100 books like The Origin of Wealth

By Eric D. Beinhocker,

Here are 100 books that The Origin of Wealth fans have personally recommended if you like The Origin of Wealth. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor

Liah Greenfeld Author Of The Spirit of Capitalism: Nationalism and Economic Growth

From my list on the relationship between capitalism and nationalism.

Why am I passionate about this?

The Spirit of Capitalism: Nationalism and Economic Growth is the second volume of my nationalism trilogy. When I published the first volume, Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity, the accepted view on the subject of nationalism was that it is a product of economic development, specifically, of industrialization and capitalism. On the basis of historical evidence, I proved that its emergence had nothing to do with these economic phenomena: in fact, it preceded both. Reviews of Nationalism, noting that, for this reason, economic developments could not have caused nationalism, raised the question what relationship, then, did exist between nationalism and the economy, and this led me to investigate it. 

Liah's book list on the relationship between capitalism and nationalism

Liah Greenfeld Why did Liah love this book?

This book is a rare attempt by an eminent economic historian to examine cultural determinants of economic growth and answer the question why it happens, which distinguishes it sharply from the discipline’s exclusive focus on how it proceeds.

Landes, in other words, disentangles the explanation of causes from the preoccupation with the process, which is why I recommend this book.

By David S. Landes,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Wealth and Poverty of Nations as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now that the old division of the world into the two power blocs of East and West has subsided, the great gap in wealth and health that separates North and South remains the single greatest problem and danger facing the world of the Third Millennium. The only challenge of comparable scope and difficulty is the threat of the environmental deterioration, and the two are intimately connected, indeed are one. David Landes argues that the North-South division is the great drama of our times, and that drama implies tension, passion, conflict and disappointment as well as happy outcomes. While Landes does…


Book cover of Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy

Mark R. Reiff Author Of On Unemployment: A Micro-Theory of Economic Justice: Volume 1

From my list on what causes economic injustice.

Why am I passionate about this?

F. Scott Fitzgerald claimed, “there are no second acts in American lives.” But I am on my third. I started out in the theatre, then became a lawyer, and then a political philosopher. What drove each move is that I was always outraged by injustice and wanted to find a better way to fight against it. For me, reading, writing, and teaching political philosophy turned out to be that way. The books on this list provide important lessons on how certain economic policies can cause injustice while others can cure it. Each has been around for a long time, but they are as relevant today as when they were first written. 

Mark's book list on what causes economic injustice

Mark R. Reiff Why did Mark love this book?

A renowned economist and Harvard professor with a bit of a cult following, Schumpeter provides a realistic evaluation of what capitalism is and whether it can survive if it does not do more to help a wider range of people.

First published in 1942, Schumpeter’s fear was the rise of socialism, but what he had to say about the failings of capitalism back then applies with equal force today.

Schumpeter was the originator of the term “creative destruction” to describe how capitalism works, and Part II of the book was the inspiration for my paper, “Can Liberal Capitalism Survive?”

The book has never been out of print. 

By Joseph A Schumpeter,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Joseph Schumpeter’s classic Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy explains the process of capitalism’s 'creative destruction' — a key principle in understanding the logic of globalization." — Thomas L. Friedman, Foreign Policy

In this definitive third and final edition (1950) of his prophetic masterwork, Joseph A. Schumpeter introduced the world to the concept of “creative destruction,” which forever altered how global economics is approached and perceived. Now featuring a new introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning Schumpeter biographer Thomas K. McCraw, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy is essential read­ing for anyone who seeks to understand where the world economy is headed.

“If Keynes was the…


Book cover of Competition & Entrepreneurship

David Emanuel Andersson Author Of Property Rights, Consumption and the Market Process

From my list on understanding how societies develop.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always been curious about why societies develop, which is why I was drawn to the social sciences as a student. I first encountered attempts to explain development in economics, but found that mainstream models were too neat and abstract to account for my everyday observations. Why are there no entrepreneurs in the models, and why do most economists assume that property rights are unambiguous? I eventually discovered that non-mainstream economic theories and some of the other social sciences are more concerned with reality. Eventually I developed an eclectic framework with a focus on entrepreneurship, institutions, and spatial agglomerations as factors that shape socio-economic development. 

David's book list on understanding how societies develop

David Emanuel Andersson Why did David love this book?

This is the second book that I read about entrepreneurship. It’s also my second favorite book on economics.

Unlike Schumpeter, Kirzner does not assume that entrepreneurship is an unusual activity. Most people are entrepreneurial at some point. Successful entrepreneurship means being alert to profit opportunities that others have not noticed.

The underlying message is that there is such a thing as a free lunch. Kirzner views the market as a process rather than an equilibrium state. It is a superb book for understanding why mainstream neoclassical economics is unrealistic, but it does not address uncertainty. 

