Each August there’s a meeting in Lindau of economics (and other) Nobel laureates.* I’ve never attended but have just been looking at the book of essays for young economists written by the participants in the conference, [amazon_link id=”1137383585″ target=”_blank” ]Economics for the Curious[/amazon_link] edited by Robert Solow with Janice Murray. There’s an obviously impressive list of contributors, whose talks cover subjects ranging from natural resource sustainability (Robert Solow) to structural change in the global economy (Mike Spence, who taught me a graduate micro course once upon a time) to the role of transactions costs in the social sciences (Oliver Williamson) and the character of economics (Vernon Smith).
[amazon_image id=”1137383585″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Economics for the Curious: Inside the Minds of 12 Nobel Laureates[/amazon_image]
The essays (the ones I’ve read) are very accessible and non-technical. Solow’s essay on applying economic principles to renewable and non-renewable resources is a model of clarity that could be set for undergraduates. Williamson’s essay on transactions cost economics is fascinating. He insists on the importance of interdisciplinarity – I hadn’t known he started out an engineer and came to economics via business. He usefully describes Coase’s famous 1960 paper, The Problem of Social Cost (pdf), the origin of modern institutional economics, as an exercise in reductio ad absurdum – what happens when you push the logic of zero transactions costs to its conclusion? He usefully captures Coase’s stricture against ‘blackboard economics’ by explaining the need for comparing any activity being analysed, not to an abstract ideal of efficiency, but to a realistic alternative. He ends with advice to students to take elective courses in any filed that interests them. “Try it. You may like it.”
I’ll now finish reading the essays, but my impression is that it’s a little book which is perfectly pitched for undergraduates or sixth formers, and is currently only just over £10 on Amazon.
* I know it isn’t a ‘real’ Nobel, ok?