Reading List

The following are books that I have read (or have mostly read) that have had a profound impact on my political views. They are frequently referenced in my videos and blog.

Free-market economics for beginners:

  1. Bylund, Per (2022). How to Think About the Economy: A Primer. The Mises Institute.

  2. Hazlitt, Henry (1979). Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics. Three Rivers Press.

  3. Sowell, Thomas (2015). Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy (5th Ed.). Basic Books.

  4. Sowell, Thomas (2011). Economic Facts and Fallacies (2nd ed.) Basic Books.

Intermediate economics:

  1. Ammous, Saifedean (2023). Principles of Economics. The Saif House.

  2. Ayittey, George (2018). Applied Economics for Africa. Atlas Network. Retrieved from: https://www.africanliberty.org/appliedeconomics/ .

The causes of and solutions to international disparities in wealth:

  1. Acemoglu, Daron, & Robinson, James (2012). Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty. Currency.

  2. Bauer, Peter (1976). Dissent on Development. Harvard University Press.

  3. Bauer, Peter (2000). From Subsistence to Exchange and Other Essays. Princeton University Press.

  4. Delsol, Jean-Philippe, Lecaussin, Nicolas, & Martin, Emmanuel (2017). Anti-Piketty: Capital for the 21st Century. Cato Institute.

  5. McCloskey, Deirdre (2010). Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can’t Explain the Modern World. The University of Chicago Press.

  6. Sowell, Thomas (2016). Wealth, Poverty, and Politics: Revised and Enlarged Edition. Basic Books.‍

Racial issues in the United States and around the world:

  1. Magness, Phillip (2025). The 1619 Project Myth. Independent Institute.

  2. Sowell, Thomas (2004). Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study. Yale University Press.

  3. Sowell, Thomas (2013). Intellectuals and Race. Basic Books.

  4. Sowell, Thomas (2019). Discrimination and Disparities: Revised and Enlarged Edition. Basic Books.

  5. Williams, Walter (2011). Race & Economics: How Much can be Blamed on Discrimination? Hoover Institution Press.

  6. Williams, Walter (1982). The State Against Blacks. New Press.

Collections of essays/lectures by economists discussing various social, government, and economic issues:

  1. Bastiat, Frédéric (2011). The Bastiat Collection (2nd ed.). Ludwig von Mises Institute.

  2. Becker, Gary, & Posner, Richard (2009). Uncommon Sense: Economic Insights, from Marriage to Terrorism. The University of Chicago Press.

  3. Mises, Ludwig von (2006). Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow (3rd ed.). Mises Institute. [originally published in 1979].

  4. Sowell, Thomas (2011). The Thomas Sowell Reader. Basic Books.

  5. Sowell, Thomas (2002). Controversial Essays. Hoover Institution Press.

  6. Williams, Walter (2015). American Contempt for Liberty. Hoover Institution Press.

  7. Williams, Walter (2008). Liberty Versus the Tyranny of Socialism: Controversial Essays. Hoover Institution Press.

Critiques of welfare policies:

  1. Hazlitt, Henry (2007). Man vs. The Welfare State. The Ludwig von Mises Institute. [originally published in 1969].

Classical Liberalism, Libertarianism, Individual Liberty, and Capitalism:

  1. Friedman, Milton; & Friedman, Rose (1990). Free to Choose: A Personal Statement. Harcourt, Inc. [originally published in 1979].

  2. Hayek, Friedrich (2007). The Road to Serfdom: Texts and Documents (The Definitive Edition). The University of Chicago Press. [originally published in 1944]

  3. Mises, Ludwig von (2005). Liberalism: The Classical Tradition. Liberty Fund, Inc. [originally written in German in 1927].

  4. Mises, Ludwig von (2007). Bureaucracy. Liberty Fund, Inc. [originally published in 1944].

  5. Mises, Ludwig von (2010). The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality. Martino Publishing. [originally published in 1956].

  6. ‍Rothbard, Murray (1973). For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto. Ludwig von Mises Institute. ‍

Economic issues in the United States: ‍

  1. Gramm, Phil, Ekelund, Robert, & Early, John (2024). The Myth of American Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate. Rowman & Littlefield.

  2. Michel, Norbert (2025). Crushing Capitalism: How Populist Policies are Threatening the American Dream. Cato Institute.

  3. Strain, Michael (2020). The American Dream is Not Dead (But Populism Could Kill It). Templeton Press.

International trade:

  1. Irwin, Douglas (2020). Free Trade Under Fire (5th ed.). Princeton University Press.

  2. Kadosa, Marcel (2025). The Tariff Superstition: Why Protectionism Always Fails and Who Really Pays the Price. Praxeum. [originally published in Hungarian in 1924].

Why socialist states (command economies) fail:

  1. DiLorenzo, Thomas (2016). The Problem with Socialism. Regney Publishing.

  2. Hayek, Friedrich (2007). The Road to Serfdom: Texts and Documents (The Definitive Edition). The University of Chicago Press. [originally published in 1944]

  3. Mises, Ludwig von (1990). Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth. Mises Institute. [originally published in 1920].

  4. Shmelev, Nikolai, & Popov, Vladimir (1989). The Turning Point: Revitalizing the Soviet Economy. Doubleday.

Critiques of social justice and equity:

  1. Rothbard, Murray (2000). Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature: And Other Essays (2nd ed.). The Ludwig von Mises Institute.

  2. Sowell, Thomas (1999). The Quest for Cosmic Justice. Touchstone.

  3. Sowell, Thomas (2023). Social Justice Fallacies. Basic Books.

The Communist Party of China:

  1. Yang, Jisheng (2012). Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine 1958-1962. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. [originally published in 2008].

  2. Dikotter, Frank (2010). Mao’s Great Famine: The History of China’s Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962. Bloomsbury.

  3. Dikotter, Frank (2013). The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957. Bloomsbury.

North Korea:

  1. Lankov, Andrei (2013). The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia. Oxford University Press.

  2. Park, Eunhee (2025). The Courage to Die: A North Korean Woman’s Escape and Rebirth in Freedom. Self-Published.

Economic issues in Africa:

  1. Wade, Magatte (2023). The Heart of a Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty—and What That Means for Human Flourishing. Cheetah Press.

Critiques of environmental extremism:

  1. Tupy, Marian, & Pooley, Gale (2023). Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet. Cato Institute.

‍ ‍