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Comment by mattmoose21 | Hacker News Reader

Reading this article and going through these comments make me realize that while I know what these words are I have a real lack of understanding how this stuff works. This may not be the best place to ask but do any of you guys have any recommendations on where to learn more about economics? Preferably something with good historical context.

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These primers from the Bank of England cover what money is and how it is created in the modern economy, which would give you a better understanding of the subject than 90% of posters on these articles :)

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-...

Investopedia is often where I go to find out more about particular topics, their articles are comprehensive and clear and you can dig pretty deep into most subjects. A good place to start is understanding the difference between fiscal policy (what the government does) and monetary policy (what the central bank does):

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/100314/whats-differ...

Greg Mankiw's introductory economics textbooks (one for micro and one for macro, if you care about the sort of stuff in this thread you care about macro) are well respected and neutral. You don't have to read the latest edition, an edition from just a few years ago would be fine and should be quite cheap used on Amazon.

Basic Economics - Thomas Sowell

Economics In One Lesson - Henry Hazlitt

The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War - Robert Gordon

>Basic Economics - Thomas Sowell

I can't recommend this book highly enough. And for those with a short attention span, 30 Second Economics gives a nice overview of many economic concepts (a few paragraphs per concept).

I'll go a different route and recommend that you read The Ascent of Money[1]. It's much more engaging to read vs an econ textbook and it will give you a much better understanding of money, currency, and finance by starting way back at the beginning of modern civilization. It effectively explains all of the major concepts of international finance (bonds, insurance, stocks, currency, loans, etc) through the real-world examples which created them.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Ascent-Money-Financial-History-World/...

Bridgewater has helpful YouTube videos and Ray, the founder has a book on applied economic history. Bridgewater is a macroeconomic hedge fund.

One to look into is Backhouse's The Ordinary Business of Life (2002). A good overview of the subject that incorporates ancient and modern perspectives.

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