By Israel M Kirzner, Peter Boettke (editor), Frederic Sautet (editor)

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Competition & Entrepreneurship as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Stressing verbal logic rather than mathematics, Israel M. Kirzner provides at once a thorough critique of contemporary price theory, an essay on the theory of entrepreneurship, and an essay on the theory of competition. Competition and Entrepreneurship offers a new appraisal of quality competition, of selling effort, and of the fundamental weaknesses of contemporary welfare economics.

Kirzner's book establishes a theory of the market and the price system which differs from orthodox price theory. He sees orthodox price theory as explaining the configuration of prices and quantities that satisfied the conditions for equilibrium. Mr. Kirzner argues that "it is more…


Book cover of Organizing Entrepreneurial Judgment: A New Approach to the Firm

Randall Holcombe Author Of Entrepreneurship and Economic Progress

From my list on entrepreneurship and economic progress.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an economics professor and have been dissatisfied with the way that economic theory has described the miracle of economic growth the global economy has seen since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Growth cannot come without progress, which means new and improved goods and services, and more efficient production methods. Progress is the result of entrepreneurship. The role of entrepreneurship in the creation of economic progress has been underappreciated by economists, which was my motivation for exploring the topic in more detail.

Randall's book list on entrepreneurship and economic progress

Randall Holcombe Why did Randall love this book?

Economists tend to characterize firms as profit maximizers, but the people who manage firms operate in an uncertain environment and the path to profitability is rarely clear.

Firms that suffer losses or go out of business provide evidence on this. Foss and Klein depict those who run firms as entrepreneurs who must use their judgment in the face of uncertainty to direct their firms.

They connect the concepts of management and entrepreneurship more closely than has been done in the past, creating a bridge between the academic literature in economics and management.

By Nicolai J. Foss, Peter G. Klein,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Organizing Entrepreneurial Judgment as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Entrepreneurship, long neglected by economists and management scholars, has made a dramatic comeback in the last two decades, not only among academic economists and management scholars, but also among policymakers, educators and practitioners. Likewise, the economic theory of the firm, building on Ronald Coase's (1937) seminal analysis, has become an increasingly important field in economics and management. Despite this resurgence, there is still little connection between the entrepreneurship literature and the literature on the firm, both in academia and in management practice. This book fills this gap by proposing and developing an entrepreneurial theory of the firm that focuses on…


Book cover of Chances Are . . .: Adventures in Probability

Larry R. Frank Sr. Author Of Wealth Odyssey: The Essential Road Map for Your Financial Journey Where Is It You Are Really Trying to Go with Money?

From my list on issues that confuse many people about money.

Why am I passionate about this?

Wealth Odyssey is a summary work based on a 12-hour adult education course I taught for 10 years. It’s important to me to educate people through my 29 years in the profession (1994-2023), my focus has always been on helping people first understand that retirement means you’re wealthy enough not to work anymore – working is optional. You don’t need to be rich. Wealth is scalable for any income level and comes from foundation income and investments to supplement that foundation to support your desired lifestyle’s Standard of Individual Living (SOIL) for as long as you live. Your focus should be on your plan and apply a few concepts grounded in well researched evidence.

Larry's book list on issues that confuse many people about money

Larry R. Frank Sr. Why did Larry love this book?

When people think of financial planning, their first thought is investing. Their second thought is retirement.

Kaplans explain risk succinctly: “Everything is possible, yet only one thing happens.” People understand risk but don’t really understand how to apply it rationally to investing (market risks) or to retirement (longevity risk).

But first, having an understanding of what risk is and isn’t, and where it comes from is important before you can apply it to what fuels your plans – markets and longevity.

This book helped me formulate the basic planning concepts I use in my book since personal finance is all about taking risks – as are any other decisions and actions you take in life.

By Michael Kaplan, Ellen Kaplan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Chances Are . . . as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A compelling journey through history, mathematics, and philosophy, charting humanity’s struggle against randomness

Our lives are played out in the arena of chance. However little we recognize it in our day-to-day existence, we are always riding the odds, seeking out certainty but settling—reluctantly—for likelihood, building our beliefs on the shadowy props of probability. Chances Are is the story of man’s millennia-long search for the tools to manage the recurrent but unpredictable—to help us prevent, or at least mitigate, the seemingly random blows of disaster, disease, and injustice. In these pages, we meet the brilliant individuals who developed the first abstract…


Book cover of Reducing the Risk of Black Swans: Using the Science of Investing to Capture Returns with Less Volatility

Larry R. Frank Sr. Author Of Wealth Odyssey: The Essential Road Map for Your Financial Journey Where Is It You Are Really Trying to Go with Money?

From my list on issues that confuse many people about money.

Why am I passionate about this?

