List of publications in economics
Encyclopedia
The Wealth of NationsThe Wealth of NationsAn Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, generally referred to by its shortened title The Wealth of Nations, is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith...
- Adam SmithAdam SmithAdam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
- An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776.
- Read it on Wikisource
Description: The book is usually considered to be the beginning of modern economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
. It begins with a discussion of the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
. Later it critiques the mercantilism
Mercantilism
Mercantilism is the economic doctrine in which government control of foreign trade is of paramount importance for ensuring the prosperity and security of the state. In particular, it demands a positive balance of trade. Mercantilism dominated Western European economic policy and discourse from...
and a synthesis of the emerging economic thinking of his time. It is mostly known due to the idea of The Invisible Hand which is an often quoted phrase from the book. Its meaning is that people will unintentionally improve their community through pursuit of their own wants and needs. The Butcher, the Baker, and the Brewer provide goods and services to each other out of self-interest; the unplanned result of this division of labor is a better standard of living for all three.
Importance: Topic creator, Breakthrough, Influence, Introduction
Das KapitalDas KapitalDas Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie , by Karl Marx, is a critical analysis of capitalism as political economy, meant to reveal the economic laws of the capitalist mode of production, and how it was the precursor of the socialist mode of production.- Themes :In Capital: Critique of...
- Karl MarxKarl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
- Das Kapital, 1867
- Das Kapital on Wikisource
- Annotations, Explanations and Clarifications to Capital.
Description: Das Kapital is a political-economic treatise by Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
. Marx wrote this critical analysis of capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
and of the political economy
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
from the perspective of historical materialism, the view that history can be understood as a sequence of modes of production in which exploiting classes extract an economic surplus from exploited classes.
Importance: Breakthrough, Influence
General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
- John Maynard KeynesJohn Maynard KeynesJohn Maynard Keynes, Baron Keynes of Tilton, CB FBA , was a British economist whose ideas have profoundly affected the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics, as well as the economic policies of governments...
, General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, 1936
Description: In this book, Keynes put forward a theory based upon the notion of aggregate demand
Aggregate demand
In macroeconomics, aggregate demand is the total demand for final goods and services in the economy at a given time and price level. It is the amount of goods and services in the economy that will be purchased at all possible price levels. This is the demand for the gross domestic product of a...
to explain variations in the overall level of economic activity, such as were observed in the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The total income in a society is defined by the sum of consumption and investment; and in a state of unemployment and unused production capacity, one can only enhance employment and total income by first increasing expenditures for either consumption or investment.
Importance: Topic creator, Breakthrough, Influence
A Monetary History of the United States
- Milton FriedmanMilton FriedmanMilton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...
and Anna SchwartzAnna SchwartzAnna Jacobson Schwartz is an economist at the National Bureau of Economic Research in New York City, and according to Paul Krugman "one of the world's greatest monetary scholars"...
, A Monetary History of the United States, 1963
Description: Friedman and Schwartz used changes in monetary aggregates to explain business cycle fluctuations in the United States economy.
Importance: Influence
Value and CapitalValue and CapitalValue and Capital is a book by the British economist John Richard Hicks, published in 1939. It is considered a classic exposition of microeconomic theory...
- John R. HicksJohn HicksSir John Richard Hicks was a British economist and one of the most important and influential economists of the twentieth century. The most familiar of his many contributions in the field of economics were his statement of consumer demand theory in microeconomics, and the IS/LM model , which...
- Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1939, 2nd ed.
Description: See Importance.
Importance: The book built on ordinal utility
Ordinal utility
Ordinal utility theory states that while the utility of a particular good or service cannot be measured using a numerical scale bearing economic meaning in and of itself, pairs of alternative bundles of goods can be ordered such that one is considered by an individual to be worse than, equal to,...
and mainstreamed the now-standard distinction between the substitution effect and the income effect
Income effect
In economics, the consumer's preferences, money income and prices play an important role in solving the consumer's optimization problem...
for an individual in demand theory
Consumer theory
Consumer choice is a theory of microeconomics that relates preferences for consumption goods and services to consumption expenditures and ultimately to consumer demand curves. The link between personal preferences, consumption, and the demand curve is one of the most closely studied relations in...
in the 2-good case. It generalized analysis to the case of one good and all other goods, that is, the composite good
Composite good
In economics, demand for a good is often the focus as to a change in its price. A composite good is an abstraction used in economics that represents all goods in the relevant budget besides the one in question.-Purpose:...
