: Development of
the utility framework which
shows an optimum can be
reached using a portfolio of
investments. In effect the first
real proof that you should not
put all your eggs in one basket.
Importance: Precursor to most
modern portfolio theory work in
finance.
Capital asset pricing model
William Forsyth Sharpe
“Capital asset prices: A theory
of market equilibrium under
conditions of risk”, Journal of
Finance, 19 (3), 1964, 425-442
Description: Development of
the Capital asset pricing model
used to determine appropriate
prices for assets.
Importance: Topic creator,
Influence
The pricing of options and
corporate liabilities
Fischer Black and Myron
Scholes
“The Pricing of Options and
Corporate Liabilities” Journal
of Political Economy 81, 1973,
637–654.
Description: It developed the
Black-Scholes model for
determining the price of options,
in particular stock options. The
use of the Black-Scholes formula
has become pervasive in
financial markets, and has been
extended by numerous
refinements.
Importance: Breakthrough,
Influence
Political economy
The Theory of Moral
Sentiments
Adam Smith
The Theory of Moral
Sentiments
, 1759.
Online version
Description: Provides the
ethical, philosophical,
psychological and
methodological underpinnings to
Smith’s later works.
Importance: Topic creator,
Influence
Principles of Political
Economy and Taxation
David Ricardo
On the Principles of Political
Economy and Taxation
, 1817.
Online version
Description: Elaborates, clarifies
and corrects previous theories,
and adds important new
concepts
Importance: Breakthrough,
influence (esp on Marx),
broadened scientific foundations
of economics
Progress and Poverty
Henry George
Progress and Poverty, 1879.
Online version
Description: Describes how
poverty in the midst of plenty
results from unequal rights to
use natural resources, and
declining wages in the face of
increasing labor productivity
results from the Law of Rent
Importance: Influence,
Breakthrough
Socioeconomics
Ecological economics
Natural Capitalism
Consumer theory
Economics and Consumer
Theory, Deaton & Muellbauer,
Cambridge.
Production theory
Industrial organization
The theory of Industrial
Organisation
Tirole, Jean
Description:
Importance:
Industrial Organization
Shy
Description:
This is an advanced
undergraduate text that does not
require knowledge of calculus
(although some prior knowledge
would be an advantage) or of
game theory. The text covers
many of the basic ideas and
theorems of game theory and
industrial organisation, with
some more advanced
applications at the end of the text.
Importance:
Industrial Organisation
Pepal
Description:
Importance:
Industrial organisation – a
strategic approach
Church/Ware
Description:
Importance:
Sunk costs and industry
structure
Sutton
Description:
Importance:
Managerial economics
Png, Ivan (2002), Managerial
Economics, 2nd edition,
Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Png, Ivan (2005), Managerial
Economics, Asia-Pacific
edition, Singapore: Pearson
Education Asia.
Development economics
The Theory of Economic
Growth (1955) Arthur Lewis
Description: First modern
Development Economics text
book.
Importance: Introduction
Development
microeconomics (1999)
Pranab Bardhan and
Christopher Udry, Oxford
Description: Widely used text
book.
Importance: Introduction
Development
macroeconomics – Pierre-
Richard Agénor and Peter J.
Montiel.
Description: Widely used text
book.
Importance: Introduction
Development Economics
through the Decades: A
Critical Look at 30 Years of the
World Development Report
(2009) – Shahid Yusuf.
Description: examines the last
30 years of development
economics, viewed through the
World Bank’s World
Development Reports.
The End of Poverty:
Economic Possibilities for our
time (2005) Jeffrey Sachs
Welfare economics
The Economics of Welfare
Arthur Cecil Pigou
The Economics of Welfare,
4th ed. 1932
The Economics of Welfare
Description: Pigou was the one
of the most influential
economists that dealt with
Welfare economics. He
developed the idea of Pigovian
tax.
Importance: Topic creator,
Breakthrough, Influence
Transport economics
Health economics
The Economics of Health and
Health Care
Folland S., Goodman AC. and
Stano M.
(4th edition). New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, 2001.
Description: The standard
health economics textbook in
most leading universities. It
assumes some background
knowledge in economics.
Importance: Introduction.
Handbook of Health
Economics
Culyer AJ. and Newhouse JP.
(eds)
Volumes 1A and 1B. Elsevier:
Amsterdam, 2000.
Description: The most
comprehensive available
collection of essays on
contemporary health economics.
Advanced readers will appreciate
its mathematical rigor. Those
who are seeking research or
dissertation topics should find
this two-volume set to be an
invaluable resource.