A Christmas Reading List in Economics for 2010

Here is my own selection of twelve books for the ambitious sixth form economics student. Some of them are on my must-read list during the Christmas holidays (among them the Puritan Gift and Rajan’s new book – Fault Lines).

I hope there is a sufficient mix here from the updated version of Meltdown (Paul Mason’s rugged journalism on Newsnight has been a highlight throughout the year) to stunning new works on the demise of Soviet-style planned economies and life in North Korea – both highly pertinent today. John Cassidy’s book came out in 2009 and I remember reading it from cover to cover last Christmas. But it is as relevant today as then not least given the events in the Euro Zone last spring and this autumn.

1. The Puritan Gift: Reclaiming the American Dream Amidst Global Financial Chaos (Kenneth and William Hopper)

2. The Economics of Enough: How to Run the Economy as If the Future Matters (Diane Coyle), forthcoming – spring 2011

3. Red Plenty: Industry! Progress! Abundance! Inside the Fifties’ Soviet Dream. (Francis Spufford)

4. The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves. (Matt Ridley)

5. Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation. (Steven Johnson)

6. Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay (John Lanchester)

7. The Upside of Irrationality (Dan Ariely)

8. Meltdown (new edition) (Paul Mason)

9. The Fearful Rise of Markets: Short View of Global Bubbles and Synchronised Meltdowns (John Authers)

10. Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea (Barbara Demick)

11. Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy (Raghuram Rajan) FT/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year for 2010