. It aggregated individuals and businesses through demand and supply across the economy. It anticipated the aggregation problem
Aggregation problem
An aggregate in economics is a summary measure describing a market or economy. The aggregation problem refers to the difficulty of treating an empirical or theoretical aggregate as if it reacted like a less-aggregated measure, say, about behavior of an individual agent as described in general...
, most acutely for the stock of capital goods. It introduced general equilibrium theory to an English-speaking audience, refined the theory, and for the first time attempted a rigorous statement of stability conditions for general equilibrium.
Theory of Games and Economic BehaviorTheory of Games and Economic BehaviorTheory of Games and Economic Behavior, published in 1944 by Princeton University Press, is a book by mathematician John von Neumann and economist Oskar Morgenstern which is considered the groundbreaking text that created the interdisciplinary research field of game theory...
- John Von NeumannJohn von NeumannJohn von Neumann was a Hungarian-American mathematician and polymath who made major contributions to a vast number of fields, including set theory, functional analysis, quantum mechanics, ergodic theory, geometry, fluid dynamics, economics and game theory, computer science, numerical analysis,...
and Oskar MorgensternOskar MorgensternOskar Morgenstern was a German-born Austrian-School economist. He, along with John von Neumann, helped found the mathematical field of game theory .... - Princeton University Press, 1944
Description: The book by the mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
John von Neumann
John von Neumann
John von Neumann was a Hungarian-American mathematician and polymath who made major contributions to a vast number of fields, including set theory, functional analysis, quantum mechanics, ergodic theory, geometry, fluid dynamics, economics and game theory, computer science, numerical analysis,...
and economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
Oskar Morgenstern
Oskar Morgenstern
Oskar Morgenstern was a German-born Austrian-School economist. He, along with John von Neumann, helped found the mathematical field of game theory ....
. It contained a mathematical theory of economic and social organization, based on a theory of games of strategy.
This is now a classic work, upon which modern-day game theory
Game theory
Game theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others...
is based. Game theory has since been widely used to analyze real-world phenomena from arms race
Arms race
The term arms race, in its original usage, describes a competition between two or more parties for the best armed forces. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, or superior military technology in a technological escalation...
s to optimal policy choices of presidential candidates, from vaccination policy to major league baseball salary negotiations. It is today established, both throughout the social sciences and in a wide range of other sciences.
Importance: Topic creator, Influence
Foundations of Economic AnalysisFoundations of Economic AnalysisFoundations of Economic Analysis is a book by Paul A. Samuelson published in 1947 by Harvard University Press. It sought to demonstrate a common mathematical structure underlying multiple branches of economics from two basic principles: maximizing behavior of agents and stability of equilibrium...
- Paul A. Samuelson
- Harvard University Press (1947, Enlarged ed. 1983)
The book showed how operationally meaningful theorems can be described with a small number of analogous methods, thus providing "a general theory of economic theories." It moved mathematics out the of appendices (as in John R. Hicks's Value and Capital
Value and Capital
Value and Capital is a book by the British economist John Richard Hicks, published in 1939. It is considered a classic exposition of microeconomic theory...
) and helped change how standard economic analysis across subjects could be done with the same mathematical methods.
Importance and Influence: Accelerated change in standard methods
A New Framework for Testing Rationality and Measuring Aggregate Shocks Using Panel Data
- Davies, A. and Lahiri, K.
- Journal of Econometrics 68: 205–227, 1995.
Description:
Importance:
Cointegration and Error Correction: Representation, Estimation and Testing
- GrangerClive GrangerSir Clive William John Granger was a British economist, who taught in Britain at the University of Nottingham and in the U.S.A. at the University of California, San Diego. In 2003, Granger was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, in recognition that he and his co-winner, Robert F...
, Clive William James and Engle, R. F. - Econometrica, 55(2), March, pp. 251–276, 1987.
Description:
Importance:
Handbook of Econometrics
- Griliches, Zvi and Intrigilator, M. D. (eds.)
- Handbook of Econometrics, Five volumes (Amsterdam: North-Holland), 1984.
Description:
Importance:
Analysis of Panel Data
- Hsiao, C.
- Econometric Society Monograph, 1986.
