Textbooks and edited volumes make up the bulk of the Routledge list, and so I don't often look at the catalogue in detail as the reviews section in The Business Economist focuses on non-technical, non-textbook good reads rather than those aimed at the academic and student markets. (Clearly the readership of the journal consists of people who work outside the academic world, and price comes into it too, as pricing strategy for academic/student titles counts on a much lower price elasticity of demand.) So it was interesting to bring a new perspective to it this time.
Routledge has substantial numbers of new and backlist titles on Asian economies and on development. Also quite a few on heterodox economics – I'm very sceptical of those which seem to bring the inanities of 'critical theory' to economics but am rather taken by the look of a History of Heterodox Economics by Frederick Lee, out in February, and also a recent book called Leading Contemporary Economists edited by Steven Pressman. Other highlights are The Macroeconomics of Global Imbalances, with essays by luminaries such as Richard Portes, Charles Wyplosz and Dr Doom himself Nouriel Roubini; a reissue in March of Ragnar Frisch on econometrics, which looks a must – the catalogue describes it as an evergreen warning for those “lost in the thick mist of formal technique twiddling”; and a number of new and forthcoming titles on central banking and financial markets, very timely, although one wonders how much they've been overtaken by the extraordinary events of the winter of 2008/09. Last but not least, a number of new textbooks on behavioural and experimental economics, a real sign of the times in the subject. I liked the look of a how-to book, Experiments in Economics by Ananish Chauduri.
The catalogue is online at http://www.routledge.com/economics