Here are 100 books that The Theory of Dynamic Efficiency fans have personally recommended if you like
The Theory of Dynamic Efficiency.
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I’m an associate professor of economics at Grove City College, where I love introducing students to the economic point of view. My first book, listed below, pursues the relentless logic of tradeoffs. My second book (co-authored with Art Carden), Mere Economics: Lessons for and from the Ordinary Business of Life, is due out in early 2025. It examines how human beings expand their options through cooperation. For me, internalizing the economic point of view is a lifelong project. I think it will become yours, too, if you try these books!
This is the rare book that is as eye-opening for the novice in economics as it is stimulating for the professional economist. Hazlitt will show you why economics is the golden key to unlocking an endless series of social mysteries.
If you really take his classic 1946 “Lesson” to heart, you can outthink many professional economists who have mistaken mathematical pyrotechnics for economic insight.
With over a million copies sold, Economics in One Lesson is an essential guide to the basics of economic theory. A fundamental influence on modern libertarianism, Hazlitt defends capitalism and the free market from economic myths that persist to this day.
Considered among the leading economic thinkers of the “Austrian School,” which includes Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich (F.A.) Hayek, and others, Henry Hazlitt (1894-1993), was a libertarian philosopher, an economist, and a journalist. He was the founding vice-president of the Foundation for Economic Education and an early editor of The Freeman magazine, an influential libertarian publication. Hazlitt wrote…
I’ve spent the last 17 years leveraging my Master’s degree in economics as a public policy analyst focusing on educating legislators and the public about the consequences of economic public policy. I’ve also taught several economic courses as an adjunct at a small university and area community college. Spreading sound economic knowledge is important to me. History–and the present day–is full of tragic tales of suffering in societies that failed to heed the lessons of sound economics. Sadly, however, the majority of Americans are either uneducated or mis-educated in economics. My passion is to advance economic understanding among citizens–especially young people–in order to correct that.
Mises was often referred to as the “godfather of Austrian Economics” for his voluminous contributions to economic science. This book is his most well-known and hefty treatise.
Mises expertly walks the reader through his explanation of economics being a branch of praxeology, the study of the implications of human action. With a passionate writing style, Mises pulls no punches on his critics while providing the reader with a graduate-level economic education without the often-confusing technical jargon academic courses often impose on students.
Mises uses explanatory language rather than mathematical equations and graphs to make his points. The book is not light reading, however, and should not be attempted without first gaining some understanding of the Austrian School of Economics. And weighing in at nearly 900 pages, expect to set aside some time to get through it. But it will be time well spent.
In Human Action, Mises starts from the ideas set forth in his Theory and History that all actions and decisions are based on human needs, wants, and desires and continues deeper and further to explain how studying this human action is not only a legitimate science (praxeology) but how that science is based on the foundation of free-market economics.
Mises presents and discusses all existing economic theories and then proceeds to explain how the only sensible, realistic, and feasible theory of economics is one based on how the needs and desires of human beings dictate trends, affect profits and losses,…
In high school I became interested in politics and economics. Soon I found the Austrian school and decided to make it my profession. I went to the US to study Austrian economics and later to Spain to study with Prof. Huerta de Soto. Finally, I became a Professor of Economics myself, teaching and writing in the tradition of the Austrian School.
Those who want to understand the origins of business cycles and how to prevent them should read this book.
One of the most pressing, if not the most pressing, problem of our societies today is our monetary and financial system. This book explains why and offers a solution.
I believe that it is the most complete Austrian treatise on money and banking. It is interdisciplinary looking at law and history as well. I have used it as a textbook for years in class and I have translated it into German. Every serious student of money and banking has to have mastered this book.
Can the market fully manage the money and banking sector?
Jesús Huerta de Soto, professor of economics at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, has made history with this mammoth and exciting treatise that it has and can again, without inflation, without business cycles, and without the economic instability that has characterized the age of government control.
