Look up Wilhelm Ropke.

Thanks for the replies.

@Brian. No I am not looking for something specific. Just want to be a good citizen!

UGADawg wrote:

I'm an economist. I think the best introduction to the subject for the interested layman is Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics, which is now in it's 5th edition I believe. This is of course assuming you don't want to read through a college level principles textbook. If you're interested in anything beyond a broad introduction I can make other recommendations.

Thanks a lot. Happy to see an economist here. I just need enough information so that I can understand which economic policy I should support. Or if there is a presidential election, I would know if he is just making baseless claims and so on. Anything that can help me to be a responsible citizen is welcome. I dont mind if it is university or college text book. I will read it.

But with Sowell, do you get an approach to politics grounded in Christian/Thomistic (or Augustinian, Palamist, what have you) teaching? Or does he ground his economic and political thought first and foremost in broadly liberal principles?

​I'd be very cautious about assimilating liberalism (in the broad sense) and Christian principles. Their relationship needs to be worked out very carefully. Ropke is a good suggestion because he goes a long way to showing what is compatible between Christian principles and classical liberalism.

​ Nojoum,

​In terms of technical economics, it really depends upon which school of thought you think is most accurate (neoclassical, post-keynesian, Austrian, institutional, and so on). In my opinion, there is a hell of a lot of methodological and philosophical confusion in mainstream economics, and often the heterodox alternatives aren't much better. Steve Keen's Debunking Economics is an interesting read on this point.
​

UGADawg wrote:

I'm an economist. I think the best introduction to the subject for the interested layman is Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics, which is now in it's 5th edition I believe. This is of course assuming you don't want to read through a college level principles textbook. If you're interested in anything beyond a broad introduction I can make other recommendations.

I agree with UGADawg that you should go for an introductory text, thought I'd suggest Faustino Ballve's Essentials of Economics or Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson. They are much shorter, though Sowell will give you a much more comprehensive view of the field.

Authors you should consider reading include Wilhelm Röpke, Jacques Rueff, Heinrich Pesch, and Philip Henry Wicksteed. The first three were committed Catholics, the last an accomplished medieval scholar who wrote some seminal works in 20th century economic theory.

Though I could go on, I'll end this post by mentioning two authors that should interest the Thomists on this forum. 
​Jennifer Roback Morse is an economist who has focused her efforts in recent years on defending the traditional understanding of the family against modern social ills. Her book Love and Economics: It Takes a Family to Raise a Village (Ruth Institute Books, 2008) argues that economic liberalism can only be sustained via the inculcation of virtue through traditional family structures. John D. Mueller is an economist who now defends what he calls "neo-scholastic" economics, which is a modern synthesis of Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas. I strongly recommend his book Redeeming Economics: Rediscovering the Missing Element (ISI Books, 2014), as well as his many articles.