Favorite Economics Books to Recommend to Non-Economists

Capitalism and Freedom

Milton Friedman                                                                         

Economics in One Lesson                                 

Henry Hazlitt

The Road to Serfdom

Frederich von Hayek

The Armchair Economist

Steven Landsburg

A Radical’s Guide to Economic Reality  

Angus Black

Murder and the Margin and The Fatal Equilibrium  Marshall Jevons (two murder mysteries)

 William Breit and Kenneth Elzinga

The Worldly Philosophers 

Robert Heilbroner

Hidden Order-The Economics of Everyday Life

David Friedman

Economics as a Science

Kenneth E. Boulding

The Price System and Resource Allocation

Richard H. Leftwich

Note:  Some of these are easy reads and fun; others are neither, but are well worth the effort.  Jevons, Landsburg, Black and Heilbroner are all interesting, but fairly easy reads that hopefully will spark one’s interest in the subject.  Milton Friedman and Hayek may be a bit tedious for some readers, but are always timely reminders of the foundations of, and threats to, freedom.  Hazlitt, David Friedman and Boulding are excellent introductions to some of the many diverse theories and applications of economics as a social science, and Leftwich is for the person who has already developed a significant interest in economics, but now needs to learn more about how the market system is organized and functions.