This is a list of important publications in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

, 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 *Influence – A publication which has significantly influenced the world or has had a massive impact on the teaching of economics.

Political economy and economics

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The Wealth of Nations ''An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations'', generally referred to by its shortened title ''The Wealth of Nations'', is the '' magnum opus'' of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith. First published in ...
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* Adam Smith * An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776. * Read it on Wikisource Description: The book is usually considered to be the beginning of modern

. It begins with a discussion of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

. Later it critiques the mercantilism and a synthesis of the emerging economic thinking of his time. It is best known for the idea of the

invisible hand The invisible hand is a metaphor used by the British moral philosopher Adam Smith that describes the unintended greater social benefits and public good brought about by individuals acting in their own self-interests. Smith originally mention ...

, although this idea is only mentioned once in the book. Smith was critical of the "vile maxim" of the "masters of mankind", all for themselves and nothing for other people. 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

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Principles of Political Economy and Taxation '' the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation'' (19 April 1817) is a book by David Ricardo on economics. The book concludes that land rent grows as population increases. It also presents the theory of comparative advantage, the theory that ...
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David Ricardo David Ricardo (18 April 1772 – 11 September 1823) was a British political economist. He was one of the most influential of the classical economists along with Thomas Malthus, Adam Smith and James Mill. Ricardo was also a politician, and a ...

On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation '' the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation'' (19 April 1817) is a book by David Ricardo on economics. The book concludes that land rent grows as population increases. It also presents the theory of comparative advantage, the theory tha ...

, 1817. Description: Elaborates, clarifies and corrects previous theories, and adds important new concepts Importance: Breakthrough, influence (esp on Marx), broadened scientific foundations of economics

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Das Kapital ''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in materialist phi ...
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Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

* Das Kapital, 1867 * Das Kapital ''on Wikisource''
Annotations, Explanations and Clarifications to Capital
Description: A political-economic treatise by

. Marx wrote this critical analysis of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

and of the

political economy Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...

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

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Progress and Poverty ''Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth: The Remedy'' is an 1879 book by social theorist and economist Henry George. It is a treatise on the questions of why pover ...
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Henry George Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. He inspired the eco ...

Progress and Poverty ''Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth: The Remedy'' is an 1879 book by social theorist and economist Henry George. It is a treatise on the questions of why pover ...

, 1879. * Progress and Poverty ''on Wikisource'' 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. Advocated

Georgism Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—includi ...

, specifically a

land value tax A land value tax (LVT) is a levy on the value of land (economics), land without regard to buildings, personal property and other land improvement, improvements. It is also known as a location value tax, a point valuation tax, a site valuation ta ...

. Importance: Influence, Breakthrough...

Principles of Economics (Menger)

* Carl Menger, 1871. '' Principles of Economics'', trans. from German, 1981.
Link to German version
''Influence'': Credited with co-founding of marginal utility analysis and the Austrian School of economics.

Principles of Economics (Marshall)

* Alfred Marshall, 1890. '' Principles of Economics'', 8th ed., 1920. ''Influence'': Standard text for generations of economics students.

Economics

Paul A. Samuelson Paul Anthony Samuelson (May 15, 1915 – December 13, 2009) was an American economist who was the first American to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. When awarding the prize in 1970, the Swedish Royal Academies stated that he "h ...

, 1948. ''Economics: An Introductory Analysis'' * _____ and William D. Nordhaus ''

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

'', 19th ed. McGraw-Hill. Importance:: Influential multi-level, best-selling principles textbook that popularized neoclassical synthesis of

Keynesian economics Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output a ...

and

neoclassical economics Neoclassical economics is an approach to economics in which the production, consumption and valuation (pricing) of goods and services are observed as driven by the supply and demand model. According to this line of thought, the value of a good ...

Microeconomics

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Value and Capital {{Italic title ''Value and Capital'' is a book by the British economist John Richard Hicks, published in 1939. It is considered a classic exposition of microeconomic theory. Central results include: * extension of consumer theory for individual a ...
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* John R. Hicks * Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1939, 1946, 2nd ed. Description: See Importance. Importance: The book ''built'' on

ordinal utility In economics, an ordinal utility function is a function representing the preferences of an agent on an ordinal scale. Ordinal utility theory claims that it is only meaningful to ask which option is better than the other, but it is meaningless to a ...

and mainstreamed the now-standard distinction between the

substitution effect In economics and particularly in consumer choice theory, the substitution effect is one component of the effect of a change in the price of a good upon the amount of that good demanded by a consumer, the other being the income effect. When a ...

and the

income effect The theory of consumer choice is the branch of microeconomics that relates preferences to consumption expenditures and to consumer demand curves. It analyzes how consumers maximize the desirability of their consumption as measured by their pref ...