Description:
Importance:
Distribution of the Estimators for Autoregressive Time Series with a Unit Root
- Dickey, D. A. and Fuller, W. A
- Journal of the American Statistical Association 74: 427–431, 1979.
Description: Describes the Dickey–Fuller test.
Importance:
The Standard Error of Regressions
- Deirdre McCloskeyDeirdre McCloskeyDeirdre N. McCloskey is an American economics professor. Her job title at the University of Illinois at Chicago is Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication...
and Stephen T. ZiliakStephen ZiliakStephen T. Ziliak is an American professor of economics. He currently works at Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL. He previously taught for the Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory, and Bowling Green. Much of his work has focused welfare and poverty, rhetoric, and the philosophy of science and... - Journal of Economic LiteratureJournal of Economic LiteratureThe Journal of Economic Literature is a peer-reviewed academic journal on economy published by the American Economic Association. It was established in 1963 as the Journal of Economic Abstracts. As a review journal, it mainly features essays and reviews of recent economic theories...
34: 97–114, 1996.
Description: Emphasizes the difference between statistical significance
Statistical significance
In statistics, a result is called statistically significant if it is unlikely to have occurred by chance. The phrase test of significance was coined by Ronald Fisher....
and economic significance, and shows that the understanding is not clear in a review of papers from The American Economic Review.
Importance: Raised the caution against "asterisk economics" in econometrics to another level. See McCloskey critique
McCloskey critique
The McCloskey critique refers to a critique of post-1940s "official modernist" methodology in economics, inherited from logical positivism in philosophy. The critique maintains that the methodology neglects how economics can be done, is done, and should be done to advance the subject...
.
Policy Evaluation: A Critique
- Lucas, Robert E. Junior
- in Brunner, K. and Meltzer, A. H. (eds.) The Phillips Curve and Labour Markets, Journal of Monetary Economics (Supplement), 1(xx), xx, pp. 19–46, 1976.
Description:
Importance:
Advances in Behavioral Economics
- CamererColin CamererColin F. Camerer is an American behavioral economist and a Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Finance and Economics at the California Institute of Technology ....
, C., LoewensteinGeorge LoewensteinGeorge Loewenstein is the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Economics and Psychology in the Social and Decision Sciences Department at Carnegie Mellon University and director of the Center for Behavioral Decision Research. He is a leader in the fields of behavioural economics and...
, G., and M. RabinMatthew RabinMatthew Joel Rabin is the Edward G. and Nancy S. Jordan Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley...
. - Princeton (NJ), Princeton University Press, 2003
Description: Definitive one-volume resource on the field.
Importance: Introduction
Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases
- TverskyAmos TverskyAmos Nathan Tversky, was a cognitive and mathematical psychologist, a pioneer of cognitive science, a longtime collaborator of Daniel Kahneman, and a key figure in the discovery of systematic human cognitive bias and handling of risk. Much of his early work concerned the foundations of measurement...
, A., and D. KahnemanDaniel KahnemanDaniel Kahneman is an Israeli-American psychologist and Nobel laureate. He is notable for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, behavioral economics and hedonic psychology....
. - Science 185: 1124–31, 1974
Description:
Importance:
Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk
- KahnemanDaniel KahnemanDaniel Kahneman is an Israeli-American psychologist and Nobel laureate. He is notable for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, behavioral economics and hedonic psychology....
, D., and A. TverskyAmos TverskyAmos Nathan Tversky, was a cognitive and mathematical psychologist, a pioneer of cognitive science, a longtime collaborator of Daniel Kahneman, and a key figure in the discovery of systematic human cognitive bias and handling of risk. Much of his early work concerned the foundations of measurement...
. - Econometrica 47: 263–91, 1979.
Description: In this article, Prospect theory
Prospect theory
Prospect theory is a theory that describes decisions between alternatives that involve risk i.e. where the probabilities of outcomes are known. The model is descriptive: it tries to model real-life choices, rather than optimal decisions.-Model:...
, a descriptive theory of choices under uncertainty
Decision theory
Decision theory in economics, psychology, philosophy, mathematics, and statistics is concerned with identifying the values, uncertainties and other issues relevant in a given decision, its rationality, and the resulting optimal decision...
, is introduced, bringing together ideas from psychology (framing
Framing
Framing or enframing may refer to:* Framing , the most common carpentry work* Framing or Framing effect , terminology used in communication theory, sociology, and other disciplines where it relates to the construction and presentation of a fact or issue "framed" from a particular perspective*...
and probability weighting) and economics (expected utility).
