ISIL Freedom Network: Global > Books > General Economic Theory

Out of Work: Unemployment and Government in 20th Century America
Source: The Independent Institute
Author: Richard K. Vedder and Lowell E. Gallaway
Country: United States

1997 paperback update of work which "relentlessly amasses devastating evidence that the major cause of high unemployment, both cyclical and secular, is government itself."

Makers and Takers
Source: American Liberty Publishers
Author: Edmund Contoski
Country: United States
E-mail: amlibpub@worldnet.att.net

Subtitled "how wealth and progress are made and how they are taken away or prevented," "Makers and Takers" has received positive reviews in both mainstream and free-market publications.

Bionomics: Economy as Ecosystem
Source: Bionomics Institute
Author: Michael Rothschild
Country: United States

The important, influential book that launched the institute. Page offers bits of the book plus online ordering capability. Read the reviews or preview the preface.

Power and Prosperity
Source: Perseus/Amazon.com
Author: Mancur Olson
Country: United States

In his final work, the late Olson addresses the broadest questions of his career: why do some economies perform well and others fail? How do different forms of government affect the economy? Why hasn't a market economy flourished in post-communist Russia? Perseus 2000, hardcover, 233 p., $12.60 from Amazon.

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Others Are So Poor
Source: Laissez Faire Books/W.W. Norton
Author: David S. Landes
Country: United States

Landes surveys the last 2,000 years to show how secure property rights and low taxes promoted extraordinary prosperity (Paperback, 1999, 650 p., Laissez Faire price $15.95).

A History of Economic Thought: The LSE Lectures
Source: Laissez Faire Books
Author: Lionel Robbins
Country: United States

Delivered at the London School of Economics from 1979 to 1981, these famous lectures display Robbins' mastery of the intellectual history of economics, infectious enthusiasm, and eloquence and incisive wit. (Hardback, 359 p., Laissez Faire price $39.95).

Classical Economics Reconsidered
Source: Laissez Faire Books
Author: Thomas Sowell
Country: United States

A must-read introduction to the work of the classical economists and how they helped make the world a better place. (Paperback, 1974, 152 p., Laissez Faire price $12.95)

Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy
Source: Basic Books/Laissez Faire Books
Author: Thomas Sowell
Country: United States

The American Enterprise Institute's Michael Novak: "Voters by the millions ... do not need the equations, graphs, and jargon of textbooks, but the guts of the basic issues. They have waited a long time for this book, by one of the nation's best and most trenchant minds." Basic Books 2001, hardcover, 366 p., $24.00 from Laissez Faire.

The Incredible Bread Machine
Source: Quandary House/Laissez Faire Books
Author: R.W. Grant
Country: United States

Libertarian classic "discusses some of the misconceptions about capitalism, such as the 'robber barons' and the Great Depression. It identifies the three principles of the free society, applying them to contemporary issues." Freedom Book of the Month, 6/99. (Current LFB price $14.95)

Policy Analysis and Public Choice: Selected Papers by William A. Niskanen
Source: Amazon.com/Edward Elgar (Pub.)
Author: William A. Niskanen
Country: United States

This volume is a selection of articles written by William A. Niskanen over the last 30 years, and will be of interest to those interested in public choice, public policy, political economy and political science. (4/98; Amazon price $100)

Institutional Economics: Social Order and Public Policy
Source: Amazon.com/Edward Elgar (Pub.)
Author: Wolfgang Kasper and Manfred E. Streit
Country: United States

Institutional economics is a rapidly growing field, as standard economic explanations fall short in handling complexities of public policy issues. This book is an accessible introduction to the discipline, and to its core issues of private property rights and their competitive use. (4/99; Amazon price $95)

What Do Economists Contribute?
Source: Cato Institute
Author: Daniel B. Klein
Country: United States

The principal theme of this book is that an academic economist today faces a choice between doing good and doing well - that is, between contributing to public discourse on economics or advancing their careers. A call is made for more economic research firmly rooted in public issues, rather than focused upon technical minutia. 1999, 176 pages, US$17.50 paper. Order online at the link provided.

Bureaucracy and Public Economics
Source: Amazon.com/Edward Elgar (Pub.)
Author: William A. Niskanen
Country: United States

This book brings together in one volume the classic book and related articles that put forward the first formal economic theory of the behavior of bureaucracies. (6/1996; Amazon price $30 paper, $85 hardback)

The Government Against the Economy
Source: Laissez Faire Books/Jameson Books
Author: George Reisman
Country: United States

"Government Against the Economy" takes a different approach to economics than usual, and teaches an enormous amount of free market economics in a premium space. Recommended as a bridge between Hazlett's "Economics in One Lesson" and works by von Mises, Hayek, and Rothbard. (Pub. 1979; LFB price $5.00)

Economic Sophisms
Source: LFB/FEE
Author: Frederic Bastiat
Country: United States

An analysis of economic fallacies representing the fear of efficiency and greater production. (Paperback, pub. 1996. LFB price $11.95)

The Economics of Life
Source: McGraw-Hill/Amazon.com
Author: Gary S. Becker and Guity Nashat Becker
Country: United States

Extending well beyond the traditional range of economics, these 138 essays provocatively address modern issues... From legalizing drugs to auctioning off immigration rights, the Beckers do not shy away from advocating controversial changes in public policy and personal behavior. McGraw-Hill 1997, paperback, 329 pp., $10.47 from Amazon.

