Contemporary Economics Primers - non-Capitalist.

[Oswy]

Can anyone recommend a published introduction to economics for a non-economics student? Ideally I'm looking for something that is:

1. jargon-free (or at least jargon-light).

2. not just offering up capitalist economic theory normatively.

3. relatively recent, if possible written in the last couple of years.

[bailey_187]

robin hahnel - The ABCs of political economy

Rick Wolff - Economics: Marxian versus neoclassical (this ones abit more heavy going)

Robert Heilbroner - The Worldly Philosophers (A history of economic theory, from a self proclaimed "democratic socialist")

Chris Harman - The Economics of the Madhouse

[Armchair War Criminal]

I would absolutely second Heilbroner's Philosophers, especially if you start out knowing nothing at all.

I didn't find Charles Barone's Radical Political Economy: a Concise Introduction technically challenging, but I had some background in neoclassical economics by that time. It's a pretty good crash course, though, if you have access to an academic library.

Where you start really depends on how deep you want to go. If you really want to get into Marxian economics you'll want to familiarize yourself with the classical economics that it grew out of and the neoclassical economics it continually draws from, and that probably means reading Smith (who's a better writer than Ricardo) and taking at least a few economics courses if you're a student. Then read Capital alongside David Harvey's lectures.

[∞]

I would start with books on microeconomics. If you plan on studying Marxian economics, I suggest you start studying the Labor Theory of Value. From these studies you can proceed onto alienation and crises. I suggest you read up on the impact of globalization and imperialism, you will find certain recessions and stagnation very coherent with Marxist study of Political economy. If you are more interested in the Mechanisms of a socialist economy, I suggest some Rudolf Rocker and Daniel Deleon (even some Malesta) you'll get a very detailed scope regarding the nuts and bolts of a post-revolutionary society.