Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?

#261

Post by marmot777 » Sat, Sep 24, 2016, 4:21 PM UTC

yomritoyj wrote: post #258

marmot777 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't asking as a productivity question it was more wouldn't they want to read the history of thought leading to what they're doing just out of sheer curiosity?

Definitely, and I'm sure many do. And it is often very surprising how far ahead the older authors had thought. But while such reading is fun as a leisure activity, doing it seriously requires full-time dedication as a historian of thought because often even if the words are intelligible the concepts have drifted so much that they can be understood only by studying not only the famous works but their entire intellectu…

Yes, I agree a philosophy scholar would do that but what about economists? And is it leisure for economists to read even a few of the classics or is it work related? It could be both I suppose or maybe anything's leisure that doesn't move the ball forward on the current project they're working on. Fair enough if that's the case.

BTW, is a quant a practitioner of applied economics? I do know the trading related work they do at least the popular perception of of the work they do.

Re: Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?

#262

Post by marmot777 » Sat, Sep 24, 2016, 4:26 PM UTC

asdf123lkjh wrote: post #259

marmot777 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't asking as a productivity question it was more wouldn't they want to read the history of thought leading to what they're doing just out of sheer curiosity?

Adam Smith is still very relevant.

So classical liberal is where it's at foundation wise for the field of economics? In case it's not obvious I have limited knowledge of Econ. My formal training in economics consists of Intro to Micro, Intro to Macro, and a course in Political Economy.

Re: Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?

#263

Post by marmot777 » Sat, Sep 24, 2016, 6:37 PM UTC

yomritoyj wrote: post #258

marmot777 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't asking as a productivity question it was more wouldn't they want to read the history of thought leading to what they're doing just out of sheer curiosity?

Definitely, and I'm sure many do. And it is often very surprising how far ahead the older authors had thought. But while such reading is fun as a leisure activity, doing it seriously requires full-time dedication as a historian of thought because often even if the words are intelligible the concepts have drifted so much that they can be understood only by studying not only the famous works but their entire intellectu…

BTW, i get what you mean on detailed sense. I would imagine most economists know Keynes well enough yet have never cracked open General Theory. I'm an interested layman and god knows I wouldn't try to read it any more than I'd read Hegel right now if i wanted a deeper understanding of Marx. Hey, there're only so many hours in a day.

Re: Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?

#264

Post by rhelsing » Sat, Sep 24, 2016, 9:16 PM UTC

reqres wrote: post #149

Please do not look upon popular economics best sellers as a good way to get a rounded economics education. While many have value in critical insight and entertainment, they often offer only a narrow perspective on economics. Novice economists typically lack the ability to critically appraise them without a wider economic framework to work from. An academic reading list (i.e. university course texts) will provide you…

For what it's worth, I really enjoyed Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan, even though it may be considered a popular economics best seller. I though it offered a great introduction to a field I knew very little about.

Re: Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?

#265

Post by pjmorris » Sat, Sep 24, 2016, 10:14 PM UTC

hkmurakami wrote: post #14

A random walk down wall Street Reminisces of a stock operator When genius failed Unconventional success And generally just read financial news and follow markets until you develop a sense for spotting BS.

Glad to see 'When Genius Failed' (Lowenstein) here. I felt like it was the perfect sequel to 'Liar's Poker', Michael Lewis' first book on his life as a bond trader at Salomon Brothers in the 1980's. I feel like these two books are valuable, even essential, background for studying finance as practiced by Wall Street.

Re: Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?

#266

Post by dredmorbius » Sun, Sep 25, 2016, 12:54 AM UTC

hga wrote: post #253

dredmorbius wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hrm. I'd have to see Pournelle's specifics, though I'm not particularly inclined to find him highly credible. The narrative is interesting. A few pieces I've been putting together from numerous sources: 1. The USA and USSR were the two dominant oil suppliers of the first half of the 20th century, and are still typically trade off the 2nd & 3rd spots, after Saudi Arabia, today. Oil is much of what made the 20th centur…

About to go to bed, but this item: The final collapse of the Soviet Union happened in large part through the oil glut of the late 1980s. Is at least claimed to be part of Reagan's economic warfare against the USSR. Note also that not any one or even two of these things were likely sufficient to bankrupt it, they all piled on particularly in the '80s, and most of it was external and intentional.

Collapse tends to be a process of knocking out of foundations until something ultimately precipitates the rapid chain-reaction of failure.

