Preliminary Part 1 Reading List

Introduction

This reading list is designed to provide information about the scope and content of Part I of the Economics Tripos at Cambridge. It aims to help potential candidates who are thinking of applying to read Economics at Cambridge, and to allow schools to advise such candidates. Directors of Studies may also find it useful to send copies of this reading list to candidates holding conditional or firm offers of admission. The books on the list have been chosen to be widely available (for example, in school or public libraries) and where possible to be relatively inexpensive. Books marked with an asterisk are recommended texts for the course concerned, and are therefore more advanced than most of the other material on this list. However candidates may find it useful to obtain these books before coming to Cambridge in October.

You will find it easier to understand many of the issues covered in the course if you have a basic familiarity with key developments in Britain, Europe and the world in the 20th century. For this reason the list also includes a number of books on historical topics. These are not assigned to any specific Tripos paper.

General Introduction
Dasgupta, P. Economics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press

Microeconomics and Macroeconomics
Begg, D K H, S Fischer and R Dornbusch, Economics (latest edition), McGraw-Hill
Greenaway, D and G K Shaw, Macroeconomics: Theory and Practice in the UK (latest edition), Blackwell
Heilbroner, R, The Worldly Philosophers (latest edition), Penguin
*Mankiw, N G, and M.P. Taylor, Macroeconomics (European edition), Freeman
*Varian, H, Intermediate Microeconomics (latest edition), Norton
*Morgan, W, Katz, M and S Rosen, Microeconomics (latest edition), Irwin McGraw-Hill
*Dixit, A and S Skeath, Games of Strategy (2nd edition), Norton

Quantitative Methods in Economics
*Lind, D, W Marchal and R Mason, Statistical Techniques in Business and Economics (latest edition), Irwin, Homewood
*Aczel, A D, Complete Business Statistics (latest edition), Irwin, Homewood Sawyer, Malcolm, The UK Economy : A Manual of Applied Economics (16th edition), Oxford University Press
Thomas, R L, Using Mathematics in Economics, Longman
*Bradley, T and P Patton, Essential Mathematics for Economics and Business (latest edition), Wiley
*Pemberton, M and N Rau, Mathematics for Economists (2nd edition) , Manchester University Press

Political and Sociological Aspects of Economics
*Andrew Marr, 'A History of Modern Britain', Pan paperback, 2009
Richard Donkin, 'The History of Work', Palgrave, 2010
Richard Easterlin, 'The Reluctant Economist: Perspectives on Economics, Economic History, and Demography', Cambridge, 2004
Alan Beattie, 'False Economy: A Surprising Economic History of the World', Penguin, 2010

British Economic History
*Floud, R and P Johnson (eds), The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain, Cambridge University Press (vols 1 and 2)
*Wrigley, E.A. (2010) Energy and the English Industrial Revolution, CUP

Background reading on UK, European and World History
Clarke, P, Hope and Glory, Penguin
Mazower, M, Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century, Penguin
Vinen, R, A History in Fragments: Europe in the Twentieth-Century, Little Brown
Hobsbawm, E, Age of Extremes: the Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991, Abacus Judt, T, PostWar, Pimlico
Landes, D S, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Are Some So Rich and Others So Poor?, Norton
Diamond, J, Guns, Germs and Steel, Vintage

Information on Calculators and Computers
The Economics Faculty requires students taking examinations to use a particular model of electronic calculator which has been approved and stamped by the University.

For examinations in 2012-2013 the approved models will be the

You will be able to buy this when you arrive in Cambridge, so you should not purchase a new calculator before you get here. If you already own any of the above calculators you will be able to have it approved and stamped when you arrive in Cambridge.

Many students reading Economics bring their own personal computer to Cambridge. There is no need for you to do this: the Economics Faculty has public computer rooms with machines accessible to all students, and these machines will provide all the facilities you will need for your academic work. Almost all Colleges also have public computer rooms which provide suitable facilities.

However, if you do wish to bring your own computer, you should be aware that the specialist economic and statistical software used in the Faculty is mostly available for Microsoft Windows computers only, and that all public computers in the Faculty run Windows. So you will find it much easier if you have a Windows-compatible PC rather than an Apple Macintosh or Linux machine.

You will also find it useful if the machine has word processing and spreadsheet software (preferably Microsoft Office or OpenOffice). Internet security (anti-virus and firewall software) is also strongly recommended: many Colleges will insist that such software is installed before allowing students to connect to their networks. The courses for Part I of the Economics Tripos will not require you to use other specialist software. However in Parts IIA and IIB of the Tripos you will need to use specialist software designed explicitly for statistical work in Economics. The Faculty provides this software on the network: although it cannot provide copies for individual students to install on their own machines, in some cases it will be possible for students to buy student copies at a discounted rate.

Although the Faculty provides a network of public workstations attached to the network, it is not possible to plug computers belonging to individual students into the Faculty network and run the Faculty’s specialist software. However wireless internet access and power sockets are available in the Faculty library. Almost all Colleges will provide internet access (sometimes for a small fee) for students living in the College, and it will usually be possible to access Faculty resources from machines connected in this way..