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What are the best novels for teaching economics?
Ezra Klein asks me:
What do you think the best fiction books are for understanding economics? Left and right? From my perspective on the spectrum, I'd go with Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, but I'd be interested to hear your favorites...
Some will cite Harrison Bergeron, the Vonnegut anti-egalitarian short story. Others would nominate Ayn Rand, anarcho-capitalist science fiction, and of course there are the fictional-economic creations of Russ Roberts. But what are the Western classics that -- policy polemics aside -- teach one how to think like an economist?
My attention is usually drawn to 1660-1775 in British fiction, starting with Defoe and continuing through Swift, Boswell, and just about everyone else. To my eye they all thought like rational choice economists, albeit strange ones with a focus on approbation, self-deception, and the perverse social consequences of individual action (see my In Praise of Commercial Culture, the chapter on literature, for more detail). They are the true roots of Smith's TMS. Dickens and Balzac are contenders, but I find them a bit too one-note, as is Harriet Martineau. Nonetheless the eighteenth century works remain ahead of their time and they certainly don't teach basic economics or help one think much about policy.
What are your picks?
Posted by Tyler Cowen on May 9, 2007 at 11:15 AM in Books | Permalink
Comments
Dune!!!!
(of course as many times as I have read it might be a good indicator as to why it is NOT a good source to learn one 'bout 'nomics)
But I stand by my vote.
Posted by: steveintheknow at May 9, 2007 11:17:57 AM
Can't "teach" economics with fiction. It's like teaching med school students with episodes of "Scrubs"
Posted by: MK at May 9, 2007 11:23:29 AM
What does The Grapes of Wrath teach about economics?
That's true, I mean.
No,
"It is impossible to hedge against random catastrophes."
"No one ever sees underpriced labor as an opportunity to hire."
"All landowners and banks are guaranteed enormous profits."
do not count as true.
Posted by: Person at May 9, 2007 11:24:05 AM
*Parts* of novels come to mind more than entire works.
1. The part of James Gould Cozzens's "Morning Noon and Night" where he describes Mr. Garesci's mail-order pamphlet business and the contents of the pamphlets.
2. The part of Atlas Shrugged where the tramp describes the communitarian factory.
3. This is a movie rather than a novel, but the scene in "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" where Walter Houston explains to Bogart and Tim Holt why he's the most trustworthy of the three even though he's far from the most honest. (Don't know if that's in the book. I tried reading the book a few years ago and couldn't get past the first chapter or so.)
Posted by: jp at May 9, 2007 11:40:14 AM
Funny thing about the Grapes of Wrath - In one part of the book, Steinbeck writes about the horror of millions or oranges being destroyed while the Okies starve. Strangely, Steinbeck ascribes this to capitalism, when the causes was really FDR's agricultural price support program.
So, I guess this means Ezra Klein should be inspired to hate FDR?
Posted by: Keith at May 9, 2007 11:41:13 AM
TAANSTAFL!
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Posted by: andy at May 9, 2007 11:44:01 AM
A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul
Posted by: Ted Craig at May 9, 2007 11:48:49 AM
I'll second The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
You might also consider the Honor Harrington books by David Weber. Although they're primarily space opera, there's actually a fair bit in there about economies and shipping. He compares and contrasts the Star Kingdom's fairly free-market economy (giving them a technologically superior military) with the People's Republic command economy (largely funded by military conquest, along with the social problems it causes).
Posted by: Xellos at May 9, 2007 11:52:16 AM
I loved Neal Stephenson's "The Confusion", Volume 2 in his Baroque cycle and clearly the best of the the 3, in my opinion. Stephenson conciously addresses the rise of currency in Europe, the rise of trade in England and Holland, and how trade-generated wealth befuddled the French, who believed that
that land was the beginning and end of wealth. Its a neat focus on the birth of concious thought about the overall worthiness of trade, of wealth creation and effects of currency. I also thought the plot was entertaining.
Those who have read Stephenson know that he meanders and digresses a lot, and you can expect him to cover much non-economic territory in this book, so maybe its not the best example for this post. But its a lot of fun. (I read the cycle in this order 2,3,1 and didn't suffer for it.)
You can read more at stephenson's webpage.
Posted by: guy in the veal calf office at May 9, 2007 11:56:48 AM
I kinda enjoyed "The Literary Book of Economics" (See www.amazon.com/Literary-Book-Economics-Including-Literature/dp/1932236023) but I found it difficult to incorporate into classes. Likewise with the music compendium "From ABBA to Zeppelin, Led: Using Music to Teach Economics" over at DOL (see divisionoflabour.com/music/).
