Books by Adam Smith

The economic challenges we face today aren’t the result of temporary shocks but structural changes that we need to grapple with, argues Jason Furman, a professor at Harvard and formerly the chief economic adviser to Barack Obama. He recommends five books to get us started—including the future of the dollar, China’s growth model, falling fertility, household financial fragility, and the enduring insights of Adam Smith.

Adam Smith tends to be seen as the founder of capitalism and modern economics, but he was, first and foremost, a moral philosopher. Dennis Rasmussen, author of The Infidel and the Professor—a book about Smith’s friendship with David Hume—selects the best books by and about Adam Smith.

The Chief Economist at HSBC reflects on the hubris of the Western World and reminds us that history provides valuable lessons on financial crises and the constant changing shape of the world economy

Who read Byron in his time? How much did a copy of Wordsworth cost? The scholar guides us through the astonishing history of reading in the Romantic period of English literature

Harvard historian Niall Ferguson tells us about the diverse influences on his work, from Keynes and Tolstoy to an Austrian satirist. He explains how he prefers a philosophy of history that emphasises the contingent and the chaotic, rather than the neatly predictable.

The Chairman of the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London selects his top five books on managerial culture. He discusses decline in American traditional management excellence but remains optimistic for the future.

What is economic development? What does it take to make it happen? What can we learn from the days Britain was still a developing country?  Eminent Indian economist, Pranab Bardhan, recommends the best books to better understand economic development.

Mary Wollstonecraft lived by her pen and wrote trenchant critiques of the role of women and marriage in late 18th century British society. She died aged 38, a few days after giving birth to her second daughter, Mary Shelley. She is often remembered for writing the Vindication of the Rights of Woman, but it was not in fact her best book, says Cambridge intellectual historian Sylvana Tomaselli. Here, she recommends books to read to get a good understanding of the extraordinary Mary Wollstonecraft, and the writers she was both influenced by and reacting against.

“You have to understand people first before you can understand how to devise an economic system for them” argues Robert J Shiller, the Yale economics professor and Nobel laureate. He chooses five books that explore who we fundamentally are, as human beings, and how that will determine the shape of a successful capitalism.

Karl Rove recommends five historical works that define, for him, the essence of American Conservatism.