Such a book as this comes along only once every several generations: a complete comprehensive treatise on economic theory. It is sweeping, revolutionary, and devastating--not only the most extended elucidation of Austrian business cycle theory to ever appear in print but also a…
I’ve spent the last 17 years leveraging my Master’s degree in economics as a public policy analyst focusing on educating legislators and the public about the consequences of economic public policy. I’ve also taught several economic courses as an adjunct at a small university and area community college. Spreading sound economic knowledge is important to me. History–and the present day–is full of tragic tales of suffering in societies that failed to heed the lessons of sound economics. Sadly, however, the majority of Americans are either uneducated or mis-educated in economics. My passion is to advance economic understanding among citizens–especially young people–in order to correct that.
As the most accomplished student of Ludwig von Mises, Rothbard is undisputably the American who has contributed the most to the Austrian School of Economics. Similar to Human Action, this treatise spans more than 1,000 pages and covers nearly every aspect of economic theory imaginable.
Rothbard methodically walks the reader through the logical implications of the “action axiom,” the notion that humans act with a purpose in mind. Specifically, humans utilize means according to an idea to achieve ends. From this self-evident building block, Rothbard deduces economic laws that guide nearly the entire edifice of economic science.
The Power and Market section is where theory meets practice, and Rothbard applies the Austrian School theory to diagnose the impact of a large variety of government interference in the market process.
Murray N. Rothbard's great treatise Man, Economy, and State and its complementary text Power and Market, are here combined into a single edition as they were written to be. It provides a sweeping presentation of Austrian economic theory, a reconstruction of many aspects of that theory, a rigorous criticism of alternative schools, and an inspiring look at a science of liberty that concerns nearly everything and should concern everyone.
The Mises Institute's new edition of Man Economy, and State, united with its formerly sundered companion volume Power and Market, is a landmark in the history…
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.
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.
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…
After receiving my doctorate in Economics at Cambridge University, I embarked on a 35-year sabbatical as a venture capitalist focused on information technology. I learned about the critical role that the American state had played by sponsoring the computer industry. When the "Dotcom Bubble" of the late 1990s grossly overpriced my companies, because I had written my PhD thesis on 1929-1931 when the Bubble of the Roaring Twenties exploded, I had seen the movie before and knew how it ended. I returned to Cambridge determined to tell this saga of innovation at the frontier and the strategic roles played by financial speculation and the state in funding economic transformation."
I value this book as a comprehensive history of high-risk investing in America, from the Whaling Industry to Silicon Valley.
Nicholas reveals the extraordinary skew and persistence in investment returns: a small number of investors are responsible for a disproportionate amount of the gains, and this holds true across widely varying institutional structures and technological domains.
And he explores the intimate relationship between the rise of the IT and Biotech industries and support from the U.S, Government.
A major exploration of venture financing, from its origins in the whaling industry to Silicon Valley, that shows how venture capital created an epicenter for the development of high-tech innovation.
VC tells the riveting story of how the industry arose from the United States' long-running orientation toward entrepreneurship. Venture capital has been driven from the start by the pull of outsized returns through a skewed distribution of payoffs-a faith in low-probability but substantial financial rewards that rarely materialize. Whether the gamble is a whaling voyage setting sail from New Bedford or the newest startup in Silicon Valley, VC is not…
The financing of private firms is fascinating and a bit mysterious. It remains misunderstood and regularly gives birth to hype and excesses. I started my career working for a venture capital fund at the top of the Internet financial bubble, in 2000. This experience has imprinted my career and derailed my ambitions. It also fueled my thirst for knowledge. I started from essentially a virgin theoretical and academic land. I developed a body of practical and academic knowledge. Writing and publishing my books seemed to be the next logical step. I enjoy reading books on the sector and recommending them.
There is only one Silicon Valley – and there can only be one.
Harvard Professor Josh Lerner debunks enduring myths about replicating the success of this unique cluster dedicated to information technologies. He describes the different unsuccessful attempts of doing so by various public authorities and governments, and draws the lessons of such attempts.
He also identifies what are the conditions of successful local attempts to develop industrial clusters. In this context, this book provides a solid background to readers eager to understand the background of the emergence and development of private companies thanks to a complex web of interactions between public and private initiatives.