12. How Markets Fail (John Cassidy)

Unit 2 Macro: Evaluation on Supply-Side Policies [21 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Migration and the UK Economy [20 May 2012]
Revision notes on unemployment [20 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision Presentation on Government Intervention [16 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision Presentation on the Price Mechanism [16 May 2012]
Improving Evaluation Skills in Economics Exams [16 May 2012]
Final Speaker Line Up for the Economics Teacher Conference 2012 [15 May 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: African Human Development Report 2012 [15 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision Blogs on Markets and Intervention [10 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: 10 Key Revision Topics for EdExcel [7 May 2012]
Exam Technique for Economics - Weesteps to Evaluation [5 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Using the Cost-Benefit Principle [30 Apr 2012]
Macro Revision: Putting Things in Context [29 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Key Diagrams for Business Economics [17 Apr 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Managing the Global Commons - Limits to GDP [15 Apr 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Mini Documentary on Financial Instability [15 Apr 2012]
Ukraine Hotel ‘Bandits’? [12 Apr 2012]
Government Intervention in the Energy Market [11 Apr 2012]
Football Clubs to Pay for Negative Externalities [11 Apr 2012]
2012 Economics Revision: Ways to Improve your Paper [9 Apr 2012]
Twitter - Help with Economics Revision [8 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Inflation and the Business Environment [6 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: How the Economic Cycle affects Businesses [6 Apr 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Evaluating 3 Years of Quantitative Easing [27 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Highest and Lowest Paid Jobs in the UK [26 Feb 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: King on the UK Economy [15 Feb 2012]
Competitiveness [8 Feb 2012]
Teaching vacancy - Economics & Business Studies, Reed’s School - Cobham, Surrey [19 Jan 2012]
AS and A2 Economics Revision Workshops in Spring 2012 (update) [16 Jan 2012]
Revision Presentation: Economics Evaluation Skills [10 Jan 2012]
Exam Advice: 10 Ideas for a Better Economics Paper [10 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Factors Driving Business Investment [10 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Natural Disasters and their Economic Impact [7 Jan 2012]
AS and A2 Economics - 10 Ways to Improve Evaluation [4 Jan 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Prezi on the Economics of Negative Externalities [2 Jan 2012]
Resources on Keynes and Hayek [27 Dec 2011]
Introduction to Neuroeconomics - Fusing Psychology with Economics [16 Dec 2011]
Rory Sutherland at Zeitgeist [1 Dec 2011]
Oxbridge: Getting into Oxbridge Mode [30 Nov 2011]
Behavioural Economics: Herd Behaviour [28 Nov 2011]
Some Practice Interview Questions [27 Nov 2011]
Stephen King - Great Article on Macroeconomics [22 Nov 2011]
Beyond the Bike - The Value of Money [19 Nov 2011]
LSE Lecture: Daniel Kahneman - Thinking Fast and Slow [15 Nov 2011]
LSE lecture: Darwin economy [13 Nov 2011]
Economics Resources - Week Ended 6 November 2011 [6 Nov 2011]
Is happiness the right measure of social progress? [20 Oct 2011]
Why Is Macroeconomics Such A Mess? [11 Oct 2011]
Fat tax: Denmark [5 Oct 2011]
UK Macro: Risks of a Double Dip Recession [12 Sep 2011]
Starter Video: The Slums of Manilla [11 Sep 2011]
50% tax rates - Chuck it George [7 Sep 2011]
NHS spending good, private provision bad? [5 Sep 2011]
Mixing with the Nobel Economists [4 Sep 2011]
Toilet rolls, soap and climate change [1 Sep 2011]
John Kay on the future of Economics [26 Aug 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: GDP per person since the credit crunch [19 Aug 2011]
Beyond the Bike - Video of the First Two Weeks [8 Aug 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: The Price of Football [2 Aug 2011]
Economics 1 Manchester United 0 [20 Jul 2011]
Tech & Pop Culture in Teaching Economics [17 Jul 2011]
Beyond the Bike - Stuart’s Epic Economic Cycle [17 Jul 2011]
7 Reasons why Teachers should Blog [7 Jul 2011]
tutor2u June 2011 Economics Teacher Conference [18 Jun 2011]
Connecting to Digital Natives (and some great ads!) [17 Jun 2011]
RES Essay Competition 2011 - Shortlisted Essays [13 Jun 2011]
Shaping the Future - Blanchflower on the UK Economy [7 Jun 2011]
Economics Teachers on Twitter [6 Jun 2011]
Poor Economics - Esther Duflo at the LSE [3 Jun 2011]
AS Macro: Preparing for Unit 2 (May 2011) [25 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Supply-Side Policies [25 May 2011]
AQA A2 Economics - European Context [23 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Competition and Efficiency [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation and Economic Policies [18 May 2011]
UK Economy Update: What Mervyn Said [11 May 2011]
Review of “Adapt” by Tim Harford [9 May 2011]
Economics Resources & CPD - Your Suggestions Welcome [9 May 2011]
Dominos Pizza turns to Behavioural Economics [5 May 2011]
AS Micro: Rising Global Food Prices [2 May 2011]
Video Clips on the Chinese Economy [1 May 2011]
EU Enlargement - Evaluating the Impact [30 Apr 2011]
AS and A2 Macro Revision: Keynesian Economics [28 Apr 2011]
A2 Micro: EU Aviation - State Aid and State Ownership [28 Apr 2011]
Economics Recommended Reading - Summer 2011 [26 Apr 2011]
AS and A2 Macro Revision: The China Effect [26 Apr 2011]
Royal Economic Society Essay Competition [23 Apr 2011]
A2 Macro: Twin Deficits [22 Apr 2011]
AS Micro Revision: Public and Private Goods [21 Apr 2011]
Fantastic short piece on nudges and shoves! [19 Apr 2011]
UK Economy at a Glance April 2011 [17 Apr 2011]
Key AS Micro Terms: Economic Efficiency [16 Apr 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Information Failure [15 Apr 2011]
Online Economics Revision Help [13 Apr 2011]
Tracking the effects of the recession on GDP [5 Apr 2011]
Tutor2u Visits Madrid! [4 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Revision - Key Term Revision Bank [1 Apr 2011]
AS Micro Revision - Key Term Revision Bank [1 Apr 2011]
Progress towards low carbon economic growth [18 Mar 2011]
Resources from the Business/Economics ICT event [5 Mar 2011]
Google Docs - Macroeconomic Performance [1 Mar 2011]

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