Understanding Economics

One of my favorite subjects is economics. I read several economic themed websites each day and I actually once read a whole economic textbook just for pleasure! Well, actually, I was studying to take the Macroeconomics College Level Examination Program (CLEP) test. I passed it (of course!) and earned three credits toward my Gen Ed requirements for my Bachelors Degree. Anyway, it's been my observation that most people's understanding of economics is woefully inadequate.

Recently, I came across a series of short videos on Youtube that explains the various macroeconomic theories concerning the business cycle. The lecturer is Tyler Cowen, a professor at George Mason University (and a regular contributor to the New York Times). Professor Cowen also has a blog called Marginal Revolution. While I don't always agree with everything he writes, it is always interesting.

I hope you will watch the videos. Here's the introduction. By the way, when Cowen talks about "fiscal policy" he is talking about the use of government spending and taxation to influence the economy. When he talks about "monetary policy" he is talking about the manipulation of the money supply by the Federal Reserve to influence the economy.



Here's the overview of Keynesian Theory. This is by far the most popular theory, although, in my humble opinion it is the weakest.



Here's the overview of the Real Business Cycle theory.



Here's the video on Austrian Theory.



Here's a video on the Monetarists theory.



I am by no means an expert, but the two theories that make the most sense to me are the Austrian and Monetarist theories.

If you are interested, listed below are a few of the websites I visit often. Many of them are Libertarian and would fall into the "Austrian" camp, but not all.

Cafe Hayek (my favorite).
Greg Mankiw's Blog.
The Money Illusion. Sumner is a Monetarist. 
The Grumpy Economist.
The Conversable Economist.
The Circle Bastiat.
Bleeding Heart Libertarians.
Hit and Run (not strictly an economics blog).
Free Exchange (the Economist).
Econlog.

There are others I read regularly but these are fairly representative of the various perspectives. Cafe Hayek is Austrian in flavor. Mankiw is considered to be a New Keynesian. Mankiw is the Chairman of the Economics Department at Harvard University. His "Principles of Macroeconomics" was the textbook I read as I studied for the CLEP test. The Money Illusion is considered Monetarist and the Free Exchange tends to be liberal and Keynesian in their perspective.

I hope this will pique your interest to dig deeper into the study of economics.