Is economics a branch of the Humanities or is it an exact science?
Also, what would /his/ recommend to someone who's trying to learn economics by himself, at home, without the assistance of college classes? Is Mankiw's book "Principles of Economics" a good way to start?
Also, economics general.
>>1427499
>without the assistance of college classes
Why? If you just want to learn these things, there are plenty of free courses online from very reputable schools.
Here's one link I have saved.
http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses
>>1427499
>Also, what would /his/ recommend to someone who's trying to learn economics by himself, at home, without the assistance of college classes?
>>1427499
Economics is affected by socioeconomics and straddles both the normative and the positive, you have to decide what the objectives of an economy are before you can begin figuring out how best to achieve them, so it involves the humanities.
>>1427540
Try finishing some of the ones you've started, then move on to some textbooks.
Economicts is a social science which relies entirely on human interaction. You cannot apply the scientific method to economic theories or use aggregates like Keynesians continuously get wrong because things are always subject to change.
>>1427499
Mankiw is fine, but there's nothing stopping you from reading the economics classics directly as well to see where modern economics is coming from.
On your first question, economics is a social science. It's not humanities, and it's not hard science, it's something else.
>>1427499
I suggest you start with the very basics. Try reading Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Marx before moving on to the marginalists, which require some level of maths.
I don't suggest reading Keynes from the get go, since Keynes liked to write in a very difficult way.
I haven't read Mankiw's principles of economics, but if what you want is learn about macroeconomics, Blanchard's Macroeconomics is a nice start.
>>1427499
It really depends on if you'd like to learn qualitative or quantitative economics.
More importantly, what do you hope to gain by studying topics in economics? If its purely for academic insight read Wealth of Nations. If you need a foundation just scroll the web.
Also, ask /biz/ they might help ya out.
>>1427664
Well, within 3 years I'm taking the diplomacy test in my country and I should know general economics in depth. Friends recommended Mankiw to me because he wrote, after the Principles, two works on macro and microeconomics.
So I think I need the foundation, and some things more.
An anon in a past thread put it best, economics is just speculative philosophy with graphs.
>Mankiw
Stop this plebeian nonsense at once.
Read Ha-Joon Chang's Economics: The User's Guide.
Once you're done you'll pretty much know where to go on your own.
>>1427825
Do you have any better recommendation to offer?
This
>>1427499
We should only have an economics thread if it is in relation to economic history or perhaps theory, but even in the latter case that discussion could probably be better well done elsewhere.
>>>/biz/
Is a fish tank of business and economic related advice and I'm sure they have a stupid questions thread every now and then
>>1427817
Those reccs. will work well. I'd also look for something that focuses on public policy and macroeconomics, since you want to be a diplomat.
Mankiw is an absolute meme. He hasn't read Mises. He himself admited it.
>>1429373
So what he hasn't read Mises?
The only real form of economics as a science is behavioral economics.
Rational choice theory is a fallacy, made up to justify the economists' own profession.
