Despite the large number of brands, most Americans buy their beer from just two companies. Consumer choice in the new digital economy is hardly better. Economist Jason Furman, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under Barack Obama and now a professor at Harvard, recommends books to better understand market competition.

Distinguished economic historian, Peter Temin, talks us through some of his favourite books. His own latest book, The Vanishing Middle Class, charts America's regression towards a pre-industrial society: with many poor, a few rich, and not much in between.

Many people feel dissatisfied with aspects of neoliberalism, but fewer know what it is or where it came from. Economic historian Niall Kishtainy recommends some of his favourite books on the history of economic thought, books that use intellectual history to examine issues confronting us in the real world.

Harvard macroeconomist Robert Barro takes issue with some common assumptions about the Great Depression, and how America got out of it.

If you were the last person alive and had to leave a testament to how our world worked, which five books would you choose? Political economist Mark Blyth makes his ‘desert island’ choices.

History contains useful warnings and lessons and today’s economic policymakers would do well to heed them, says the IMF’s former chief economist, Simon Johnson. He recommends books showing why economic history matters.

The American economy has been driven by waves of technological change and the successful adoption of ideas from elsewhere. The author of Land of Promise tells us how it happened, and what history teaches us about the way ahead

In time of economic crisis, studying the past can teach us much about the world economy today, says economic historian Emma Rothschild.

The author of When the Luck of the Irish Ran Out says the villains were reckless banks that binged on cheap capital to fuel a housing and credit bubble that was larger even than that in the US