Important reading will be marked with a *

MACROECONOMICS:
-David Hume, Of Money, 1759. Monetary policy begins properly with Hume, and it should offer a perspective on historical macroeconomics.

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776. The first proper codification of classical economics. A bit antiquated, and tough to read through, but rewarding if you're willing to put the effort in.

Knut Wicksell, Lectures on Political Economy, 1908.

Irving Fisher, The Money Illusion, 1927.

Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States, 1962.

*Milton Friedman, The Role of Monetary Policy, 1968. Gives a nice, fairly readable account of the responsibilities of monetary policy. Take it with a grain of salt, however, Friedman's policy recommendations concerning monetary policy have been largely discredited since the 1990s.

*Bob Lucas, Understanding Business Cycles, 1977. A nice, non-technical paper from a New Classical perspective.

Angus Deaton, The Great Escape, 2013. A good introduction to economic growth.

*Tim Harford, The Undercover Economist Strikes Back, 2014. Deals with business cycles.

Todd Knoop, Recession and Depressions, 2010. A more technical look at aforementioned business cycles.

*BEA, Measuring the Economy: A Primer on GDP, 2014.

*Martin Eichenbaum, Some Thoughts on Practical Stabilisation Policy, 1997.

Galbraith, The New Industrial State, 1967.

David Romer, What Have we Learned About Fiscal Policy Since the Crisis?, 2011.

Lars Svensson, What Have Economists Learned About Monetary Policy Over the Past Fifty Years?, 2007.

Frederic Mishkin, Monetary Policy Strategy: Lessons From the Crisis, 2009.

*Frederic Mishkin, Is Monetary Policy Effective During Financial Crises?, 2009. A very nice, short paper for those who want to know about contemporary monetary policy and their role during crises.

THE FINANCIAL CRISIS:
Bob Lucas, In Defence of the Dismal Science, 2009.

Paul Krugman, How did Economists get it so Wrong?, 2009.

John Cochrane, How did Paul Krugman get it so Wrong?, 2009.

*Alan Greenspan, The Crisis, 2010.

EAST ASIA:
Ben Bernanke, Japanese Monetary Policy: A Case of Self-Induced Paralysis?, 1999.

Paul Krugman, The Myth of Asia's Miracle, 1994.

RUSSIA:
Oppenheimer, Russia's Post-Communist Economy, 2001.

INDIA:
Roy, Economic History and Modern India, 2002.

AFRICA:
Paul Collier, Why has Africa Grown so Slowly?, 1999.

EUROPE:
MA Wynne, The European System of Central Banks, 1999.

You must have a lot of time on your hands to be able to read all of those.

I barely have enough time for fun reading, much less all that economic bullshit.

Quote from: Mad Max on June 03, 2015, 10:06:57 AM

I barely have enough time for fun reading, much less all that economic bullshit.

But this is fun reading

That's the spirit!