Must Read Books for Aspiring Economists (Main)

One of the best ways to discover your particular passion in the field of economics is to read a range of books. This list, while by no means an exhaustive study of the best economic texts, contains a mix of classic and contemporary works that will give you a historical understanding of economics as well as an idea of how modern economics are applied today.

Introductions to Economics

• Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
  In Freakonomics, authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner unpack how people respond to incentives by investigating seemingly non-economic subjects like how parents pick names for their children and even how the legalization of abortion could be responsible for a drop in crime. Provocative and entertaining, Freakonomics is a crash course in the populist application of economics.
• The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life, Steven E. Landsburg
  Steven Landsburg argues that economics can be boiled down to four words: people respond to incentives. The book gives readers a layman's introduction to economics through incentives and their implications, good and bad, and how all aspects of our life are influenced by them. The Armchair Economist is also a good introduction to the so-called "Chicago school" of economics, of which Landsburg is himself a member.
• Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science, Charles Wheelan
  If you are looking for a refresher in economics or an introduction to the broad strokes of the subject, Naked Economics is for you. Charles Wheelan starts with one basic premise, that people seek to maximize their utility, and expands into a larger exploration of free market theory and its implications.
• Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics, Richard H. Thaler
  In Misbehaving, Richard Thaler examines how the "rational actor" assumption often used in economic theory misunderstands how humans think and act. The book focuses on how human misbehavior has consequences that appear no matter how large or small a decision appears to be. Misbehaving is an impressive account of the major development in behavioral economics over the last half-century.