Skip to Main Content

Economics Overview

General library overview for beginning research and finding resources in economics at TCC

Books & More

Recently Added & Coming Soon

A Practical Guide to Macroeconomics

A Practical Guide to Macroeconomics

Print Book

There is an uncomfortably large gulf between academic research and what policy economists use to understand the economy. A Practical Guide to Macroeconomics shows how economists at policy institutions approach important real-world questions and explains why existing academic work - theoretical and empirical - has little to offer them. It argues that this disconnect between theory and practice is problematic for policymaking and the economics profession and looks at what's needed to make academic research more relevant for policy. The book also covers topics related to economic measurement and provides a compact overview of US macroeconomic statistics that will help researchers use these data in a better-informed way.

Common Sense Economics

Common Sense Economics

Print Book

The fully revised and updated fourth edition of the classic Common Sense Economics. As the global economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and debates over the future of work challenge our long-held preconceptions about what careers and the market can be, learning the basics of economics has never been more essential. Principles such as gains from trade, the role of profit and loss, and the secondary effects of government spending, taxes, and borrowing risk continue to be critically important to the way America's economy functions, and critically important to understand for those hoping to further their professional lives--even their personal lives. Common Sense Economics discusses these key points and theories and more, using them to show how any reader can make wiser personal choices and form more informed positions on policy. Now in its fourth edition, this classic from James D. Gwartney, Dwight R. Lee, Tawni Hunt Ferrarini , Joseph P. Calhoun, and Jane Shaw Stroup has been fully updated to include commentary on the effects of the pandemic on the global economy and the workplace; it offers insight into political processes and the many ways in which economics informs policy, illuminating our world and what might be done to make it better.

How to Think Like an Economist

How to Think Like an Economist

eBook

Capturing the essence of history's most influential economists in enjoyable and illuminating biographical sketches, this book shows how the great economic thinkers are still relevant today. We live in the economy - and we are part of it. Living through a pandemic, governments had to work out how to put economies into a deep freeze without destroying them. Avoiding climate catastrophe means changing economies so that they don't bake the world. In explaining how economic thinking is indispensable to tackling these huge problems, this book is a sure-footed guide, spanning Aristotle's ideas about restraining consumption, Adam Smith's thinking about the importance of moral character for sustained economic development, and Esther Duflo's ongoing work to help the world's poorest communities lift themselves out of poverty. It shows how the greatest economic thinkers - Karl Marx, Maynard Keynes, and Friedrich Hayek, among many others - have enabled us to see the world differently, and how we can make it better. It shows that economic thinking emerged, long before there were economists - and that good economics is about much more than the economy, so everyone should understand these vital ideas. Along the way, the book quietly subverts what you think you know about economics, especially by showing how women found a place in the development of ideas even when discrimination denied them any formal role.

Economics: The Basics

Economics:
The Basics

eBook

Now in its fourth edition, Economics: The Basics continues to provide an engaging and topical introduction to the key issues in contemporary economics. The new edition has been fully updated to take into account recent world economic events and key developments, such as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, recurring financial crises, deglobalisation and changing patterns in international trade, the rise of China, the digital economy, rising inflation, and housing and currency markets. It covers fundamental issues, including: How different economic systems function The boom-and-bust cycle of market economies The impact of multinational corporations How price, supply and demand interact The role of the banking and finance industry Whether we can reduce poverty and protect the environment With a glossary of terms, suggestions for further reading and new case studies, this comprehensive and accessible guide is essential reading for first-year undergraduate economics students and anyone who wants to understand how economics works.

The Economic Approach: Unpublished Writings of Gary S. Becker

The Economic Approach: Unpublished Writings of Gary S. Becker

eBook

As an economist & public intellectual, Gary S. Becker was a giant. The recipient of a Nobel Prize, a John Bates Clark Medal, & a Presidential Medal of Freedom, Becker is widely regarded as the greatest microeconomist in history. After 40 years at the University of Chicago, Becker left a slew of unpublished writings that used an economic approach to human behaviour, analyzing such topics as preference formation, rational indoctrination, income inequality, drugs & addiction, & the economics of family. These papers unveil the process & personality - direct, critical, curious - that made him a beloved figure in his field & beyond. 'The Economic Approach' examines these extant works as a capstone to the Becker oeuvre - not because the works are perfect, but because they offer an illuminating, instructive glimpse into the machinations of an economist who wasn't motivated by publications.

Find Books

computer with TCC library website on screen

Search the catalog

  1. Begin on the TCC Libraries homepage
  2. Scroll down to TCC Library Catalog
  3. Select "In the Library"
  4. Select your home campus or leave as "Any Campus" to search all TCC library locations
  5. Type what you are searching for in the search box (for example: book title, author, topic keywords) and click the Search button 
  6. Use the filters to narrow down your results.
    Some of the filter options that may be useful are Resource Type (you can limit to "Books"), Publication Date, Subject, Genre, Author, Language, and Library. You may also see options like Course Instructor, Course Code, Course Name, and Course Department (if there are Course Reserve materials in your results). 
  7. If the item is available, results will show where it is available at.
    If the item is at more than one campus you will see "and other locations" - click to open the item record to view all campus library locations for the item. 

Find on the shelf

  1. After you have searched for and located a book in the library catalog, use the location information from the catalog record to help you locate the item in the library. 
  2. The information after the library name will tell you what section of the library the item is in. Books that have "Circulating Collection" listed are books that you can check out and take out of the library. These are ones that you will find on the shelves. Books that have "Library Reserves" listed will be held at the library's circulation desk. Most of these can only be checked out for use in the library for a couple of hours. Other books may list something else (for example, "New Arrivals" or "Oversized"). Books may be on display or part of a specific collection.
  3. Look for signs on the ends of the shelves to find the shelf the book should be on, then use the call number listed to locate the item on the shelf.
  4. If you need help finding a book, stop by the reference desk in the library to get help from a librarian. 

Browse the shelves

For general browsing of our print collection for economics, these Library of Congress call number sections might be of interest:

  • HA – Statistics
  • HB – Economic theory. Demography
  • HC – Economic history and conditions
  • HD – Industries. Land use. Labor
  • HE – Transportation and communications
  • HF – Commerce
  • HG – Finance
  • HJ – Public finance

Search the catalog

  1. Begin on the TCC Libraries homepage
  2. Scroll down to TCC Library Catalog
  3. Select "Ebooks"
  4. Type what you are searching for in the search box (for example: book title, author, topic keywords) and click the Search button 
  5. Use the filters to narrow down your results.
    Some of the filter options that may be useful are Publication Date, Subject, Genre, Author, and Language.     

Access online

  1. After you have searched for and located an eBook in the library catalog, click on "Available Online" or the book title to open up the catalog record.
  2. Use the link(s) listed under View Online to access the eBook.

The library does not collect textbooks, however we may have a copy of your textbook if your instructor has placed one on reserve. Generally these can only be checked out for use in the library for a couple of hours. You can search our Course Reserves using the steps below. You can also stop by the library or chat with us online. We are always happy to check to see if we have a book available.

Search the catalog

  1. Begin on the TCC Libraries homepage
  2. Scroll down to TCC Library Catalog
  3. Select "Course Reserves" 
  4. Type what you are searching for in the search box (for example: book title, course instructor name, course code). 
  5. If the item is available, results will show where it is available at.
    If the item is at more than one campus you will see "and other locations" - click to open the item record to view all campus library locations for the item.

Find in the library

Visit the library's circulation desk to check out books that are part of the Reserves collection. Make sure you have your ID with you. You'll need it to check out library materials.

& More