How to learn economics?

[Mason Clark <masonc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I am taking the liberty of copying a post from the newsgroup, sci.econ.
It poses a challenge to the academic economists here in pkt.  The poster is
representative of the class of citizens who could, in principle, be
reached by "correct" teaching of economics. This education is essential
if the nation is to have reasonably correct economic policy.  What should
this gentleman do?

    Mason C

quote:

Can you recommend a good way to learn economics? Let me first explain
where I'm coming from to give you an idea of my current level of econ
literacy.

I'm a software developer with a good science and decent (if rusty)
math background -- so calculus and statistics aren't overwhelming
barriers to me. I've read The Economist consistently for a couple
years now. And I've gotten to the point that it's rare when an article
discusses a concept I don't grasp. I may not be able to decide
whether, for example, the US current account defecit is sustainable --
but I'm not thrown by terms like current and capital account and am
familiar with the overall argument.

I've also tried to regularly read public speeches and testimony from
people like Greenspan and Zoellick in the US govt. -- as well as
articles put out by the IMF and WTO and the Federal Reserve. I can
follow Greenspan quite well (even if I have a poor understanding of
how he makes decisions on what the particular interest rate should
be). The research articles lose me in the details, but I can put the
conclusions in an economic context. I still get quite confused about
exchange rate regime arguments and how things like currency boards
work.

I think I've maxed out on my learning from informal, public sources.
I've purchased Schaum's outline series on Micro and Macro and am
slowly working through that. I'm not finding it difficuly, but it
takes a lot more time and effort than just reading or listening to a
speech. Unfortunately none of my friends went the econ route, so I
have poor resources to call when I get stuck. I find I can learn best
when I can work through a text, but have a live person to talk to when
I get confused.

I'm thinking of taking a class at the local college or comm. college.
Although, from talking to friends, my knowledge seem to be past (in
some areas significantly) the Econ 101 stage. Of course, like most
self-taught people, I'm sure I have the occasional glaring hole in my
knowledge -- which is why I'm trying to move in a more formal,
rigorous direction now.

My interest is primarily in solid decision making. Both at the public
policy level (is cutting the dividend tax a good idea? Should my state
subsidize college education? Should it encourage engineers over
english majors? Should we build this new highway?) and at a company
level (What price should I charge? Is this investment a good idea?).

So my motivations are two-fold. 1)Understand the world around me
better. 2) Be able to make better decisions for my own benefit and
society at large.

Hope I wasn't too long-winded. I'm very serious and willing to put in
hard work for practical, useful knowledge. I find I enjoy listening to
economists talk (at least Greenspan and other Fed people), I generally
find them very logical and informative. I want to learn how to think
more clearly about difficult problems -- a skill they seem to possess
more than most.

unquote -----------------------end