I've recently become interested in studying economics, but I don't know where to start.

 

So, if anyone knows any books or online resources that would be good for a relative beginner, I would be glad to know.

 

I'm more interested in macroeconomics here, and capital, markets, etc.

Thanks in advanced.

A lot of good links here.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macroeconomics

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/recession.asp

 

It will be interesting to see if they actually do give us an $800 check and if that will do anything to the economy any more than short-term. Frankly, I believe that it is caused by a number of factors that are a lot harder to fix. Everybody is already bracing for problems - extended war, high gas prices, dollar glut, baby boomers, etc. If they give us the rebates, that will inject 250 billion into our pockets, of which a portion will be saved. 150 billion out of 15 trillion total GDP, it can't hurt!

It will be interesting to see if they actually do give us an $800 check and if that will do anything to the economy any more than short-term. Frankly, I believe that it is caused by a number of factors that are a lot harder to fix. Everybody is already bracing for problems - extended war, high gas prices, dollar glut, baby boomers, etc. If they give us the rebates, that will inject 250 billion into our pockets, of which a portion will be saved. 150 billion out of 15 trillion total GDP, it can't hurt!

 

The only thing it will do is to sway the perceptions of the uninformed right before election time. However, I'm not sure how that's relevant to ecoli's request for educational resources on macroeconomics.

It's just a side note. If someone else wants to expound on it, they can.

A lot of good links here.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macroeconomics

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/recession.asp

 

Thanks... but I was thinking more like a course, textbook or something like that.

I just read The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics, by Michael Shermer. It's an easy, entertaining read, and quite fascinating, but not really what you're looking for. It's not a course, it just convincingly makes the argument that evolutionary psychologists and economists should be talking to each other a lot more.

 

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I always wanted to read Freakonomics. Can't say much about it, though.

(I just posted this in another thread as well...)

 

You might check out the video links at the bottom of this page (I've never watched them, so cannot attest to their accuracy, but it looked well put together):

 

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economics470/

Thanks... I'll look at that.

I only own two textbooks on economy but I like them both.

 

"Comparative Economic Systems" H. S. Gardner. It gives a good idea of the major economic systems in the world today, they also cover all regions at least to some extent. But it's quite old, so I guess I should be looking for a new book on comparative economic too .

 

...and "Macroeconomics" by W.A. McEachern. It's a straightforward introduction, very little math, lots of examples, it covers the essentials.