Wealth Odyssey is a summary work based on a 12-hour adult education course I taught for 10 years. It’s important to me to educate people through my 29 years in the profession (1994-2023), my focus has always been on helping people first understand that retirement means you’re wealthy enough not to work anymore – working is optional. You don’t need to be rich. Wealth is scalable for any income level and comes from foundation income and investments to supplement that foundation to support your desired lifestyle’s Standard of Individual Living (SOIL) for as long as you live. Your focus should be on your plan and apply a few concepts grounded in well researched evidence.

Larry's book list on issues that confuse many people about money

Larry R. Frank Sr. Why did Larry love this book?

Personal financial planning has to include investing. With investing comes risk. There are many books on investing. There are few on how to approach investing. Although a short book, it succinctly covers how to think about stock returns, modern financial theory, building a portfolio with risk also in mind, and applying Monte Carlo.

This book combines risk with returns so that you can better target risk to your financial plans. Having a long term, which means the rest of your life, view helps you understand everything has cycles. Using cycles of different investments in a portfolio construct, rather than viewing each investment separately, helps mute cyclical effects on your plans.

I always refer to the fundamentals discussed in this book when I begin to second guess my own plans when markets “misbehave” as they always do. It reaffirms how the application of modern financial theory has worked in the past…

By Larry Swedroe, Kevin Grogan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Reducing the Risk of Black Swans as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In their expanded and updated 2018 edition of “Reducing the Risk of Black Swans: Using the Science of Investing to Capture Returns with Less Volatility,” Larry Swedroe, author of the bestselling "The Only Guide" series of investment books, and Kevin Grogan, co-author of "The Only Guide You'll Ever Need for the Right Financial Plan," revisit what it takes to build more efficient portfolios in today’s evolving financial landscape.

Designed specifically for those seeking to enrich their technical knowledge of recent advancements in the world of evidence-based investing, the revised second edition reexamines and enhances Swedroe and Grogan’s roadmap to an…


Book cover of Finance for Normal People: How Investors and Markets Behave

Larry R. Frank Sr. Author Of Wealth Odyssey: The Essential Road Map for Your Financial Journey Where Is It You Are Really Trying to Go with Money?

From my list on issues that confuse many people about money.

Why am I passionate about this?

Wealth Odyssey is a summary work based on a 12-hour adult education course I taught for 10 years. It’s important to me to educate people through my 29 years in the profession (1994-2023), my focus has always been on helping people first understand that retirement means you’re wealthy enough not to work anymore – working is optional. You don’t need to be rich. Wealth is scalable for any income level and comes from foundation income and investments to supplement that foundation to support your desired lifestyle’s Standard of Individual Living (SOIL) for as long as you live. Your focus should be on your plan and apply a few concepts grounded in well researched evidence.

Larry's book list on issues that confuse many people about money

Larry R. Frank Sr. Why did Larry love this book?

Everyone makes mental shortcuts and also have biases. How can we learn to recognize errors in thinking when it comes to our money? How can we make better choices when it comes to saving or spending? Are we normal or irrational?

Behavioral finance began in the 1970s and I found Statman’s discussion fascinating on almost every page. He sums up these biases when applied to our financial choices as well as to the markets.

Normal people have wants and emotions. This contrasts with many books about how people are irrational. Indeed, we are more normal than irrational once we understand that poor choices are actually normal. Statman describes how to make better choices by recognizing choice and biases we have.

These concepts are important if you want to grow your wealth without making someone else wealthy through your spending habits.

By Meir Statman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Finance for Normal People as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Finance for Normal People teaches behavioral finance to people like you and me - normal people, neither rational nor irrational. We are consumers, savers, investors, and managers - corporate managers, money managers, financial advisers, and all other financial professionals.

The book guides us to know our wants - including hope for riches, protection from poverty, caring for family, sincere social responsibility and high social status. It teaches financial facts and human behavior, including making cognitive and emotional shortcuts and avoiding cognitive and emotional errors such as overconfidence, hindsight, exaggerated fear, and unrealistic hope. And it guides us to banish ignorance,…


Book cover of The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio

Larry R. Frank Sr. Author Of Wealth Odyssey: The Essential Road Map for Your Financial Journey Where Is It You Are Really Trying to Go with Money?

From my list on issues that confuse many people about money.

Why am I passionate about this?

Wealth Odyssey is a summary work based on a 12-hour adult education course I taught for 10 years. It’s important to me to educate people through my 29 years in the profession (1994-2023), my focus has always been on helping people first understand that retirement means you’re wealthy enough not to work anymore – working is optional. You don’t need to be rich. Wealth is scalable for any income level and comes from foundation income and investments to supplement that foundation to support your desired lifestyle’s Standard of Individual Living (SOIL) for as long as you live. Your focus should be on your plan and apply a few concepts grounded in well researched evidence.

