Economics Book Colloquium

Each semester the Center for Public Choice and Market Process (CPM) sponsors the Economics Book Colloquium, in which students and faculty meet to discuss interesting contemporary writing in economics.

Spring 2024


 Cover of The Property Species: Mine, Yours, and the Human Mind

This spring, join us in reading "The Property Species: Mine, Yours, and the Human Mind" by Bart J. Wilson. Discussions will be led by Dr. Jennifer Baker, Professor of Philosophy. Participants will receive a free copy of the book. Meetings are on the scheduled Wednesdays listed below in Beatty 301 from 3:30pm-4:45pm.

  • January 31 - Chapters 1 & 2
  • February 14 - Chapters 3 & 4
  • February 28 - Chapters 5 & 6
  • March 20 - Meeting with Author Bart Wilson & Chapter 7
  • March 27 - Chapter 8 & Review
  • April 3 - Conclusion

Books for Economics Students


Below are lists of previous Economics Book Colloquium selections and other books for students interested in learning more about economics.
  • Previous Economics Book Colloquium Selections

    • Why Parties? A Second Look by John H. Aldrich.
    • Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier by Edward Glaeser
    • The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress by Virginia Postrel
    • Tyranny Comes Home: The Domestic Fate of U.S. Militarism by Christopher J. Coyne and Abigail R. Hall
    • Socialism Sucks: Two Economist Drink Their Way Through the Unfree World by Robert Lawson and Benjamin Powell
    • More from Less: The Surprising Story of How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources―and What Happens Next by Andrew McAfee
    • How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom by Matt Ridley
    • The Essential Adam Smith by James Otteson; Humanomics: Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations for the Twenty-First Century by Veron L. Smith and Bart J. Wilson; The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World by Tim Harford
    • The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else by Hernando De Soto.
    • WTF?!: An Economic Tour of the Weird by Peter T. Leeson
    • Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy by Philippe Van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght
    • Environmental Markets: A Property Rights Approach by Terry Anderson and Gary Libecap
    • Mainline Economics: Six Nobel Lectures in the Tradition of Adam Smith featuring F. A. Hayek, James M. Buchanan, Ronald H. Coase, Douglass C. North, Vernon L. Smith, and Elinor C. Ostrom
    • Various Articles and Chapters from Dr. Doug Walker, Dr. Robert Lawson, Dr. Todd Nesbit, and Dr. Jennifer Baker
    • Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity by William Baumol, Robert Litan, and Carl Schramm
    • White-collar government: The hidden role of class in economic policy making by Nicholas Carnes; Beyond Politics: The Roots of Government Failure by Randy Simmons
    • The Tyranny of Experts: Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor by William Easterly
    • Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers: The Economic Engine of Political Change by Wayne A. Leighton and Edward J. Lopez
    • In FED We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic by David Wessel
    • Why Most Things Fail by Paul Ormerod
    • The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good by William Easterly
    • Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
    • Keynes Hayek by Nicholas Wapshott
    • Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
    • Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations by David Warsh
    • The Invisible Hook by Peter Leeson; Uncommon Sense by Gary Becker and Richard Posner
    • A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles by Thomas Sowell
    • The Economics of Public Issues by Roger LeRoy Miller, Daniel K. Benjamin, and Douglas C. North
    • The Machinery of Freedom by David Friedman

  • Books for Economics Students

    • Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
    • The Law by Frederic Bastiat
    • Economic Sophisms by Frederic Bastiat
    • Defending the Undefendable by Walter Block
    • Stealing from Each Other by Edgar Browning
    • Cost and Choice by James Buchanan
    • New Ideas from Dead Economists by Todd Bucholz
    • Discover Your Inner Economist by Tyler Cowen
    • The Elusive Quest for Growth by William Easterly
    • White Man's Burden by William Easterly
    • The Economic Naturalist by Robert Frank
    • Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
    • Free to Choose by Milton Friedman
    • Machinery of Freedom by David Friedman
    • Hidden Order by David Friedman
    • The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
    • The Logic of Life by Tim Harford
    • The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek
    • Capitalism and Historians by F.A. Hayek
    • Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
    • Time Will Run Back (Novel) by Henry Hazlitt
    • The Failure of the New Economics by Henry Hazlitt
    • Everything for Sale by Robert Kuttner
    • The Armchair Economist by Steven Landsburg
    • Fair Play by Steven Landsburg
    • Freakonomics by Steven Levit
    • A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel
    • Eat the Rich by PJ O'Rourke
    • On The Wealth of Nations by PJ O'Rourke
    • Fountain Head by Ayn Rand
    • Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
    • Capitalism the Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand
    • The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade by Russell Roberts
    • The Price of Everything by Russell Roberts
    • Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen
    • Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell
    • A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles by Thomas Sowell
    • Marxism: Philosophy and Economics by Thomas Sowell
    • Civil Rights: Rhetoric Or Reality? by Thomas Sowell
    • Give Me a Break by John Stossel
    • Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity by John Stossel
    • Do the Right Thing by Walter Williams
    • More Liberty Means Less Government by Walter Williams
    • Why Globalization Works by Martin Wolf