Importance: Topic creator, Breakthrough
Behavioral Game Theory
- Camerer, C.F.
- Princeton (NJ), Princeton University Press, 2003.
Description: A new and insightful handbook for advanced experimental and behavioral economics students.
Importance: Introduction
The Handbook of Experimental Economics
- Kagel, J. H. and Roth, A. E.Alvin E. RothAlvin E. "Al" Roth is an American economist currently serving as the George Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration at Harvard Business School...
(eds.) - Princeton (NJ), Princeton University Press, 1995.
Description: The most influential experimental economics handbook.
Importance: Introduction, Influence
Portfolio Theory
- Harry MarkowitzHarry MarkowitzHarry Max Markowitz is an American economist and a recipient of the John von Neumann Theory Prize and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences....
- "Portfolio Selection", Journal of Finance, 7 (1), 1952, 77–91.
Description: Development of the utility
Utility
In economics, utility is a measure of customer satisfaction, referring to the total satisfaction received by a consumer from consuming a good or service....
framework which shows an optimum can be reached using a portfolio of investments. In effect the first real proof that you should not put all your eggs in one basket.
Importance: Precursor to most modern portfolio theory
Modern portfolio theory
Modern portfolio theory is a theory of investment which attempts to maximize portfolio expected return for a given amount of portfolio risk, or equivalently minimize risk for a given level of expected return, by carefully choosing the proportions of various assets...
work in finance.
Capital asset pricing model
- William Forsyth SharpeWilliam Forsyth SharpeWilliam Forsyth Sharpe is the STANCO 25 Professor of Finance, Emeritus at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences....
- "Capital asset prices: A theory of market equilibrium under conditions of risk", Journal of Finance, 19 (3), 1964, 425–442
Description: Development of the Capital asset pricing model
Capital asset pricing model
In finance, the capital asset pricing model is used to determine a theoretically appropriate required rate of return of an asset, if that asset is to be added to an already well-diversified portfolio, given that asset's non-diversifiable risk...
used to determine appropriate prices for asset
Asset
In financial accounting, assets are economic resources. Anything tangible or intangible that is capable of being owned or controlled to produce value and that is held to have positive economic value is considered an asset...
s.
Importance: Topic creator, Influence
The pricing of options and corporate liabilities
- Fischer BlackFischer BlackFischer Sheffey Black was an American economist, best known as one of the authors of the famous Black–Scholes equation.-Background:...
and Myron ScholesMyron ScholesMyron Samuel Scholes is a Canadian-born American financial economist who is best known as one of the authors of the Black–Scholes equation. In 1997 he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for a method to determine the value of derivatives... - "The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities" Journal of Political EconomyJournal of Political EconomyThe Journal of Political Economy is an academic journal run by economists at the University of Chicago and published every two months by the University of Chicago Press. The journal publishes articles in both theoretical economics and empirical economics...
81, 1973, 637–654.
Description: It developed the Black–Scholes model for determining the price of options, in particular stock options. The use of the Black–Scholes formula has become pervasive in financial markets, and has been extended by numerous refinements.
Importance: Breakthrough, Influence
The Theory of Moral SentimentsThe Theory of Moral SentimentsThe Theory of Moral Sentiments was written by Adam Smith in 1759. It provided the ethical, philosophical, psychological, and methodological underpinnings to Smith's later works, including The Wealth of Nations , A Treatise on Public Opulence , Essays on Philosophical Subjects , and Lectures on...
- Adam SmithAdam SmithAdam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
- The Theory of Moral SentimentsThe Theory of Moral SentimentsThe Theory of Moral Sentiments was written by Adam Smith in 1759. It provided the ethical, philosophical, psychological, and methodological underpinnings to Smith's later works, including The Wealth of Nations , A Treatise on Public Opulence , Essays on Philosophical Subjects , and Lectures on...
, 1759. - The Theory of Moral Sentiments on Wikisource
Description: Provides the ethical, philosophical, psychological and methodological underpinnings to Smith's later works.
Importance: Topic creator, Influence
Principles of Political Economy and Taxation
- David RicardoDavid RicardoDavid Ricardo was an English political economist, often credited with systematising economics, and was one of the most influential of the classical economists, along with Thomas Malthus, Adam Smith, and John Stuart Mill. He was also a member of Parliament, businessman, financier and speculator,...
