Appendix J — Resources and Communities

Where to go for ongoing economic literacy after finishing this textbook.

Data platforms

  • FRED (fred.stlouisfed.org) — the essential data tool
  • Our World in Data (ourworldindata.org) — global data visualization
  • Census Bureau (data.census.gov) — U.S. demographics and economics
  • World Bank (data.worldbank.org) — international development data
  • Opportunity Insights (opportunityinsights.org) — mobility and inequality data

Expert opinion

  • IGM Forum (igmchicago.org) — what leading economists actually think
  • NBER (nber.org) — working papers from top economists (free abstracts)
  • VoxEU (cepr.org/voxeu) — accessible summaries of economic research
  • Brookings (brookings.edu) — policy analysis
  • Resources for the Future (rff.org) — environmental economics

Podcasts

  • Planet Money (NPR) — accessible economics storytelling
  • The Indicator (NPR) — daily 10-min economics
  • EconTalk (Russ Roberts) — long-form interviews with economists
  • More or Less (BBC/Tim Harford) — data fact-checking (the gold standard)
  • Odd Lots (Bloomberg) — markets and macro
  • Trade Talks (Chad Bown & Soumaya Keynes) — international trade

Blogs and newsletters

  • Marginal Revolution (Tyler Cowen & Alex Tabarrok) — daily economics links and commentary
  • The Grumpy Economist (John Cochrane) — macro/finance from a Chicago perspective
  • Noahpinion (Noah Smith) — accessible macro/policy commentary
  • Matt Yglesias / Slow Boring — policy-oriented economics
  • The Economist — the gold-standard weekly magazine on economic news

Video courses (free)

  • Khan Academy — micro and macro economics (khanacademy.org)
  • MRU (Marginal Revolution University) — by Cowen & Tabarrok (mru.org)
  • MIT OpenCourseWare — full university courses (ocw.mit.edu)
  • Coursera / edX — economics courses from top universities

Books for continued reading

  • General economics: Charles Wheelan, Naked Economics; Tim Harford, The Undercover Economist
  • Behavioral: Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow; Richard Thaler, Misbehaving
  • Inequality: Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century; Branko Milanovic, Global Inequality
  • Growth and development: Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson, Why Nations Fail; Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo, Poor Economics
  • Climate: William Nordhaus, The Climate Casino; Bill Gates, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
  • Money and finance: Ben Bernanke, 21st Century Monetary Policy; Michael Lewis, The Big Short
  • Trade: Pietra Rivoli, The Travels of a T-Shirt; Dani Rodrik, The Globalization Paradox
  • Personal finance: Burton Malkiel, A Random Walk Down Wall Street; John Bogle, The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

Communities

  • r/AskEconomics (Reddit) — well-moderated Q&A with economists
  • r/Economics (Reddit) — news and discussion (quality varies)
  • Economics Twitter/Bluesky — follow economists directly (many post accessible commentary)
  • Your local Federal Reserve Bank — most host free public events, lectures, and educational programs

Economic literacy is not a one-time achievement. It is a practice. The world changes. The data updates. The debates evolve. Keep reading, keep looking things up, keep asking "compared to what?"