I am excited to see this community here on livejournal

[marissaelyse]

Hello everyone,
I am so excited to see this community here on livejournal! I am an aspiring economic student and plan on pursuing economics as my course of study once I graduate high school. I am stoked that this community is already set up and I look forward to reading posts! I am seriously interested in expanding my knowledge of economic terms and

Comments

[ninboydean]

You appear to be a leftist and interested in economics. That's good since so many ideologues* refuse to actually study the field which would uncover, prove or disprove crucial facets of their idea structures

[tisiphone]

Frustratingly (and as a leftist economist myself) that's true. There are some really good heterodox economists out there though. Sam Bowles comes to mind as someone that integrates ideology and practice well.

[marissaelyse]

I am defiantly going to do some reading up on Sr. Sam Bowles, thanks for the recommendation!

[marissaelyse]

Yay! thank you so much for the reading recommendations! I am still very interested in Marx, not so much because I am a big angry communist yet, I honestly think I am to young and understudied to have such strong opinions, but I know for sure that I disagree with the system I currently live in and that I want to read as much as I can to be an informed intelligent decision maker when I do decide to throw my all into something. Or make something new up on my own that works? lol

[tisiphone]

Welcome :) Believe me, no one would expect you to have any particular level of knowledge! Why are you interested in economics?

[marissaelyse]

I am really interested in Economics because I was so clueless to it for so long! I was seriously in the 11th grade before I took Economics and discovered that I live in a Capitalist country, I am honestly a little out raged no one told me how much that matters sooner! I see Economics as the way we organize our society and the major thing that affects us in our day to day lives, so I guess I am really interested because I want to help take care of my world, I want to change things, I am frustrated by inequality and I see gaining an understanding of economics as my best chance to hopefully help make things more equal for every one

[tisiphone]

Selfishly, because it's interesting :) It ties into all kinds of other fields, too. Right now I'm looking at post-Socialist Europe and how capitalist economics have changed things there, it's really interesting.

[marissaelyse]

I bet that is interesting! I am jealous! what kind of social changes are you seeing with that switch?

[kenosis]

As much as some others are recommending primary sources - Adam Smith, for example - I don't think I'd start learning about economics from those. IMO it's kind of like asking history students to learn about the Roman Empire by reading Tacitus. With all due respect I definitely wouldn't recommend reading the 3 volumes of Capital. That's a thousand pages long of reading a lot of tedium about lots of modern things like, say, 19th century labor organization in the Danubian Principalities. That doesn't mean they're not worth reading. Just maybe not for a rookie.

There are a number of great econ books that are meant for a modern audience that just want to learn more about economics - Naked Economics (Undressing the Dismal Science) is one and, while it's a little old now, Economics in One Lesson is great too. I also liked Tyler Cowen's "Discovering Your Inner Economist" too, and Thomas Sowell has a very readable intro to Economics. I think you can find Economics in One Lesson for free on the internet.

[marissaelyse]

Awesome thank you for the recommendations!
I must agree with you on my ability to better understand some of the more modern writings and overviews... I enjoyed reading Animal Spirits by George. A. Akerlof and Robert J Shiller as well as Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and The Working Poor by David K. Shipler.

I feel as if some of the more direct resources will make better since, and mean more to me in time...

[goumindong]

If you end up reading those, read them for the method and not the prescription. There is a lot in freakanomics which is just plain wrong for instance.

Also, if you read Economics in One Lesson, do it skeptically. Its written by Austrians and well, they are not even close to the heterodox.

[ninboydean]

I can't help noticing that your suggestions for reading are either extremely economically liberal or centrist.

Capital is not very hard in its preliminary remarks, which cover a significant portion of the first volume. And its more than 2000 pages in its full form, but the first 7 chapters - something like 250 pages - are both extremely explanatory and not overly theoretical.

marissaelyse: I have made some basic notes for a study group that has basically died out, but they cover a lot of the basics in the first few chapters of Capital if you want an overview. Once I have soem extra time I intend on ttyping up the next four chapters of notes I've completed as well as going further (on ch. 8 atm).
Capital Ch 1 notes
Capital Ch 2-3 notes

[goumindong]

I am going to step out from the pack a bit here and say that you should read textbooks instead of popular books