Silicon Valley, Singapore, and Tel Aviv - the global hubs of entrepreneurial activity all bear the marks of government investment. Yet, for every public intervention that spurs entrepreneurial activity, there are many failed efforts that waste untold billions in taxpayer dollars. When has governmental sponsorship succeeded in boosting growth, and when has it fallen terribly short? Should the government be involved in such undertakings at all? "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is the first extensive look at the ways governments have supported entrepreneurs and venture capitalists across decades and continents. Josh Lerner, one of the foremost experts in the field, provides…
My passion and expertise related to African American business history began years ago when I searched for a Ph.D. dissertation topic. After mulling over a variety of options, I ultimately decided to examine the history of an African American insurance company in my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. While working on this project, I began to formulate ideas for future research in the realm of African American business history. I subsequently developed into one of the acknowledged experts in this field. Based upon my track record, I served as a historical consultant and appeared in the documentary Boss: The Black Experience in Businesswhich premiered on PBS in April 2019.
Professor Butler’s classic bookis a foundational work in the realm of African American business history.
Combining both sociological and historical analysis, Entrepreneurship and Self-Help Among Black Americans includes case studies of notable African American business districts.
For instance, years before recent interest in the horrific destruction of Tulsa’s “Black Wall Street” in 1921, Butler provided an in-depth examination of this phenomenon.
This book is also valuable because it provides an important comparative analysis of historic African American entrepreneurship with that of various nonwhite immigrant groups.
This long-awaited revision of a classic work traces the unique development of business enterprises and other community organizations among black Americans from before the Civil War to the present.
For the last 25 years, I have been a coach to business founders, leaders, and leadership teams. My work has taken me to every continent from my base in London. A lot of my work is done behind closed doors, but I have been instrumental in building two unicorns in the last decade. I’m a founder myself and have always been fascinated by what it takes to succeed as a founder. I have a powerful conviction that learning to lead is the heart of it. The books I love are either based on real-world research or deeply practical and based on hands-on experience. Practice trumps theory every time in my world!
I know the work that Entrepreneur First does and some young founders who have benefitted from their work and built successful businesses. This book is read by the founders as they talk about entrepreneurship, the start-up phase and co-founding.
I found the sections on understanding and using your ‘edge’ especially interesting, and this leads to some smart thinking about how to choose the right co-founder. The book stops at the point where the business is about to take off; keep that in mind.
*WINNER OF THE STARTUP/SCALEUP BUSINESS BOOK AWARD 2023*
An essential guide to equip the next generation of founders with the mindset and tools they need to take the leap to become globally successful entrepreneurs.
Featuring a foreword by Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, this fascinating handbook inspires potential founders and provides essential guidance and advice for people who want to create their own start-up and build a successful company. This book answers the question "how do I get started?" It takes the reader from making the decision to plunge into entrepreneurship, through the process of choosing and developing an idea…
I know it's kind of weird, but I have been fascinated by the world of direct-response marketing ever since I first saw the full-page ads in the "newspapers" my grandmother loved to read (The National Inquirer and the Weekly World News). Those ads fascinated me because, at first, I thought they were stories in the newspaper. That was my first exposure to the work of the brilliant Eugene Schwartz. I used to check our mail so I could grab all the "junk mail" that everyone else threw away because that's the only mail I wanted to read. That's why I became a direct-response copywriter.
If ever I have read a book that made a bold promise on the cover and then fully delivered on that promise in the pages of the book itself, it's this one. Reading this book (more than once) has literally helped me outthink, outperform, and outearn my competition.
Jay Abraham is truly the "guru to the gurus" in business growth. I found this book to be the best distillation of Jay's teachings I have ever encountered. It’s been worth more than 100 times the $30 I paid for it.
A trusted advisor to America's top corporations and recognized as one of today's preeminent marketing experts, Jay Abraham has created a program of proven strategies to help you realize undreamed-of success!
Unseen opportunities face each of us every day. Using clear examples from his own experience, Jay explains just how easy it can be to find and/or create new opportunities for wealth-building in any existing business, enterprise, or venture.
And just how easy can it be? One entrepreneur took the concept of the ballpoint pen and refined it into a multimillion-dollar idea: roll-on deodorant. Fred Smith of Federal Express took…