In the case of energy, there's much in the dynamic and magnitude which offers itself as a principle mode of failure. And yes, it does fit into the "Reagan's economic warfare" mode.

On which, a couple more observations.

1. There are those who claim "economic warfare" isn't, and cannot, be a thing. I have words for such people, which generally aren't welcomed on HN. I also have references to comprehensive policy books on the topic of economic warfare: Yuan-Li Wu, Economic Warfare (1952), http://www.worldcat.org/title/economic-warfare/oclc/330856&r...

2. There are those who claim that trying to defeat other nations through energy policy and markets is absurd. Alex Epstein, a particularly exemplary case of idiot, is one such. The USSR-oil case really seals the argument against his assertion. I've noted this previously elsewhere.

Re: Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?

#267

Post by chris123 » Sun, Sep 25, 2016, 2:10 AM UTC

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #55

jnordwick wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of those are very dated and you won't learn much about modern economic thought from them. Many of those people (Keynes, Marx, Graham, etc...) are like reading Freud. Very little of what Freud wrote has made into modern psychological though. It is more of his methodical approach that brought psychology into the modern age. The same can be said of many on that list. They brought a rigor of thought to economics that…

I think it's safe to say that Keynes works are the foundation of modern macroeconomics. His economic cycles are doctrine in economic planning. Moreover he has been invoked increasingly post 2008 recession.

Keynesianism is in the midst of its death throes.

Re: Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?

#268

Post by qwrusz » Sun, Sep 25, 2016, 6:34 AM UTC

I work in finance. I agree with other comments that suggested the CFA Program curriculum.

Specifically, CFA Level 1 textbooks are among the best introductions to finance and economics I found. You don't have to sign up for the CFA exam$, the textbooks can be bought separately. CFA might not be as fun reading but are a very practical foundation (and will help put future readings in context).

You say you hope to get into finance but don't know almost anything about it. How did you decide to get into finance without knowing much about it?

I enjoy it but it's not for everyone. Finance is also huge. Economics is less relevant to finance than many realize (most roles do not require having studied econ and Goldman's CEO recently called the firm a "tech company").

May I humbly suggest, prior (or in addition) to spending precious time reading finance/econ books, speak to a few people who work in finance and read finance sites to get a better feel for it.

Books can be amazing, even if just read for intellectual curiosity, but they take a long time to read. There are other ways to learn which are quicker/more relevant to you vs. entire books.

Lastly, one "must-read" book is The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham. The revised edition with notes from Jason Zweig is excellent. The industry is still obsessed with the book ~70 years after it came out and for good reason. Even if you disagree with it or think it's outdated (and many do), the book comes up so often it's worth reading to be in the loop.

CFA Program: https://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfaprogram/Pages/index...

TII book wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Intelligent_Investor

*This is my first HN comment. Apologies for any noob mistakes.

Re: Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?

#269

Post by unixhero » Sun, Sep 25, 2016, 1:47 PM UTC

oli5679 wrote: post #216

thanatropism wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, much of Graham's "investment philosophy" has been thoroughly invalidated by the Modigliani-Miller theorem published in the 1960s. But like Deepak Chopra, he's still around!

There is a reasonable case that 'value' (low beta) stocks exhibit excess returns in equity markets. See Fama & French http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.459... M&M says there shouldn't be 1st order implications for a firm's dividend payout ratio on its stock price (there are potential effects caused by taxes, agency and signalling that they assume away for simplicity). However, other popular val…

Thank you, now this thread is going somewhere. Popcorn time

Re: Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?

#270

Post by zhte415 » Sun, Sep 25, 2016, 5:17 PM UTC

jnordwick wrote: post #53

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #35

The following list will introduce you to Western Economic Philosophy as it relates to modern history specifically. This list is weighted heavily toward neo-classical economics and does not get into computational model based economics - specifically microeconomics, which comprises the bulk of economics education today: Schumpeter - History of economic analysis Adam Smith - Theory of Moral Sentiments Kaynes - The Gener…

All of those are very dated and you won't learn much about modern economic thought from them. Many of those people (Keynes, Marx, Graham, etc...) are like reading Freud. Very little of what Freud wrote has made into modern psychological though. It is more of his methodical approach that brought psychology into the modern age. The same can be said of many on that list. They brought a rigor of thought to economics that…

This time it's different?

Irrational Exuberance by Robert Shiller could be on the list above.