Barron's: 7 libros de economía para estas fiestas

Gene Epstein recomienda en Barron's siete libros de economía para estas fiestas:

1. The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies - Bryan Caplan
2. The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity - Russell Roberts
3. Economics for Real People - Gene Callahan
4. The Venturesome Economy: How Innovation Sustains Prosperity in a More Connected World - Amar Bhide
5. Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics - George Reisman
6. Bastiat Collection (Volume 1) - Frederic Bastiat
7. Bastiat Collection (Volume 2) - Frederic Bastiat

El de Caplan y el de Callahan son dos de mis cinco recomendaciones para Navidad. Sobre Economics for Real People Epstein dice:

I once called Gene Callahan's Economics for Real People (2002) the "best antidote I know to the numbing effects of the standard textbooks on economics." It's also an antidote to the widespread myth that the 2008 recession resulted from an excess dose of laissez-faire. This book provides the best introduction that I know to Austrian business-cycle theory (what Callahan dubs "ABCT"), originally developed by Austrian economists Ludwig von Mises and F.A. Hayek.

Epstein también hace un buen resumen de la tesis principal de The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies:

Caplan's explanation is mainly that the mass of voters are economic illiterates. He does grant that special interest groups can wield anti-democratic power that leads to bad decisions. But even this cannot happen without tacit approval of the voters. (...)

In a chapter wittily and appropriately called "Rational Irrationality," Caplan explains why people tend to behave irrationally as voters, but far more rationally as consumers. Consumers feel the direct material consequences of making bad decisions with their dollars. But their chances of affecting the outcome of an election or referendum with their votes is effectively nil. So they can enjoy the psychological benefits of voting their biases, while ignoring consequences that would, in any case, require a rational grasp of economics to fully appreciate.

The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity lo incluí en mi último pedido a Amazon. Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics está en mi estantería. Algún día me haré el ánimo, pero aún estoy empantanado con Man, Economy and State & Power and Market, el tochazo de Rothbard (aunque sí pude con el de Mises).

(HT: Free Advice)