Current Events > I sometimes think economics is the hardest thing to learn EVER.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Either as a formal education course, maybe degree level, or from reading books and watching documentaries. I mean...it seems incredibly complex. Wtf. Economists come across as smarter than neurosurgeons and high level hard scientists.

What do you think about this? Do you agree or disagree with what I've said?

What is your personal level of knowledge about economics? Like most people, very low?


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Well a lot of people clearly don't understand it, which is why there are so many socialists around

As much as I hate passive aggressive posts like that on CE, I think you're basically right. Socialism has a lot of problems, both in theory and in practice.

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c'mon this has to be a joke lmao.

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When you have someone blatantly admit they cant handle harsh facts and prefer an emotional based approach to economics you know they are not able to de with the real world. Bernie is such a disappointment to think this way, facts over feeling any day.

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What are some good non-fiction books on economics, that will help someone who only has a very basic understanding of economics understand the field better? Is there some definitive work?

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Economics at its core is mostly just a lot of math. Usually not too hard but it can definitely get complicated depending on the subject. I don't know anything about masters /phd level stuff. I remember microeconomics being particularly grueling.

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TheOrgyPorgy posted...

The Art of the Deal

Won't deny, that was a funny little post.

Trump's people will probably cite it during the upcoming election period.


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just like learning anything else. get one of them for dummies books. they assume you know nothing and generally are a fairly good resource starting without any knowledge...

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As someone who took AP Micro and Macro economics in high school, I hated the classes. It just felt like a math class

But READING about economic concepts in a book is a lot of fun. I enjoyed writing papers about the 2008 financial collapse in college and the Dodd Frank bill in grad school.

Like I get not wanting to do dead weight loss problems but do you really not understand like, concepts like the broken window theory?

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Nah. There's a reason why people who can't cut it in engineering degrees switch to economic and business degrees.

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Sunhawk posted...

What are some good non-fiction books on economics, that will help someone who only has a very basic understanding of economics understand the field better? Is there some definitive work?

Most times I've asked people just recommend a college level text book.

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Actually I would say that understanding economics is very easy, while implementation of that knowledge is hard.

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Sunhawk posted...

What are some good non-fiction books on economics, that will help someone who only has a very basic understanding of economics understand the field better? Is there some definitive work?

If you want a more conservative book, Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt basically explains every economic concept ever

If you want more liberal books study Paul Krugman

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I took fundamentals of micro and macro and liked it so I signed up to the next course level of micro. They basically said "we're going to do the same thing now but with more algebra and statistics"

Noped right out of there

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Politics posted...

If you want a more conservative book, Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt basically explains every economic concept ever

If you want more liberal books study Paul Krugman

My fucking guy.

I know the next book on my reading list now.

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Politics posted...

But READING about economic concepts in a book is a lot of fun. I enjoyed writing papers about the 2008 financial collapse in college and the Dodd Frank bill in grad school.

This was exactly my problem, learning about the fruits of studies is very cool, practicing it is grueling.

Sunhawk posted...

What are some good non-fiction books on economics, that will help someone who only has a very basic understanding of economics understand the field better? Is there some definitive work?

"Naked Economics" is a good pop science book that my economics professor recommended.

coh posted...

Well a lot of people clearly don't understand it, which is why there are so many socialists around

Nooooooo you can't just unionize the labor supply, only the holders of capital should have power!!

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Economics is a type of sociology. They try to make it look better by also using math, but because humans are fairly irrational, the math is just a rough approximation at best and worthless at worst.

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uwnim posted...

Economics is a type of sociology. They try to make it look better by also using math, but because humans are fairly irrational, the math is just a rough approximation at best and worthless at worst.

"Assuming rational people"

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Looked up both books mentioned in this topic, and both have a top Amazon review that calls them propaganda disguised as an economics book lmao. Might get both just for the different perspectives.

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Squall28 posted...

"Assuming rational people"

Rational economic, man!

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In my undergrad, the economics courses were the "I need to take a social sciences course but I don't want to have to do actual work or write an essay"

I did a minor in it, but maybe the courses get more complicated in the later years.

I really do wanna thank you guys for the economics book recommendations.

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Hate to be that guy but everything can be complicated if you go deep enough into it

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the only thing learning economics will do for you is make it very clear how little everyone else knows or how little political policy is actually supported by it