- On the Principles of Political Economy and TaxationOn the Principles of Political Economy and TaxationOn the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation is a book by David Ricardo on economics. The book concludes that land rent grows as population increases...
, 1817. - Online version
Description: Elaborates, clarifies and corrects previous theories, and adds important new concepts
Importance: Breakthrough, influence (esp on Marx), broadened scientific foundations of economics
Progress and PovertyProgress and PovertyProgress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth: The Remedy was written by Henry George in 1879...
- Henry GeorgeHenry GeorgeHenry George was an American writer, politician and political economist, who was the most influential proponent of the land value tax, also known as the "single tax" on land...
- Progress and PovertyProgress and PovertyProgress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth: The Remedy was written by Henry George in 1879...
, 1879. - Progress and Poverty on Wikisource
Description: Describes how poverty in the midst of plenty results from unequal rights to use natural resources, and declining wages in the face of increasing labor productivity results from the Law of Rent. Advocated Georgism
Georgism
Georgism is an economic philosophy and ideology that holds that people own what they create, but that things found in nature, most importantly land, belong equally to all...
, specifically a land value tax
Land value tax
A land value tax is a levy on the unimproved value of land. It is an ad valorem tax on land that disregards the value of buildings, personal property and other improvements...
.
Importance: Influence, Breakthrough
The theory of Industrial Organisation
- Tirole, Jean
Description:
Importance:
Industrial Organization
- Shy
Description:
This is an advanced undergraduate text that does not require knowledge of calculus (although some prior knowledge would be an advantage) or of game theory. The text covers many of the basic ideas and theorems of game theory and industrial organisation, with some more advanced applications at the end of the text.
Importance:
Industrial organisation – a strategic approach
- Church/Ware
Description:
Importance:
Managerial economicsManagerial economicsManagerial economics as defined by Edwin Mansfield is "concerned with application of economic concepts and economic analysis to the problems of formulating rational managerial decision." It is sometimes referred to as business economics and is a branch of economics that applies microeconomic...
- Png, Ivan (2002), Managerial Economics, 2nd edition, Malden, MA: Blackwell.
- Png, Ivan (2005), Managerial Economics, Asia-Pacific edition, Singapore: Pearson Education Asia.
Development economicsDevelopment economicsDevelopment Economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low-income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic growth and structural change but also on improving the potential for the mass of the population, for example,...
- The Theory of Economic Growth (1955) Arthur Lewis
Description: First modern Development Economics text book.
Importance: Introduction
- Development microeconomics (1999) Pranab Bardhan and Christopher Udry, Oxford
Description: Widely used text book.
Importance: Introduction
- Development macroeconomics – Pierre-Richard Agénor and Peter J. Montiel.
Description: Widely used text book.
Importance: Introduction
- Development Economics through the Decades: A Critical Look at 30 Years of the World Development Report (2009) – Shahid Yusuf.
Description: examines the last 30 years of development economics, viewed through the World Bank's World Development Reports.
- The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for our time (2005) Jeffrey Sachs
The Economics of Welfare
- Arthur Cecil PigouArthur Cecil PigouArthur Cecil Pigou was an English economist. As a teacher and builder of the school of economics at the University of Cambridge he trained and influenced many Cambridge economists who went on to fill chairs of economics around the world...
- The Economics of Welfare, 4th ed. 1932
- The Economics of Welfare
Description: Pigou was the one of the most influential economists that dealt with Welfare economics
Welfare economics
Welfare economics is a branch of economics that uses microeconomic techniques to evaluate economic well-being, especially relative to competitive general equilibrium within an economy as to economic efficiency and the resulting income distribution associated with it...
. He developed the idea of Pigovian tax.
Importance: Topic creator, Breakthrough, Influence
The Economics of Health and Health Care
- Folland S., Goodman AC. and Stano M.
- (4th edition). New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001.
Description: The standard health economics textbook in most leading universities. It assumes some background knowledge in economics.
Importance: Introduction.
Handbook of Health Economics
- Culyer AJ. and Newhouse JP. (eds)
- Volumes 1A and 1B. Elsevier: Amsterdam, 2000.
Description: The most comprehensive available collection of essays on contemporary health economics. Advanced readers will appreciate its mathematical rigor. Those who are seeking research or dissertation topics should find this two-volume set to be an invaluable resource.