Free Online Textbook List / Economics

Free Online Economics Textbooks

Rather than try to come up with something better, I'll borrow Wikipedia's concise definition, "Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services." Economists evaluate business, finance, government, crime, educational systems, legal systems, politics, religion, social institutions and a variety of other factors in their attempt to explain how economies work and how economic agents interact.

There are plenty of folks who understand this stuff far better than I do. And, the good news is that a growing number of them are putting their thoughts down on paper and sharing their efforts with the rest of us through free online economics textbooks, lecture notes and other scholarly works.

Online Degree Discussion will continually search the web for econ texts for students studying this academic discipline and are looking for free resources to further their pursuits.

Please use our contact form and let us know if you know of any free online economics textbooks we may have missed.

 
Fundamentals of Economics I - Macroeconomics
Part of a growing group of free online courses from the folks at Professional Education, Testing and Certification Organization International, this economics textbook is offered free for everyone to use. According to the site, "the core of the course deals with fiscal policies applying to taxation and government spending, and monetary policy affecting investments and currency value." Textbook is written by John Petroff, originally for students in Manhatten College. Dr. Petroff holds advanced degrees from NYU, has taught at universities around the world and had a successful professional career in banking, retailing and accounting. Site does seem to have a bug where it continually reminds you that cookies must be turned on.

Last Verified: (Sep 5, 2011) Report Broken Listing

 
 
Fundamentals of Economics II - Microeconomics
In this Fundamentals of Economics II textbook, students will learn about "the behavior of participants in various types of markets." and the "goals, attitudes and actions of users and providers of resources." This book is written by Dr. John Petroff. It stems from a study guide originally written for his students at Manhatten College. Dr. Petroff has taught all over the world and also has worked within the field. Be advised, this wonderful site, which promotes open courseware, seems to have a bug that causes and annoying pop-up window that keeps reminding the viewer that they need to have cookies turned on. Mine were on when I visited the site.

Last Verified: (Sep 5, 2011) Report Broken Listing

 
 
Historical Economics: Art of Science?
This online text, written by Charles P. Kindleberger, Professor of Economics Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, seeks to differentiate "between an economist who deals with historical issues and a historian who studies past economic questions" and answer the question "whether history is a necessary dimension of the compleat economist."

Last Verified: (Sep 5, 2011) Report Broken Listing

 

 
Introduction to Economic Analysis
R. Preston McAfee, former educator and now Yahoo! employee, published the first edition of this online economics textbook in 2006. While it wasn't adopted for use by a huge number of schools, it was used by NYU, Harvard and others. Tracy Lewis of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University helped McAfree produce the latest version along with the accompanying study materials.

Last Verified: (Sep 9, 2011) Report Broken Listing

 
 
Price Theory: An Intermediate Text
The author makes what appears to be a draft version of his economics textbook available for free online. David Freeman, professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law originally wrote this textbook in 1986 and published a second edition in 1990. The online text includes chapters from the second edition along with two chapters that only appeared in the first.

Last Verified: (Sep 4, 2011) Report Broken Listing