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 In economics, a composite good is an abstraction that represents all but one of the goods in the relevant budget.* ''Deardorff's Glossary of International Economics''"Composite good."/ref> Purpose Consumer demand theory shows how the composite ma ...

''. It aggregated individuals and businesses through demand and supply across the economy. It anticipated the

aggregation problem An ''aggregate'' in economics is a summary measure. It replaces a vector that is composed of many real numbers by a single real number, or a scalar. Consequently there occur various problems that are inherent in the formulations that use aggregate ...

, 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.

Macroeconomics

Among the most important list of publication in macroeconomics are:

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General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money ''The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money'' is a book by English economist John Maynard Keynes published in February 1936. It caused a profound shift in economic thought, giving macroeconomics a central place in economic theory and ...
''

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...

, ''

General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money ''The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money'' is a book by English economist John Maynard Keynes published in February 1936. It caused a profound shift in economic thought, giving macroeconomics a central place in economic theory and ...

'', 1936 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

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A Monetary History of the United States ''A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960'' is a book written in 1963 by Nobel Prize–winning economist Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz. It uses historical time series and economic analysis to argue the then-novel proposition ...
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Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the ...

and

Anna Schwartz Anna Jacobson Schwartz (pronounced ; November 11, 1915 – June 21, 2012) was an American economist who worked at the National Bureau of Economic Research in New York City and a writer for ''The New York Times''. Paul Krugman has said that Schwar ...

, ''

A Monetary History of the United States ''A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960'' is a book written in 1963 by Nobel Prize–winning economist Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz. It uses historical time series and economic analysis to argue the then-novel proposition ...

'', 1963 Description: Friedman and Schwartz used changes in monetary aggregates to explain business cycle fluctuations in the United States economy. Importance: Influence

Game theory

Theory of Games and Economic Behavior

John von Neumann John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cove ...

and

Oskar Morgenstern Oskar Morgenstern (January 24, 1902 – July 26, 1977) was an Austrian-American economist. In collaboration with mathematician John von Neumann, he founded the mathematical field of game theory as applied to the social sciences and strategic decis ...

* Princeton University Press, 1944 Description: The book by the

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

and

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

. 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 ''Foundations of Economic Analysis'' is a book by Paul A. Samuelson published in 1947 (Enlarged ed., 1983) by Harvard University Press. It is based on Samuelson's 1941 doctoral dissertation at Harvard University. The book sought to demonstrate a ...

* 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 of the appendices (as in John R. Hicks's

Value and Capital {{Italic title ''Value and Capital'' is a book by the British economist John Richard Hicks, published in 1939. It is considered a classic exposition of microeconomic theory. Central results include: * extension of consumer theory for individual a ...

) 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

* Clive Granger, Granger, Clive William James and Robert Engle, Engle, R. F. * Econometrica, 55(2), March, pp. 251–276, 1987. 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 Ziliak, Stephen T. Ziliakfull-text
/ref> * 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

* Robert Lucas Jr, 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:

Labor Economics

Human capital, Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education

* Gary S. Becker * Chicago (IL), University of Chicago Press, 1964. Description: Extensive study about the theoretical inclusion and empirical importance of education in production. Importance: Classic study of how investment in an individual's education and training is similar to business investments.

Schooling, Experience, and Earnings

* Jacob Mincer * Human Behavior & Social Institutions No. 2, ERIC, 1974. Description: Empirical investigation of the labor market returns to education. Importance: Popularizing the empirical research in that subfield. Coining the so-called "Mincer equation".

