Tom Woods's Recommended Reading List

Tom Woods has released his highly-popular reading list for those who want a better understanding of economics, money, the Austrian Business Cycle and more. 

For those who are still stumped on why the Great Recession of 2008 occurred or can't see the writing on the wall for the next bubble, it's time to get to learning!

An Introduction to Economic Reasoning
These books, all relatively short and available online or for purchase, are an excellent starting point for an education in sound economics.

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt; online here and here.
Choice: Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action, by Robert P. Murphy
Essentials of Economics by Faustino Ballve; and here
An Introduction to Austrian Economics by Thomas C. Taylor and here.
Lessons for the Young Economist (for younger readers) by Robert P. Murphy here
Another easy-to-understand introduction to economic reasoning is Peter Schiff’s book How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes.

A useful companion to Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson is the series of videos produced by the Mises Institute in which various professors comment on each of the book’s chapters – explaining the argument, elaborating on it, and applying it to present conditions. Here are all those videos combined into one mega-video:

Additional Introductory Reading in Economics

The Concise Guide to Economics by Jim Cox; online here
Making Economic Sense by Murray N. Rothbard
Free Market Economics: A Reader by Bettina Bien Greaves
Free Market Economics: A Syllabus by Bettina Bien Greaves
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism by Robert P. Murphy
The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard J. Maybury (great for homeschoolers)
The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul, ch. 4
Foundations of Economics: A Christian View by Shawn Ritenour (a very good textbook in economics with a Christian angle, but thoroughly Austrian/Misesian)

Money
**What Has Government Done to Our Money? and The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar by Murray N. Rothbard
**The Ethics of Money Production by Jörg Guido Hülsmann (should be read after the title above); .pdf here
Gold, Peace, and Prosperity (.pdf) by Ron Paul; mp3 audio
“Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve” (documentary, via Google Video)
The Case for Gold by Ron Paul and Lewis Lehrman
Money: Sound and Unsound (advanced) by Joseph T. Salerno; online here (.pdf) and here (ebook)
The Case Against the Fed by Murray N. Rothbard (.pdf here)
End the Fed by Ron Paul
The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul, ch. 6
The Gold Standard: Perspectives in the Austrian School, ed. Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.; .pdf here
A History of Money and Banking in the United States by Murray N. Rothbard; .pdf here
“The Myth of the ‘Independent’ Fed” by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
Did Greenspan Deserve Support for Another Term? (.pdf) by Joseph T. Salerno (mp3 audio)
“The Path to Sound Money” (mp3 audio) by George Reisman
“The Economics of Inflation” (mp3 audio) by George Reisman

The Business Cycle
**The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays (online here; audiobook here).
Meltdown by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
America’s Great Depression, 5th ed. (pdf here) by Murray N. Rothbard
Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure by Roger W. Garrison
“Business Cycle Primer” by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
“My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business Cycle Theory” by Robert P. Murphy
“Sound Money and the Business Cycle” by John P. Cochran
“Who Predicted the Bubble? Who Predicted the Crash?” (.pdf) by Mark Thornton
“Mises vs. Fisher on Money, Method, and Prediction: The Case of the Great Depression” (.pdf) by Mark Thornton
“Predicting Booms and Busts” (mp3 audio) by Mark Thornton
“Banking and the Business Cycle” (mp3 audio) by Joseph T. Salerno
Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle (a graphical representation of the Austrian theory) by Roger W. Garrison

Deflation
Articles and Monograph:
“Deflation and Depression: Where’s the Link?” by Joseph T. Salerno
“Apoplithorismosphobia” (.pdf) by Mark Thornton. (Thornton coined the term to refer to the fear of deflation.)
“An Austrian Taxonomy of Deflation – With Applications to the U.S. by Joseph T. Salerno
Deflation and Liberty by Jörg Guido Hülsmann; audiobook
Audio:
“On Deflation” by Joseph T. Salerno
“The Economics of Deflation” (YouTube) by Jörg Guido Hülsmann
“The Gold Standard in Theory and Myth” by Joseph T. Salerno

Advanced Texts in Austrian Economics
Man, Economy, and State: A Treatise on Economic Principles by Murray N. Rothbard
This version also contains the book Power and Market, which had originally been intended as the concluding section of Man, Economy, and State but was released in 1970 as a separate title. The entire text is also available online here. A study guide is available for purchase and online (.pdf).
Human Action: A Treatise on Economics (read online) by Ludwig von Mises
Mises’ magnum opus. A study guide is available for purchase and online (.pdf). I recommend reading Man, Economy, and State first, though some disagree with me.
Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles (.pdf) by Jesús Huerta de Soto
A sweeping and historic contribution to the literature of the Austrian School, showing how monetary freedom avoids the disadvantages of fiat money, including inflation, business cycles, and financial bubbles.

Foreign Aid and Development Economics
Equality, the Third World, and Economic Delusion by Peter Bauer
From Subsistence to Exchange and Other Essays by Peter Bauer
“The Marshall Plan: Myths and Realities” (.pdf) by Tyler Cowen
The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics by William Easterly
“The History of Foreign Aid Programs” (mp3) by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
(These critiques of development aid are not specifically Austrian, but may be of use to those interested in Austrian economics.)

Additional Readings in Austrian Economics
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism (read online) by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Economic Science and the Austrian Method (read online) by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Praxeology and Understanding: An Analysis of the Controversy in Austrian Economics (read online) by George Selgin

Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom has its own course in Austrian economics and it is organized as follows:

I. Scope and Method of Economics

• Economics
  
• Method of Economics
• Scope of Economics: Human Action
  

II. Laws of Personal Action

• Implications of Human Action
  
• Laws of Utility
• The Law of Returns
• Capital Formation
  

III. Laws of Voluntary, Interpersonal Action

• Voluntary Exchange
  
• The Division of Labor
• The Unhampered Market Economy
• Money
• Prices of Consumer Goods
• Prices of Producer Goods
• Economic Calculation
• Profit and Production Decisions
• Equity and Investment Decisions
  
• The Capital Structure
• Competition and Monopoly
• The Time Market: The Rate of Interest
• Income: Sources and Disbursements
• The Money Market: The Purchasing Power of Money
• Bond Markets
• Stock Markets
• Economic Progress

IV. Laws of Involuntary, Interpersonal Action

• Booms and Busts
  
• Money and Banking
• Monetary Policy: Monetary Inflation and Credit Expansion
• The Business Cycle
• Fiscal Policy
• Interventionism: Price Controls
• Interventionism: Product Controls
• The Mixed Economy
• The Command Economy: Socialism and Fascism
  

Each lecture is available in video or audio format according to your preference, and each is accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation and recommended readings drawn from classic texts in the Austrian canon. Learn more about the Liberty Classroom here!