I would like to write some articles to recommend some books to economics students. Each time I would like to recommend one book only and I may post several these articles later. Before introducing the books, however, I want to explain why I may recommend some books but not others. In fact, some other books (e.g. Steven Levitt's Freakonomics) are perhaps much more well known but I do not recommend them in this blog. This is NOT because I think these books are not good. It is simply because I do not think they satisfy my goal.
What's my goal, then? My goal is to teach economics. I do classroom teaching. But I also understand that classroom teaching has its constraints. Reading books can sometimes do what can't be done by classroom teaching, but is conducive to economics learning.
Classroom teaching provides more rigorous introduction to economics concepts but formal teaching is often boring. Though some interesting examples can be given in class, time is not sufficient for too many these examples without cutting down many important formal concepts. At this point, reading can help. It can focus on introducing interesting examples with fewer constraints on formality. However, it lacks the incentives that can only be provided by classroom teaching. The latter gives scores and grades to students who want them. To induce reading without the rewards from grades, book authors have to write them in an attractive style, making reading in itself be enjoyable. That's exactly what classroom teaching lacks. As you can see, classroom teaching and reading are complementary to learning economics.
I recommend books mainly for its complementary aspect to teaching or self-learning. If the books are good complements in this aspect, I am happy to recommend. If not, though the books may be good in other aspects, I won't recommend them in this blog. That's the principle I use here for my recommendations.
Now, it should be clear why I do not recommend Freakonomics here. Obviously this is a good book, and I know many students are aware of this book. However, this book is devoted to showcasing how ingenious use of statistics can demonstrate some unexpected economics principles behind. These economics principles behind are often not the ones to be learned in a first course. The statistical skills demonstrated are also a far cry from junior economics students' knowledge. Hence, interesting as this book would be, I do not think it is a good complement of teaching at basic level. This does not mean that the book is difficult for first-time economics learners. In fact, the book should be easy enough. But my point is simply that it is not a good complement.
Some students ask me if they should read Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational. This is another popular economics book and bestseller. I do not recommend this book in this blog for a similar reason. This book is about a new branch in economics - behavioural economics. Students normally will not encounter it initially. If they take some advanced courses, perhaps they will be taught something about behavioural economics. But certainly it is a far cry from what junior students will learn. Even though you are simply interested in economics and not concerned with formal teaching, I still think a reasonable way to learn economics is to start from the basic part first. Behavioural economics is the advanced part and a relatively critical part. I do not recommend the readers of this blog to jump to this part of economics before you become familiar with the basics.
Bearing this in mind, I will start recommending some books from the next post.
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