historyI graduated as an economics major in college without taking any courses on the history of economic thought. I want to understand how our economic thought has shaped over time. Please take a moment to suggest a few good reads on economic history. The only book I have been recommended so far is Commanding Heights. What else is interesting?
Two books I have read and would recommend are Ekelund & Hebert, A History of Economic Theory and Method and Galbraith, A History of Economics.
Ekelund & Hebert is quite detailed (600+ pages), covering many different schools of thought in a balanced way, and with detailed suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter. Galbraith is a lighter read and more of a personal interpretation, an attempt to highlight key points rather than to be comprehensive, and rather US-focussed when he discusses policy applications.
A limitation of both books is that they are a little dated and do not cover the period since about 1980, but this may not matter for their treatment of earlier periods.
The Worldly Philosophers - Robert Heilbronner. It’s a classic in the field. Gives good historical context to the ideas and tells interesting stories about the thinkers. Excellent read. I would read it again.
I like the The Making of Modern Economics: The Lives and Ideas of the Great Thinkers by Mark Skousen. It’s a bit more entertainingly biographical than Heilbronner, with lots of portraits, photos, and graphs. That’s was enough to offset its strong libertarian bent for me, but caveat lector.
I have not yet read Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius by Sylvia Nasar, but I heard enough good things to buy a used copy.
Reading the Nobel prize speeches from economists has also been very interesting for this. So much interesting work has been done in economics in the last 60 years, and since there’s lag with the Nobel Prize, many of the winners lived through and made much of that intellectual history.
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