Best Economics books

The 26 highest-rated Economics books, scored from 7.4K reader ratings.

Sort byDecadeMinimum ratings26 results

By year of first publication, 1784–2021. The busiest stretch is 2000–2019, with 18. Select a bar to narrow the list.

1
8.38.3 / 10
DebtDavid Graeber236 ratings“Debt” retells five thousand years of economic history through the question of who owes what to whom, and that sweep is its great strength.Our view
2
8.38.3 / 10
The Psychology of MoneyMorgan Housel1.2K ratingsHousel’s subject is less money than the people who handle it.Our view
3
8.18.1 / 10
The Worldly PhilosophersRobert Heilbroner81 ratings“The Worldly Philosophers” is a clear, engaging history of economic thought, told through the thinkers who tried to explain how capitalism works.Our view

Why Debt is #1

Debt (David Graeber) scores 8.3/10 from 236 ratings — level with The Psychology of Money at one decimal, and ahead on the exact score.

The score is a weighted average across 3 independent rating sources. A title with few ratings is pulled toward the category average, so a handful of enthusiastic reviews cannot outrank a book that thousands of readers have judged. To keep the list varied, the top 20 holds at most two books from one series and three by one author; the rest follow further down. Method →

Frequently asked questions

Which title here has the most ratings?

Freakonomics (Steven D. Levitt) — 1.6K ratings and 7.7/10, which puts it at #20 on this list.