From Subsistence to Exchange
Source: Princeton University Press/Laissez Faire Books
Author: Peter Bauer
Country: United States

Bauer tears apart the idea that the state makes economies "work," and shows what does: freedom. 2000, pb, 168 pp., $19.95 from Laissez Faire.

Economic Freedom of the World: 2000 Annual Report
Source: The Cato Institute
Author: James Gwartney and Robert Lawson
Country: United States

"This study demonstrates that there is a causal relationship between economic freedom and economic growth." The book ranks countries according to 23 measurements in seven categories of economic freedom. (2000, pb, $22.95)

Millennium Doom
Source: Amazon.co.uk/Timbro/SMF
Author: Mauricio Rojas
Country: Sweden
E-mail: info@timbro.se

Analyzes the myth that a "devastating demise of work" is inevitable in the near future. Technological progress and globalization do not really lead to increased unemployment, but to the creation of more new quality jobs. (1999, Amazon.co.uk price: £10.00)

Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics
Source: Jameson Books/Amazon.com
Author: George Reisman
Country: United States

Described as "a triumphant moral and practical case for free market capitalism", this must-have book for anyone who wishes to understand free-market economics is now available again. Hardcover, pub. 1996, 1046p., $95. from Amazon.

Rethinking Economic Behaviour
Source: IEA
Author: David Simpson
Country: United States

"Presenting the economy as an evolving complex system of interactions among people, where institutions and entrepreneurial behaviour play a central part, [Professor David Simpson] argues that the interactions between millions of individual human beings, coupled with the influence of chance, result in the emergence of orderly patterns of behaviour." (234pp, £35.00) (2000)

Government: Whose Obedient Servant?
Source: IEA
Author: Gordon Tullock, Arthur Seldon and Gordon L. Brady
Country: United States

Three economists provide an account of the theory of public choice and its applications without the technical jargon which makes it difficult for newcomers to appreciate the importance of this branch of economics. 184 pp (Paperback Price £10.00, Limited Edition Hardback Price £15.00)(9/00)

The Mystery of Capital
Source: Basic Books/Laissez Faire Books
Author: Hernando de Soto
Country: United States

This book is a revelation, providing a well-documented and persuasive answer to the dilemma posed in its subtitle: "Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else." Basic Books 2000, hardcover, 276 pp., $19.25 from Laissez Faire Books. Freedom Book of the Month, 12/2000.

Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure
Source: Routledge/Laissez Faire
Author: Roger Garrison
Country: United States

The primary focus of this text is the intertemporal structure of capital and the associated set of issues that have long been neglected in the more conventional labor- and money-based macroeconomics. Routledge 2000, hardcover, 272 p., $29.95 from Laissez Faire.

Entrepreneurial Economics
Source: Independent Institute/LFB
Author: Alexander Tabarrok (Ed.)
Country: United States

"Going to the barricades for economics" in a collection of creative, clever ideas to assorted problems. Scholarly and accessible. (Pub. 4/02; trade paper; 314 pp.; LFB price $24.95)

A plea to economists who favour liberty: assist the everyman
Source: IEA
Author: Daniel B. Klein
Country: United States

Professior Daniel B. Klein concludes that if economists want to be influential in policy-making, they must be willing to communicate with the "Everyman." Scholasticism is valuable in encouraging high research standards, but it has been carried too far in the economics profession, to the detriment of research and training which are relevant to policy. (107pp, £10.00)(07/01)

Culture and Enterprise: The Development, Representation and Morality of Business
Source: The Cato Institute
Author: Don Lavoie and Emily Chamlee-Wright
Country: United States

"In this new Cato Institute book ... two economists argue for an economics that takes into account the important role of culture in a nation's economic development. Cultural factors, while not quantifiable like interest or savings rates, nonetheless exert an enormous influence on whether or how a nation achieves prosperity. Culture matters." (11/01)

The Making of Modern Economics
Source: M.E. Sharpe
Author: Mark Skousen
Country: United States

The first non-dull history of economics. Starting with Adam Smith, it tells you not just about the great economists' ideas, but about their lives and personalities too. Why did Adam Smith burn his clothes? Was Keynes a homosexual? How bad was Marx's poetry? It all makes the great sweep of economic ideas and events come suddenly to life. (776p,, pb, 2000, Amazon price: $20.96.)

Wealth of Nations
Source: Prometheus Books/Laissez Faire Books
Author: Adam Smith
Country: United States

Read a book that influenced America's founding fathers! Still very readable and informative. Abridged version. (Pub. 1991, 590 pp., paperback, LFB price $10.95)

The Poverty of Development Economics
Source: Institute of Economic Afairs
Country: United States

The classic text revised and re-issued. First published in 1983, expanded in 1997, it's a potent critique of the development economics of the early 1980s.

Marketing the revolution
Source: Institute of Economic Affairs
Author: Michael Mosbacher
Country: United Arab Emirates

The arguments and tactics of the antiglobalizing movement are analyzed. (Pub. 6/02, 85 pp., price 10 pounds [British]).

The Ethics of Redistribution
Source: Instituto Liberal-RS
Author: Bertrand de Jouvenel
Country: Brazil

From the Preface: "Socialism was defeated. The historical proof is there: except for North Korea and Cuba, even the nations from the 'socialist fraternity' which, during more than 40 years defied the western democracy, adopted libertarian recipes to get out of the increasing stagnation in which they were falling. Intellectual glasnostalgics, however, refuse to recognize the facts." (01/22/01)

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