How to Learn Economics Online

Use the Internet to access classic texts and contemporary books on economics.

Whether your job requires that you know your state's prevailing minimum wage or you're looking for material to supplement a challenging college course, you can use the Internet to learn economic principles. The Web offers full versions of some classic texts by masters in the field who laid the essential groundwork in economics. For more timely issues, you can tap into debates between contemporary economists by accessing news articles and secondary-school lesson plans.

Instructions

1. Start online at Bean Counter (see References), which links to free tutorials. Beginners profit by reading the online text "Basic Microeconomics" by Larry Reynolds or "CyberEconomics," available at the "Saint Joe" link. Move on to R. Preston McAfee's exhaustive study of economic fundamentals, "Introduction to Economic Analysis," before branching out to intermediate lessons in "Quantum Microeconomics" by Toram Bauman. For learners who prefer visual aids, Bean Counter even links to 28 economics video lessons for college students and adults.

2. Learn universal economic principles by reading online texts. Go to the Ludwig von Mises Institute's website to read "Principles of Economics" by Carl Menger, who founded the Austrian School of Economics in the 19th century. Drexel University has published on its site "Essential Principles of Economics from the Mid-1990's," a series of lectures by economist Roger McCain.

3. Move on to more contemporary books like Henry Hazlitt's "Economics in One Lesson." Along with Tilman Slembeck's "Principles of Economics," you'll learn key concepts like how people make decisions in the market, how consumers and producers interact and other forces driving an economy.

4. Supplement the reading by listening to audio files made available by the Ludwig von Mises Institute. The files showcase noted authors discussing timely issues like minimum wage laws, how prices work and groups protected by tariffs.

5. Check out lesson plans written for secondary-school teachers that are on the New York Times Learning Network site (see Resources). The lessons, based mostly on content published by the Times, help you apply universal economic principles to everyday situations. See, for example, a Feb. 26, 2010, lesson plan, "Voices From the Crisis: Investigating Local Effects of Unemployment."

6. Learn about hot topics that today's economists are debating when you access news articles on Economy Watch (see Resources). Or scroll down the list of economics topics on "The Economist" magazine's website to learn about economic indicators in "America's Economy" or what economists mean by the domino theory.

References

• Bean Counter
• Drexel University
• Ludwig von Mises Institute
• Tilman Slembeck
• Foundation for Economic Education

Resources

• New York Times Learning Network
• The Economist