Economics 101 Please advise

[freethought]

There are times that I feel luck an idiot with all of this economic jargon flowing around here. Alot of DUers appear to be well-versed and have a strong understanding of economics.
If one could suggest one or two good books on economics for a layman what would it be? I am looking to learn.

Thanx

[el_gato]

1. i suggest reading this

http://www.dieoff.org/page242.htm

[felonious thunk]

2. Go to your local community college bookstore

and get an intro text book for a 100 level class. That's the best source of non-biased information I can think of. Make sure it has micro and macro sections. It will give you a good foundation for understanding, and then you can go on to more advanced economic books and have a better idea of what's going on.

[Code_Name_D]

3. But beware!

Some text books are not accurate. A lot of them are tainted with supply side mythology, and have no more buisnes being text books than text books on evolution writen by creatonists. And some of the more questonle books are used by the Ive-leages.

I think Reaper knows a few of the more reliable text books to pick from.

[felonious thunk]

6. You have to understand what supply side is in order to refute it

If you simply hide from supply side theory, you won't get a proper appreciatition for its faulty logic. Though it's been proven invalid, it obviously still has adherents (even if it's only a cloak to hide their true motives), and solid understanding of it is important along side demand based market theory.

[Code_Name_D]

7. True, but

It was a former Harverd student told me that the best way to tell the difrence, is that if you can understand it, it's ligit, if its compleicated, it's supply side. If it's simple, than its supply side propaganda.

The problem is, how do you know what is true, and what isn't, when you are just starting to learn about the basics. There is only one way, question it. But that requires an invironment of debate. Eather with other students or instructors. And that was this student's frustration. Haverd was not a true university in his thinking. It was a sit down, sut up, and obsorbe what the teacher tells you. (He ended up dropping out of Harverd, and was looking for another "non-ive" university to study under. He wanted to be a historical economist.)

To learn economics, you have to learn the real thing. Not waste your time with pretenders.

And as for "learning the supply side propaganda," that is a fools errand. It changes constantly, from year to year, even week to week. Some times evavalving from older works, other times being constructed from whole cloth, then being deseminated through the think tanks and TV pundrity, as if it was ligit. Most of it desimenates from Congress ironicly.

I am not saying to get questonble books at all. Just that you need to be suspicus and questoning of every thing you read. The real thing will imbrace the scruity.

[EconomicsDude]

4. Yeah...

...that is probably the best starting point.

Oh, and no there will unlikely be any stuff on supply side theory. Supply side isn't even really a school of economic thought such as the Keynesian, neo-Keynesian, New Classical, Real Businsess Cycle, Endogenous growth theory, etc.

[Code_Name_D]

5. Those are the books I am talking about.

Economics Dude is only half corect. There is no "Supply side thiory." No ligitemate one any way. But nore is "neo-Keynesian" or "New Classical" considerd to be ligit thiory eather. And all though EconomicDude will beat the protest drum extremly loud with this, the "thiroyes" mentioned are ALL examples of supply side mythologys.

The key ellmeint with supply side is that "investments into capacity" comes first, and demand is built by "creating new markets" to meat the new supply. In other words, a "build it, and they will come" mentality.

The problem is that when this demand failes to matirlize or drops off, you have just created a bubble economey.

Genuwen economic buisnes models focuse on the notion of "find a need, and fill it." That is, find existing demand for goods or servises not being filled, or not being adiquetly filled.

[EconomicsDude]

9. Yes,

every thoery is actually supply side theory, but Cody's crackpot theories.

In fact, there isn't really any economics, simply supply side economics as all economics is nothing but apologies for supply side policies. :eyes:

[Catfish]

8. I agree.

There are some good Intro. textbooks. I still have mine and occasionally refer to it for some good examples of basic principles.