Posted by: MW at May 9, 2007 12:03:03 PM
I don't think there really are any. If you eliminate:
"Some will cite Harrison Bergeron, the Vonnegut anti-egalitarian short story. Others would nominate Ayn Rand, anarcho-capitalist science fiction, and of course there are the fictional-economic creations of Russ Roberts."
... then there really isn't anything left. Certainly there are works that contain economic insights, but they are always secondary. I can't think of any that are advancing a viewpoint in the way that Grapes of Wrath does. I think it's because books about systems/plans/theories working aren't as popular as books about them failing. I personally find Grapes of Wrath (even having acted in the play myself!) to be painfully preachy.
Posted by: Brian Moore at May 9, 2007 12:04:32 PM
"The Jungle" by Sinclair
Posted by: save_the_rustbelt at May 9, 2007 12:12:08 PM
A House for Mr Biswas. Naipual
The old man and the sea.Or dignity against welfare state
Posted by: Mja at May 9, 2007 12:23:01 PM
Surely the Foundation Series by Asimov would be a good stand in.
Its about an entire civilization predicted and managed through statistics and mathematics!
Posted by: Richard Gray at May 9, 2007 12:28:10 PM
Animal Farm.
I also liked The Fatal Equilibrium and understand the other novels by "Marshall Jevons" are pretty good too.
Posted by: Ben at May 9, 2007 12:32:10 PM
Actually, Scrubs wouldn't be the worst addition to a med school curriculum.
Now, Gray's and House, for that matter... *shudders*
Posted by: Garrett at May 9, 2007 12:46:50 PM
The musical "Urinetown"
Posted by: Jonathan at May 9, 2007 12:51:19 PM
Earlier posters already mentioned Stephenson, but I'd say Cryptonomicon for its discussion of how money works; a major conclusion in the book involves creating a digital currency. It also has quite a bit about the gold standard and various other topics of interest.
I'd also suggest Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full for the minutia of bond markets, an example of the hedonic treadmill, and the way status affects comsumption.
Posted by: Jake at May 9, 2007 12:55:04 PM
Perhaps I should elaborate a bit... It is a play about monopoly provision of a public good, marginal cost condition, regulatory capture, and the tragedy of the commons and ends with the line "Long Live Malthus!"
Posted by: Jonathan at May 9, 2007 12:55:22 PM
A fictional work where a money-hungry capitalist is portrayed in a good light? Good luck.
Posted by: Christopher Monnier at May 9, 2007 12:58:17 PM
As mentioned above The The Literary Book of Economics has plenty of examples.
Not a novel (though she also wrote two), but the actress Lilli Palmer's autobiography Change Lobsters and Dance is a fascinating story that contains a lot of economics lessons.
The daughter of a Jewish physician in Berlin who'd received the Iron Cross from the Kaiser for his work in a field hospital near Verdun (a fact which was later to save her from the Brownshirts), she fled Germany to Paris in the thirties.
She couldn't get a work permit there, so she and her sister sang in the bars of seedy nightclubs/brothels where the police wouldn't check permits (or were bribeable).
A chance meeting with a producer for Walt Disney led her to the English film industry, but when she was offered a role, found herself in a Catch 22 situation with the immigration department.
She married Rex Harrison, survived the Blitz (her infant son was saved by being behind a large rhododendron when a bomb exploded near their home), went to Hollywood where the couple discovered the joys of 90% marginal tax rates.
When I was 14 years old I fell in love with her when I saw her in this movie.
Posted by: Patrick R. Sullivan at May 9, 2007 1:17:19 PM
'I'd also suggest Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full for the minutia of bond markets...'
The Bonfire of the Vanities. Which is also good on rent control, race-hustling and public schools.
Posted by: Patrick R. Sullivan at May 9, 2007 1:20:51 PM
"Obelix and Co." by Goscinny and Uderzo is a good introduction. :)
Posted by: Jacques at May 9, 2007 1:24:19 PM
Andy nails it:
"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", by Heinlein.
Hayekian economics form the core of the book .
The interactions with the Lunary Authority illustrates the gross mis-allocation of resources that results in command economies, while the final chapter with it's "We're not going to be farmers for long" line shows a deep grasp of comparative advantage.
Ever better, despite four decades of innovation the science of the science fiction is still solid. The physics hold up almost perfectly and the computer science is still better than most contemporary fiction.
This fun, easily readable novel is a great primer.
Posted by: tylerh at May 9, 2007 1:27:28 PM
Pride and Prejudice. All the mating rituals, balls, social mores limiting relations between the sexes, prejudices, prices, etc. are largely organized around and motivated by the preservation, transmission, and seeking of wealth. Mr. Bennet is, in priniciple, much more intelligent and sensible than his ninny of a wife, but is a moral failure because he has retired from this game and thus doe not fulfill his responsibilities to his children.
Posted by: Martin at May 9, 2007 1:32:51 PM
