Text and Notes in Principles (General)
A series of episodes of Marketplace Morning Report, a public radio programme, reading and discussing the CORE Economics textbook "Economy, Society, and Public Policy" chapter by chapter. Each episode of the programme includes a discussion which can be listened to as a podcast or read as a transcript. An email newsletter links to related Marketplace stories. Readers can sign up for free and follow at their own pace.
S-Cool! Economics is aimed at students at AS- and A2-level, this site has text and printable revision guides on nearly twenty introductory economics topics.
New School Economic Review (NSER) is a student-run economics journal and blog that is free to access. The blog discusses topical economic issues in relation to articles that appear in the journal Issues of particular concern include: political economy, development, trade, philosophy of economics, and macroeconomics.
The Carbon Tax Center provides an explanation and justification of the carbon tax proposal, which includes useful detail on the general working of Pigovian and 'green' taxes with greenhouse gas emissions as a topical application. The site includes a presentational slide show and short non-technical papers (with supporting links) comparing the tax with market-based (tradable-quota) alternatives, giving evidence for its demand-reducing effects and explaining how its adverse distributional effects could be addressed. Offers subscription to email newsletter.
Free online course with six hours of material, with materials downloadable in a variety of formats. This introductory module looks at inequality between countries as well as within countries, and mentions government actions that can counter inequality.
This textbook is both freely available and extensively peer-reviewed. It aims to cover "the scope and sequence for a two-semester principles of economics course." It claims "a balanced approach to micro and macro economics, to both Keynesian and classical views, and to the theory and application of economics concepts." Officially published in March 2014, it was updated in 2017 to reflect current events. Its US origin is reflected in the choice of examples. It can be freely downloaded or viewed in a variety of formats, and an interactive version is available through the Apple iBookstore. A test bank, set of PowerPoint slides, and solutions booklet are available to lecturers on request.
An open online textbook, divided into 38 chapters, drawn from various open educational sources including MIT Open CourseWare and Wikipedia, and curated by "subject matter experts, like professors, PhDs and Master’s students." One section deals with controversies in economics (with a US focus), such as "should the Government maintain a balanced budget?" Development of the textbook stopped in 2017 and the book was archived in this version.
This on-line textbook is available freely for use by lecturers of introductory economics courses. The first part teaches the basics of economics, while subsequent chapters are of a 'storytelling' nature, applying the concepts to subjects aimed at students' own lives and areas of interest, such as love and marriage, higher education, and crime. The site was taken down in early 2017: this link goes to the Web Archive copy.
This is a collection of presentations given at various CBI (Confederation of British Industry) events made available via SlideShare. They have been authored by members of the CBI or invited speakers from HM Treasury, companies and other organisations. They cover topics such as public procurement, climate change, energy policy, pensions etc. In common with other resources available on SlideShare they are embeddable in other websites, some are downloadable and registered users can comment on the presentations.
These Tutor2u economics study resources collection provides notes, examples and data to cover a large number of A-level economics topics, organised by category. Each page makes use of attractive design and graphs. A self-test section is included. Key terms on each page are linked to the site's glossary
Ask Dr. Econ is an educational resource that answers questions on (mostly macro) economic issues by a Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco economist: the answer-bank is searchable by category or keyword. Answers are detailed, generally at introductory level. Examples: Does inflation hurt long-term growth? What are business cycles and how do they affect the economy? Why does a trade deficit weaken the currency? The service ran from 1998 until 2013.
A 31-chapter principles textbook that focuses on real-world examples and introduces each theory point by first discussing an application. It can be downloaded& as a single PDF file or viewed online. It was published in 2012 by the Saylor Foundation, an educational charity.
These case studies in data search, management and economic interpretation are aimed at first-time students of economics. They are downloadable in Word format with embedded links, to adapt, print and/or put in a virtual learning environment. They were produced by Dean Garratt and Stephen Heasell, Nottingham Trent University as part of an Economics Network project. They cover topics such as economic growth, house prices, household debt, consumption spending and government spending.
This is a course website for Econ 2 (Market Imperfections and Policy) delivered in 2011. It contains a course syllabus, problem sets, practice exam papers, slides from each lecture and a series of links to topical economics stories in the news. The course is based on the text by Robert H. Frank and Ben S. Bernanke, Principles of Economics, Third edition. The original site has been taken down and this link is to the Web Archive's copy.
This on-line introductory text by Roger Schenk includes both micro- and macro- sections, with about a dozen chapters in each. The text has its own glossary and Who's Who and is available as a CD-ROM. A separate index holds text that has been removed from the main content of the book for flow or because it was too technical.
This set of downloadable textbooks is aimed at UK economics students. They include introductory topics such as the basics of international economics, the neo-classical growth model, econometrics and micro/macro analysis. They range in size from about 20 pages to 150 pages. Users are required to fill in brief personal details before they can download the PDF files of the full text of the books. The free versions have embedded adverts. Ad-free versions are available with a paid subscription.
A summary of the financial crisis that struck the New York Stock Exchange in 1907. The text is summarised from around two dozen sources (principally Bruner and Carr's "The Panic of 1907") and includes contemporary photographs and a timeline. This was made a "Featured Article" after a review in October 2008, meaning that it is considered as comparable to the quality of professional encyclopedias. However, further changes have been made since that time.
Part of the Baseline Scenario blog, this guide to the Financial Crisis for Beginners looks at what the crisis is and examines some of the options for change. It includes links to audio and video learning materials and introductory articles on topics such as credit default swaps, bank recapitalization and risk management. The explanations are simplified and aim to explain the key concepts to a general audience. Teachers could use these as springboards to get at the harder economic topics underneath.
Chapter 1 of David Colander's 'The Making of an Economist, Redux' (Princeton University Press 2007), reviewing the career paths of economists and the formation of the profession's 'elite' from a US perspective. Information on the number and changing composition of the US economics graduate community, the contents of courses, what economists do, and a summary and reactions to the AEA's Commission on Graduate Education in Economics report.
This is Kling's (formerly of the Federal Reserve) ongoing attempt at an online introductory textbook, made up of about fifty short documents arranged in five chapters - Growth Theory, Saving, Finance, and Social Security, Markets (Microeconomics), Macroeconomics, Information Economics. Each chapter can be printed as a single document.
This advice for students addresses: Working with your class notes, Reading your textbook effectively, Practice makes perfect, and Studying with classmates. It is written by Ron Cronovich of the University of Nevada and introduces students to basic study skills. Written in 2001, the page was taken down in 2010 and this link is to Archive.org's copy.
A pedestrian's guide to the economy is written by Orley Amos and gives a very simple, straightforward guide to basic economic principles and issues. This is very informal and aimed at the general public rather than the student, but may be useful to some first year students. The site is searchable.
A complete book of nearly 900 pages, dating from 1993, with contributions from authors including Thomas Sargent, Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Schelling, Paul Krugman, and N. Greg Mankiw. The structure covers basic topics, areas of application and ends with some short biographies of economists.
This site uses Flash to present a set of tutorials. The Flash technology allows interactively animated graphs, allowing the students to implement policy by, for example, dragging curves to a new position. To view them, your browser requires a plug-in. Topics covered are: Changes in Supply, Demand and Market Equilibrium; The Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply Model; A Firm's Long Run Average Cost Curve; Macroeconomic Phenomena in the AD/AS Model; Profit Maximization for a Competitive Firm; and Economic Policy Tools.