Inspired by @Aardvark's post today, and at @grayruby's encouragement, here's my recommended reading list to have a strong grasp of basic economics.
Leave your favorites in the comments, or just tell me that I left out something important. My aim, though, is to get to the mountain top as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
This is pretty close to the universal answer to the "Where should I start?" question. Clear and concise, Hazlitt gets right to the point that economics is about tradeoffs and illustrates the idea through several evergreen examples.
Man, Economy, and State by Murray Rothbard
This treatise comprehensively covers the basic concepts of economics (prices, production, supply, demand, etc.). Rothbard is a very clear writer and uses simple graphs and tables to illustrate his points.
Human Action by Ludwig von Mises
From a previous post about Human Action
In my mind, this is the treatise on economics. Nowhere else will you find the underlying philosophical framework laid out so thoroughly. Some people really don't care about the philosophy (including most economists), but I find it fascinating.
I recommend reading them in this order, with some caveats:
- If you've been hanging around these parts for a while, you can probably skip the first one. It is short, though, and a pleasant read, so you may as well take an afternoon to read it.
- If you're more philosophically inclined, you might just jump straight to Human Action. It covers a lot of the same ground as Rothbard, but generally does so from a more grounded philosophical perspective. Most people seem to find this more challenging though and prefer the more conventional treatment from Rothbard as their introduction.
- Rothbard was Mises' successor, so there are some points where he corrects or refines Mises' arguments. In my suggested order, you get the corrected version first, which is a little awkward.