List of important publications in economics.html |
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This is a list of important publications in economics, organized by field.
Some reasons why a particular publication might be regarded as important:
- Topic creator – A publication that created a new topic
- Breakthrough – A publication that changed scientific knowledge significantly
- Introduction – A publication that is a good introduction or survey of a topic
- Influence – A publication which has significantly influenced the world
- Latest and greatest – The current most advanced result in a topic
Macroeconomics
Among the most important list of publication in economics are:
The Wealth of Nations
- Adam Smith
- An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776.
- Online version
Description: The book is usually considered to be the beginning of modern economics. It begins with a discussion of the Industrial Revolution. Later it critiques the mercantilism 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 Kapital
- Karl Marx
- Das Kapital, 1867
- Capital, Volume I: The Process of Production of Capital
- Capital, Volume II: The Process of Circulation of Capital
- Capital, Volume III: The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole
- Capital, Volume IV: Theories of Surplus-Value
- Annotations, Explanations and Clarifications to Capital.
Description: Das Kapital is a political-economic treatise by Karl Marx. Marx wrote this critical analysis of capitalism and of the political economy 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
Description: In this book, Keynes put forward a theory based upon the notion of aggregate demand to explain variations in the overall level of economic activity, such as were observed in the Great Depression. 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
Microeconomics
Value and Capital
- John R. Hicks
- Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1939, 2nd ed.
Description: See Importance.
Importance: The book built on ordinal utility and mainstreamed the now-standard distinction between the substitution effect and the income effect for an individual in demand theory in the 2-good case. It generalized analysis to the case of one good and all other goods, that is, the composite good. It aggregated individuals and businessss through demand and supply across the economy. It anticipated the aggregation problem, 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 Behavior
- John Von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern
- Princeton University Press, 1944
Description: The book by the mathematician John von Neumann and economist Oskar Morgenstern. 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 is based. Game theory has since been widely used to analyze real-world phenomena from arms races 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
Mathematical economics
Foundations of Economic Analysis
- 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)) 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
Econometrics
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
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 McCloskey and Stephen T. Ziliak1
- Journal of Economic Literature 34: 97-114, 1996.
Description: Emphasizes the difference between statistical significance 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.
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:
Behavioral economics
Advances in Behavioral Economics
- Camerer, C., Loewenstein, G., and M. Rabin.
- Princeton (NJ), Princeton University Press, 2003
Description: Definitive one-volume resource on the field.
Importance: Introduction
Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases
Description:
Importance:
Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk
Description: In this article, Prospect theory, a descriptive theory of choices under uncertainty, is introduced, bringing together ideas from psychology (framing and probability weighting) and economics (expected utility).
Importance: Topic creator, Breakthrough
Experimental economics
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. (eds.)
- Princeton (NJ), Princeton University Press, 1995.
Description: The most influential experimental economics handbook.
Importance: Introduction, Influence
Finance
Portfolio Theory
- Harry Markowitz
- "Portfolio Selection", Journal of Finance, 7 (1),1952, 77-91.
Description: Development of the utility 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 work in finance.
Capital asset pricing model
- William Forsyth Sharpe
- "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 used to determine appropriate prices for assets.
Importance: Topic creator, Influence
The pricing of options and corporate liabilities
- Fischer Black and Myron Scholes
- "The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities" Journal of Political Economy 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
Political economy
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Description: Provides the ethical, philosophical, psychological and methodological underpinnings to Smith's later works.
Importance: Topic creator, Influence
Principles of Political Economy and Taxation
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 Poverty
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
Importance: Influence, Breakthrough
Socioeconomics
Ecological economics
Consumer theory
Economics and Consumer Theory, Deaton & Muellbauer, Cambridge.
Production theory
Industrial organization
The theory of Industrial Organisation
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
- Pepal
Description:
Importance:
Industrial organisation - a strategic approach
- Church/Ware
Description:
Importance:
Sunk costs and industry structure
- Sutton
Description:
Importance:
Managerial economics
- Png, Ivan (2002), Managerial Economics, 2nd edition, Malden, MA: Blackwell.
- Png, Ivan (2005), Managerial Economics, Asia-Pacific edition, Singapore: Pearson Education Asia.
Development economics
- 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
- The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for our time (2005) Jeffrey Sachs
Welfare economics
The Economics of Welfare
- Arthur Cecil Pigou
- 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. He developed the idea of Pigovian tax.
Importance: Topic creator, Breakthrough, Influence
Transport economics
Health economics
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.