Larry's book list on issues that confuse many people about money

Larry R. Frank Sr. Why did Larry love this book?

This is a wonderful book organized around four main concepts, each valuable in their own right: 1) The Theory of Investing; 2) The History of Investing; 3) The Psychology of Investing; and 3) The Business of Investing. 

The latter, the business section makes it clear the stockbroker is not your friend, even though they’re friendly (by design). Having started my career on the sales side of the business, I quickly learned the agenda is less about the customer and more about product sales, even though I was also a Certified Financial Planner ProfessionalTM

I dropped sales licenses and became a fee-only advisor and member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) where the focus is on planning and helping clients achieve their wants and goals.

The principles in Bernstein’s book marry well with those of both Swedroe’s and Statman’s books (above) in the application of growing…

By William Bernstein,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Four Pillars of Investing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This new edition of the bestselling guide brings sophisticated investors-including institutional and individual investors, investment bankers, and those who want to follow in the footsteps of legends like John Bogle-up to date on ETFs, risk management, neuropsychological investing concepts, and more

Since its original publication two decades ago, The Four Pillars of Investing has become a classic guide for serious investors. The practicalities of investing, however, have changed dramatically, particularly pertaining to ETFs, and thinking has evolved about a host of key issues, such as lifecycle finance, the nature of risk, and basic finance and neuropsychological concepts. This new edition…


Book cover of The Origin Of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics

Gerald Ashley Author Of Two Speed World: The impact of explosive and gradual change - its effect on you and everything else

From my list on decisions bloody decisions.

Why am I passionate about this?

With a long background in international banking and finance I am an advisor, writer, and speaker on behavioural risk, disruptive change & decision making. My primary interest is in understanding the decision making and risk taking processes of people and organisations, and how we can make better decisions and take more profitable risks. In addition, much of my research and work concentrates on how to understand emerging trends in business; and how our own biases and behaviours affect the way we either succeed or fail in new environments.

Gerald's book list on decisions bloody decisions

Gerald Ashley Why did Gerald love this book?

A fascinating look at Complexity Science and so-called self-organising systems and how they contribute to wealth creation.

This a rather long, and maybe slightly daunting, book. A criticism might be that the author is long winded in some of his detailed examination of new themes and ideas in economics. However, at the heart of the book is the desire to understand how real people, make real decisions in the real world.

By Eric Beinhocker,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Origin Of Wealth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Economics is changing radically. This paradigm shift, the biggest in the field for over a century, will have profound implications for business, government and society for decades to come.

In this groundbreaking book, economic thinker and writer Eric Beinhocker surveys the cutting-edge ideas of the leading economists, physicists, biologists and cognitive scientists who are fundamentally reshaping economics, and brings their work alive for a broad audience.

These researchers argue that the economy is a 'complex adaptive system', more akin to the brain, the internet or an ecosystem than to the static picture of economic systems portrayed by traditional theory. They…


Book cover of The Great Economists: Ten Economists Whose Thinking Changed the Way We Live

Panayotis G. Michaelides Author Of History of Economic Ideas: From Adam Smith to Paul Krugman

From my list on the evolution of economics.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a Full Professor and Lab Director in Economics. My interest in this field began when I traveled abroad and observed the differences in prices, goods, and quality of life. In order to gain a deeper understanding, I decided to switch from my previous academic background in Engineering, Mathematics & Physics to Economics, Finance & Data Science. Today, I am dedicated to expanding my knowledge and sharing my insights through teaching, academic publications, and LinkedIn posts. According to the latest rankings, I am humbled to be among the top 3% most productive economists worldwide (IDEAS-RePec, 2023), as well as being ranked among the top 4% researchers in Financial Economics, and the top 5% in Econometrics (Researchgate, 2023).

Panayotis' book list on the evolution of economics

Panayotis G. Michaelides Why did Panayotis love this book?

For anyone interested in a comfortable tour through some of the greatest economists, this book is a must-read.

It is like having a personal conversation with the world's leading economic masterminds, as it explores their beliefs, backgrounds, and legacies. This book is well-written and easy to follow, making it an excellent choice for anyone.

Economics is not only concerned with fiscal policies and national economies. And this book does a good job of illustrating the fact that Economics plays a role in almost every aspect of human life.

Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge the inclusion of Daniel Kahneman in the book, an Israeli-American psychologist and Nobel Prize winner whose empirical findings challenged the assumption of human rationality, i.e. the foundation of modern Economics.

By Phil Thornton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Great Economists as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Great Economists succinctly and accurately describes the thinking of the world's leading economic thinkers. It captures their key beliefs, explores their backgrounds, assesses their thinking and evaluates their legacy. It explains the schools of thought named after them and clearly shows how they influence our everyday lives.


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in economics, evolution, and the economy?

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