Behavioral economics

Advances in Behavioral Economics

* Colin Camerer, Camerer, C., George Loewenstein, Loewenstein, G., and M. Matthew Rabin, Rabin. * Princeton (NJ), Princeton University Press, 2003 Description: Definitive one-volume resource on the field. Importance: Introduction

Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases

* Amos Tversky, Tversky, A., and D. Daniel Kahneman, Kahneman. * Science 185: 1124–31, 1974 Description: Importance:

Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk

* Daniel Kahneman, Kahneman, D., and A. Amos Tversky, Tversky. * Econometrica 47: 263–91, 1979. Description: In this article, Prospect theory, a descriptive theory of decision theory, choices under uncertainty, is introduced, bringing together ideas from psychology (Framing effect (psychology), framing and probability weighting) and economics (expected utility). Importance: Topic creator, Breakthrough

Irrational Behavior and Economic Theory

* Gary Becker, Becker, G. Becker, G. (1962). 'Irrational Behavior and Economic Theory', ''Journal of Political Economy'', 70(1), 1–13. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1827018?seq=1 (Accessed: June 8, 2021). * Journal of Political Economy 70: 1-13, 1962. Description: In this paper, Becker demonstrates that neoclassical economic demand curves follow simply from the fact that compensated price changes in the goods available to consumers with fixed budget sets cause corresponding shifts in the consumption opportunity sets of those consumers and thus do not require any assumptions about the rationality of market participants to justify their use. Importance: Potentially debunks any economic policy or market level analysis implications of the field of behavioral economics.

Experimental economics

Experimental Economics: Rethinking the Rules

* Nicholas Bardsley, Robin Cubitt, Graham Loomes, Peter Moffatt, Chris Starmer & Robert Sugden * Princeton (NJ), Princeton University Press, 2005. Description: A first structured and methodical survey of economic methods, with a focus on methodology. Importance: Consolidation of the field, methodological issues.

Behavioral Game Theory

* Camerer, C.F. * Princeton (NJ), Princeton University Press, 2003. Description: A handbook for advanced experimental and behavioral economics students. Importance: Introduction

The Handbook of Experimental Economics

* Kagel, J. H. and Alvin E. Roth, Roth, A. E. (eds.) * Princeton (NJ), Princeton University Press, 1995. Description: The 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 F. 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

Socioeconomics

Ecological economics

The Entropy Law and the Economic Process (1971, Harvard University Press) by Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen. Steady-State Economics (2nd edition, 1991, Island Press) by Herman Daly Natural Capitalism, Paul Hawken Small Is Beautiful, E.F. Schumacher

Consumer theory

''Economics and Consumer Behavior'', Deaton & Muellbauer, Cambridge.

Production theory

Industrial organization

The theory of Industrial Organisation

* Tirole, Jean 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)

Asia-Pacific edition, Singapore: Pearson Education Asia.

Development economics

* The Theory of Economic Growth (1955) Arthur Lewis Description: First modern development economics textbook Importance: Introduction * Development microeconomics (1999) Pranab Bardhan and Christopher Udry, Oxford Description: Widely used textbook. Importance: Introduction * Development macroeconomics – Pierre-Richard Agénor and Peter J. Montiel. Description: Widely used textbook. Importance: Introduction
Development Economics through the Decades: A Critical Look at 30 Years of the World Development Report
(2009) – Shahid Yusuf. Description: examines the last 30 years of development economics, viewed through the World Bank's World Development Reports. * 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 Description: Pigou was the one of the most influential economists that dealt with Welfare economics. He developed the idea of social cost#Pigovian taxes, Pigovian tax. Importance: Topic creator, Breakthrough, Influence

Collective Choice and Social Welfare

* Amartya Sen * ''Collective Choice and Social Welfare'', 1970 Description: Inspired renewed interest in basic welfare issues, mentioned in Sen's Nobel citation Importance: Influence

Health economics

Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics of Medical Care

* Kenneth Arrow * American Economic Review 53(5): 941–973, 1963 Description: Explores the "specific differentia of medical care as the object of normative economics", demonstrating that the consideration of uncertainty is key to understanding markets in health care. Importance: Generally considered a seminal work of enduring significance; key to the foundation of health economics as a field of study.

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

* Anthony J. Culyer, Culyer AJ. and Newhouse JP. (Eds) Volumes 1A and 1B. Elsevier: Amsterdam, 2000. * Culyer AJ., McGuire TG. and Barros PP. (Eds) Volume 2. Elsevier: Amsterdam, 2011. 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.

Institutional economics

* * * * *

Law and economics

Posner, Richard A. "Economic Analysis of Law." (1973)

References

External links

UTS working paper series

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